| Feature – September 2005 |
|---|
The invitation to define and trace the history of the Charismatic Movement or Charismatic Renewal within the confines of two concise essays is a daunting task. It is easy to get lost in details or oversimplify. The catch phrase itself is very elusive because its meaning is relational and dependent upon the spiritual state of the individual who came in contact with the Movement. In the experience of some, the Movement spells the difference of coming from darkness into light, from no-Christ into Christ. Others who have been nominal Christians experience a new release of the light of Christ in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and are tempted to make this renewal the Gospel itself because of the lack of basic Christian formation. Christians who have been active all their lives with good spiritual foundations find their faith experience deepened and expanded with new anticipation of the activity of God in everyday life.
Common to all the above experiences is the conviction that there is an already existing reality waiting to be released in the life of the Church. In its truest sense then, the Charismatic Movement does not offer any new doctrine but a renewed spontaneous love and desire to serve Christ, and a renewed appreciation and anticipation of the gifts of creation, salvation, and liberation that continually flow from the heart of God. “Charismatic” comes from the Greek word “Charisma” which means a gift and refers to all that God gives by grace through Jesus. Father Robert Wild says, “If seen as a movement merging with an already existing understanding and living of the essential gospel message, one way to view it is in the context of a spirituality. A spirituality is a particular way of conceiving and realizing the Christian life. It is a matter of emphasis, of focus, and of stressing certain doctrines and expressions instead of others. Love, the goal of Christian life, can be deepened in a variety of ways.” [Robert Wild, Enthusiasm in the Spirit, pp. 12, 13] The Holy Spirit in just such a variety of ways has renewed Christendom.
Why did God perceive that the Church needed such a Movement as one expression of His gift of liberation? From the moment of the release of the Spirit at Pentecost on the first believers and the formal organization of the Church, there would always be a creative tension between the two, which is essential for the body of Christ to be healthy. There must be a mutual submission of the spirit to Biblical authority and organization, and visa versa. The Church suffers when it so emphasizes resurrection and the Holy Spirit's power and slips into one-sided triumph and elitism, featuring only success, and ignores the cross and the place of suffering in Christian living. Throughout history, the Church has also suffered each time it has settled into organizational security, safeguarding itself against heresy and often losing its passion for Christ, the Word of God, and the spiritual gifts Christ longs to release through His church. Bill Ligon cites “that churches born in the fire of reformation whose structures and who were infused with the power of the Holy Spirit made a complete cycle. They returned to the coldness and indifference their forefathers had protested and quenched the activity of the spirit.” [Bill Ligon, Discipleship with Jesus, p. 59]
Historically, the supernatural gifts of the Spirit released at Pentecost did wane in the third and fourth centuries in the corporate life of the church. In order to explain their decline, it was taught that these special gifts were needed in the first century in order to get the church established, and that they came to an end with the death of the first apostles. Without a dependence upon the inspiring power of the Holy Spirit, the Church has repeatedly lost sight of its mission to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. With the dawning of the 20th century, the Charismatic Movement came to full birth with the conviction that the full range of spiritual gifts were meant for the church today, and that they have always been recorded in history as present since Pentecost. Furthermore, the Movement declares that nowhere does the New Testament teach that they would be withdwawn. All the manifestations of the Holy Spirit are needed today to inspire the churchs' worship and mission within a healthy, biblically-faithful organizational structure. John Stott regards the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost as “not only a distinctive blessing of the Church age (in that it was not available previously) but also a universal blessing (in that it is now the birthright of all God's Children).” [John R.W. Stott, Baptism and Fullness, p. 26]
The following is a cursory historical overview leading up to the birth of the Charismatic Movement of the 20th century. Each time a coldness and spiritual apathy has invaded the Church, there have been individuals who have gone to prayer to call the church back to Biblical basics and in the inspiration of the Spirit. In so doing, they have experienced for themselves a personal pentecost with varying experiences of the manifestation of the Spirit as recorded and taught by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians. (1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14) Such individuals challenged the church, initiated revival in the church, became victims of the established church, or began a para-church movement which often had much truth mixed with the error of elitism. Those who know their church history could quickly elaborate on the example of Montanus of the second century who influenced the Monanism Movement which extended to Tertullian and down to the third and fourth centuries to the Novatianists and Donatists. The initiators of the Monastic