Essays. Seeking Balance in the Church

In 1995 a movement - called the ‘Evangelisch Werkverband’ (ewv) - started its activities in the predecessors of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (pcn). Eight pastors came together to pray for this church they were part of. They were worried about members leaving the church and the omnipotence - in their view - of liberal theology. In this essay I use my research on this movement as a case study to answer one of the questions of the conference ‘Theology of the Holy Spirit’ in Sibiu, November 2014: How do traditional churches relate to charismatic movements in their midst? And also the question: How do charismatic movements relate to the church they belong to? How do church and movement perceive each other?