The Gifts Continue (Charismata)

Pentecostals affirm the continuation of the charismata (the spiritual gifts described in the New Testament, including prophecy, healing, miracles, and speaking in and interpreting tongues), as available and operative in the church today. Against the view that such gifts ceased with the apostolic age, they hold that the Spirit distributes them among believers now as at the beginning (1 Corinthians 12), and their exercise is a normal feature of Pentecostal worship and expectation. The gifts are received for the building up of the church and for witness to the world.

Continuationism today extends beyond classical Pentecostalism through what C. Peter Wagner termed the Third Wave, exemplified by the Vineyard movement under John Wimber from the 1970s and 1980s, which affirmed the gifts, including healing and prophecy, without requiring tongues as necessary evidence of Spirit-baptism, distinguishing it from classical Pentecostal doctrine. The dispute with cessationism became publicly sharp in 2013 when the Reformed pastor John MacArthur convened the Strange Fire conference and published a book of the same name, arguing that contemporary claims to prophecy and tongues dishonour the Holy Spirit; continuationist theologians including Wayne Grudem and Sam Storms published detailed responses defending the gifts' continuation from scripture, and the exchange remains a reference point in the ongoing debate.