Movement and, in particular, the Benedictine Order inspired personal spirituality that overflowed the monastery and scattered the Benedictines out into the wider community with a evangelistic zeal. Cell groups by the score were in existence by the twelfth century. St. Francis of Assisi became one of the brightest lights of “life in the Spirit” in a church that was slipping into troubled times. The movements of the time were only as strong as their leaders, and rigid discipline would later overshadow divine grace and the spontaneity of the spirit. Strong charismatic leaders emerged in the Reformation years including names such as Wycliff, Huss, Luther, Calvin, Fox, Wesley, and Whitefield, to mention a few. Small groups, where study of the scriptures, witnessing and testifying to the power of the Gospel took place, played an important part in the renewing experience of the church. Except for the absence of supernatural charismatic gifts in worship, much took place that had the appearance of twentieth century charismatic renewal. By the middle of the 18th century, the “Age of Reason” overshadowed the “Age of the Spirit,” but to those who were open, Wesley said, “the Holy Spirit was giving to them what is essential for all Christians in all ages.” [Robert Wise, et al, The Church Divided, p. 2]
As the Church was established in the Americas, the same ebb and flow would take place. The awakening in the Spirit in one generation would then be lost by the next generation as it drifted back into organizational security. New denominations were born, only to be caught in the same trend. The stage was being set for the rise of a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit that would not be traced to one particular outstanding leader, small group, organized church, or geographical location. The Charismatic Movement would spring up as the Spirit blew by the sovereign act of God through all the churches in a variety of ways with all the gifts and signs that were present at the first Pentecost. True to the trends of history, this Movement caused excitement and controversy as verifiable evidence accumulated throughout Christendom that the Gift Giver and all the liberating spiritual gifts mentioned in the New Testament are present today in the Body of Christ.
It is here that history and experience come together for the writer. In the year 1960, at the age of 16, while working the fields late one spring night, a new thing happened. An old song of the faith turned into a new song with new words beyond the ability of the singer, and then into a new tongue. This was not as surprising as the passion and love that swelled up in the heart for God and Gods Mission through the Church. There was a new enthusiasm to study the scripture, worship, and serve. Prayer was no longer distant communication, and answers to prayer came in the most exceptional ways. What was this, and where did it come from? Surely it was only a passing emotion. Experience was better than theological explanation at that point, and this would also be true for the church as it grappled with words like “Baptism in the Holy Spirit,” and tried to link it with conversion or a second blessing and a reluctance to accept that it would take time to understand what was happening. Maybe it was a fresh breath of normal Christian life in the explanation of an innocent-minded teenager oblivious to the history of the Church. Days turned into months, and with this passage of time, this writer searched the scriptures and sought to find someone who would understand. The following is history and personal experience interwoven.
History spoke of a “Holiness Movement” dating back to the 1890s, which came out of the Methodist Church. Then there was record of an happening at 312 Azusa Street in Los Angeles in1906 that drew people from denominations from all over the country in a revival that lasted for over a 1000 days with a full manifestation of spiritual gifts. Pentecostal denominations began to appear, and the word “Holy Roller” brought a secular and religious quenching effect upon the children of parents who had been touched in an undeniable way. Then came the World Wars, and with them a spirit of disillusionment. However, the Charismatic seed had been planted in a new way and would begin to spread in a way that would defy the quenching trends of the past. While a great search was going on in the 60s, the “Jesus Movement” was born, and this writer recalls being part of a worship experience in one of the mainline churches in Saskatoon which was filled with young people whose worship and prayer ministry gave every evidence that they had been with Jesus in the “Upper Room.” The tension between being led by the spirit and the need for scriptural balance and organizational stability wavered. However, more truth than error prevailed, and though there were spiritual casualties, there were notable releases from addictions and emotional healings in response to prayer.
An essay by Charles Hummel reflects a very insightful identification of four Charismatic Movement streams. The first stream is Classical Pentecostalism. Mainline churches rejected this stream at first even though this denomination grew and spread into many countries in Europe and Latin America. In Canada, this writer had opportunity to visit with Pentecostals who found refreshment in being part of small prayer groups made up of individuals who themselves had been refreshed and had remained fully integrated in the life and witness of their own traditional non-Pentecostal Church. Many such people initially had to turn to the Pentecostal church for some understanding of the release of the Spirit they had experienced sovereignly or through the prayers of others. A rich cross-fertilization of Christian formation took place in these small groups.
