Living in the Spirit: The Holy Spirit and the Christian Life

Personal and group studies on the Holy Spirit and the Christian life. The chapters are: 1 Father, Son and Holy Spirit, 2 Born of the Spirit, 3 Filled with the Spirit, 4 Fruit of the Spirit, 5 Gifts of the Spirit, 6 Ministry in the Spirit, 7 Led by the Spirit 8 The Spirit of the Lord. This second edition, 2009, is revised and expanded from the 1987 first edition.

Bishop Owen Dowling wrote:

Many Australian Christians have experienced renewal in the Holy Spirit.  Yet it would be true to say that those church members enthusiastic about renewal are often a small group within a parish, frustrated because the parish, in its overall life and direction, does not seem to be renewed.
 
The Joint Board of Christian Education has produced a book of eight studies on the Holy Spirit and the Christian life called Living in the Spirit.  The author is Geoff Waugh, Director of Distance Education at the U.C.A.'s Trinity Theological College in Brisbane.
 
The assumption is that each study will take two hours, but the suggestion is made in the excellent guidelines at the beginning of the book that the course may be spread over sixteen sessions with only half the material in each chapter being attempted at each study session.
 
I find the study material to be balanced in theological emphasis and exceptionally well organized and presented.  A relatively large group, say a parish camp as a whole, or a group meeting in the parish centre, could handle the studies, with small group activity taken as part of the operation of the whole to allow closer interaction.  On the other hand I can see that the handbook would work well in a smaller home group, though I would recommend the sixteen study approach in this case.
 
There is a balanced approach to the controversial matter of the gifts of the Spirit.  I find myself opposed to that kind of teaching which treats the list of gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 as an exhaustive list - the 9 gifts - because Paul alters the list when he gives it again in verse 28 of the same chapter.  Living in the Spirit takes a wider perspective on the gifts, following Robert Hillman and his list of 27 Spiritual Gifts (see his book of that title also published by the J. B. C. E.).  Hillman finds biblical evidence for 27 spiritual gifts which we should expect to see operative in the church, and rightly divides them (following 1 Peter 4:10-11) into Speaking Gifts and Serving Gifts.
 
The study techniques used in the book are specific and helpful.  There is a good understanding of group dynamics, and exercises provided where possible answers are listed so that group members have something to start with. Bald questions without any suggested answers are often daunting; the method here seems to be one of easing people in to dealing with biblical material, and sharing their own experience along with this.  Some study books go one way or the other - all on biblical references, or all experiential; this book combines both.
 
One feature I like of the studies is that in there is a 'Voices from History' section, with apt quotes from members of the Body of Christ from such writers as Tertullian, Augustine, Gregory the Great, Francis of Assissi, Charles Finney and David du Plessis.  The studies thus connect into the wider life, thought and practice of the church family, and are the richer as a result.
 
Those seeking to lead their parishes down a path of spiritual renewal with strong practical overtones and outcomes should look carefully at Living in the Spirit.