Charismatic Renewal
At about the time I was at University and the years following there was a widespread movement in the Church world-wide called the Charismatic Renewal. This was a grass roots movement which arose all over the world and in all denominations. In the early days at least, it had no human organisation and had all the hallmarks of God’s initiative.
I became aware of this in a number of ways:
- I attended a young people’s group at a local church where the leader said “Let’s worship the Lord”. I had no idea what to expect but the young people spontaneous, and in order, prayed prayers of praise, sang worship songs and sometimes prayed in a different language. I had never heard of “speaking in tongues” but later my mother explained what it was. The whole experience was amazing, particularly being in a group who were all clearly enjoying being with God.
- Some of the students at university were members of a Pentecostal denomination where the gifts of the Spirit were evident. Although these were not practised in Christian Union meetings, I was fascinated to know more about what was going on.
- I was reading the New Testament, where the impression is given that miracles were common place including healing, prophecy etc. This was not evident in the part of the Church I was acquainted with and I wondered why. So I started to read the Acts of the Apostles, the book in the Bible which describes the early church and what they did and how it grew. I expected to find a time where the miracles stopped and church became more mundane as it seemed to be today. That cessation of miracles was not there. That puzzled me.
- I then heard on a radio programme someone talking about what they called “Charismatic Renewal” and that people were experiencing the Holy Spirit in a new way, or rather in the old ways which are described in the book of Acts.
Wanting to find out more, I looked for books which would help and read “9 o’clock in the morning” ad “The Holy Spirit and you” by Dennis Bennett. I also visited a local Elim Pentecostal church to ask the pastor for more information.
I was drawn to this for a variety of reasons.
- It seemed to be more continuous with what happened in the Early Church.
- There was a strong sense of communion both between believers and God and between fellow believers.
- The presence o God seemed to be a lot more tangible to those who had received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and they seemed a lot more joyful and at peace with their faith and their lives
- Their style of prayer and worship was much more spontaneous, exuberant and immediate than other traditional expressions of Church.
- The Charismatic Movement, as it had became known, had sprung up from the grass roots, in almost all denominations and around the world. It had a strong unifying power among Christians of widely different backgrounds.