A second stream began to flow quietly within the major Protestant denominations in the 1950s when David Du Plessis, a Pentecostal Minister from South Africa, won the respect of leadership in the mainline churches in both Europe and America. Again ripples flowed out through grass root small groups and surfaced in the Episcopal Church in the life and witness of Dennis and Rita Bennett in 1960 at St Mark's Church in Van Nuys, California. With the release of Dennis and Rita's books Nine O'clock in the Morning and The Holy Spirit and You telling the story of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Seattle, streams of the Charismatic Movement began to intertwine. Shortly after, the Spirit moved in small groups in the Diocese of Brandon. Five Clergy families experienced personal renewal, and this initiated the visit of the Bennetts to the first Holy Spirit Conference and began a movement in that Diocese that continues strong today. Anglican Renewal Ministries was established in Canada initiating conferences and, in a couple of instances, connecting with Lutheran renewal initiatives under the influence of Pastor Larry Christianson. Anglican/Episcopal teachers and authors such as Everett Fullam of Darian, U.S.A, Michael Harper, David Watson, and Michael Green of England offered mature direction to the movement, and the list goes on. Today, the influence of the Alpha program coming out of the grass roots effort of Nicky Gumbel has gone beyond the local parish level encircling the world, to Nicky's astonishment. It has been a moving experience for this writer to briefly witness first hand the development of this stream in the U.S.A., Canada and England. The above is only a glimpse of the Charismatic activity in this steam, and from a limited local Anglican perspective.
The third stream developed outside of the mainline Protestant experience and became known as Charismatic or Full Gospel Fellowships. A sovereign move of the Spirit fell upon a very conservative Mennonite Church in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota in 1954 pastored by Gerald Derstine. Derstine moved out of the organizational security of his mother church. This small fellowship built two “Christian Retreats” which faithfully helped hundreds of thousands of people to this present day from every denominational background, birthed new fellowships and sent denominational inquirers back to their mainline Churches enthused and renewed. This one example is significant in that it influenced the spiritual formation of many Anglican seekers in those early years of renewal in the Winnipeg and Brandon area. Teachers and leaders such as Derek Prince, Bob Mumford, and Judson Cornwall will spark the memory of some readers. At the same time, tele-evangelists came on the scene with a proliferation of charismatic leaders. Today, the Vineyard Fellowships are wide-spread, influenced by the ministry of the late John Wimber. Many have viewed the visitation of the Spirit on the Toronto Airport Church to be a second Azusa Street happening, the influence of which would be spread worldwide.
The fourth stream flowing through Du Plessis, the Guilford Conference in Britain, emerged through the Roman Catholic Church. This stream started flowing in the 1960s. The Cursillo Movement had prepared the way, some ten years previous, which began in Spain after World War II and arrived in the U.S.A. in 1957 in Pittsburgh. From this location, and in answer to fervent prayer, renewal started. By 1977, one million people were active, and by 1983, it is estimated that 15 million in 120 countries were actively involved, and so the story continues. Many small groups in Anglican circles have used the wonderful “Life in the Spirit” Seminars, one of the early resources put out by the Roman Catholic Renewal. This stream has also had significance within the Dioceses of Rupert's Land and Brandon. One of the streams of the Cusrsillo Movement moved up through the central states and entered Canada in a shape and style consistent with Anglicanism through initial grass roots team work of lay people in the Anglican Parish of Carman Manitoba where this writer was privileged to be Rector in the years following 1976. The teaching and experience model of Cursillo moved through Rupert's Land into the Dioceses of Brandon and Calgary with bishops, clergy, and committed lay people, young and old, working elbow to elbow as teams, relying on the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Teens Encounter Christ has moved with a parallel history to Cursillo and continues to be a vehicle of blessing to today's youth. The story of the Charismatic Movement continues to be written in the life of the church this very moment.
The Movement knows no boundaries other than those established in the human heart. There is no blueprint as to what any person should or should not experience. There is no mold every believer has to fit into. “The Spirit blows where it pleases . . . so it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8) The renewal is a gift of God to His Church. Like other renewals in history, the Charismatic Movement has its weaknesses, not in how it has been given to the church but by how it has been received. The streams continue intertwining with one another, splashing noisily, often leaving debris on their banks, but converging into an ever-deepening, quiet, maturing river of Christian love and service. The steams will give up their distinctive identities when they fulfil God's mission purpose given at the first Pentecost – to be fully emptied into the spiritual life to the church and the world.