Fire in the Fireplace: Charismatic Renewal in the Nineties

We would expect a well balanced approach to writing about the work of the Holy Spirit in the church by the author who also wrote "Tyranny of the Urgent" and we get it! In this book, Charles E. Hummel, former president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, first reviews the history and growth of the various Charismatic groups within both the protestant and Catholic churches. He provides many valuable explanations of the meaning of related scriptures as well as observations of healings and prophecies that he himself has seen. He later gives his recommendations for keeping the Holy Spirit "fire in the fireplace" of a biblical church body. I came away encouraged in my own Spiritual gifts and reminded that the more extraordinary Spirit gifts have not disappeared and that "to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."