Charismatic Renewal
The Charismatic Renewal released a cohort of believers to go on into a much deeper Christian life. Being baptised in the Spirit was one of the best things that happened to me. It is up there with getting married and going to university. It was life-transforming. Most of the still-serious Christians that I meet from my generation were touched by the Spirit in that same season. One of my friends who was in Christchurch throughout this time talks about people coming to the Lord or being delivered from evil spirits on most Friday nights when they gathered together.
In my view, the Charismatic Renewal was the best thing that God did in New Zealand since the 1840s/1850s revival amongst Maori, because both were locally-driven and spontaneous. The Ratana movement in the 1920s/1930s was also important, but its scope was not as broad. The Pentecostal movement had an influence during the 1940s and 1950s, but it was mostly driven by visiting evangelists and revivalists, so it remained within a few churches on the fringe and did not reach into the wider church.
There are several reasons why the move was so effective in New Zealand.
A cohort of people who were desperately hungry for more of God. Many had come to faith in the first Billy Graham Crusade. They were frustrated and hungry after years of dryness. Others had served loyally in the church for many years, without receiving much life and grace in return for their efforts. This cohort was ripe for the moving of the Holy Spirit. (I am not sure that such desperate hunger exists amongst Christians today).
Overseas leaders like Michael Harper and Colin Urquhart provided tremendous encouragement, without telling people how it should be done.
The Charismatic Renewal demonstrated what the Holy Spirit can do if he is given a free hand.
- Opened hard hearts
- Changed lives
- Healed the sick
- Deliverance from demons.
Move Stopped
At a recent discussion between people who participated in the Charismatic Renewal in New Zealand (I was not there, so this is hearsay), they agreed that at some time during the 1980s, the move of the Spirit stopped quite suddenly. It felt like the tide of the Spirit had gone out. One person said that when he prayed for someone to baptised in the Spirit and nothing happened. That was new. The people present concluded that this shut down of life happened at the same time all over New Zealand.
One church had repented of everything that they could think of, but nothing changed. However, I am not sure if they consulted with the prophets and asked what they believed God was saying about absence of the presence of the Holy Spirit and the drying up of his gifts.
No Seasons
There is a serious problem with the idea that the Holy Spirit stopped moving. He is not spasmodic or erratic. The Holy Spirit does not go through seasons. He does not have a season where he cannot be bothered doing anything, and another when he is keen to be active. The Holy Spirit is always active, seeking to advance the Kingdom of God.
So, if the Holy Spirit stopped being active in New Zealand during the 1980s, there must have been something blocking him. There are two possibilities.
The church was continuing to do something that God wants it to give up.
The church was refusing to do something that God wanted it to do.
House Movement
Something that is often forgotten is that the initial moves of the charismatic renewal took place in the lounges and living rooms of people's homes.
People would be prayed for to be baptised in the Spirit in a friend's lounge (I was baptised in the Spirit while lying on my bed).
The leaders were laypeople, who were of just a little further down the road in the Christian life.
People were healed while praying for each other in a neighbour's lounge.
People were delivered from evil spirits when prayed for in a friend's living room.
People were committed to supporting each other and learning how to love one another.
People gave freely and generously to others who were in need.
rediscovering the Holy Spirit as a living being.
experiencing the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
What made a difference was the gifts and the power of the Spirit. He experienced a great healing from a back problem that had troubled him for years. The Holy Spirit regularly manifested in his life through different gifts. He was given the courage to share the gospel boldly.
The worship in the church became more sophisticated, and modern musical instruments were adopted, and the heating/air conditioning was better, but otherwise, services did not change much different. My father was not transformed by modernised worship. The thing that made such a difference to his life was the Holy Spirit and his gifts. And he is what is often missing from many modern churches.
Move into the Building
When the charismatic renewal began to become respectable, the leaders attempted to move it from the living rooms of people on the fringes of society into the front of the Sunday church service.
Some of the young lay leaders active in the movement went to theological college to obtain further training. They believed this would give them the authority and respect to bring change to the wider church.
Coming together strengthened them by enabling them to share with each other what they had learned. Unfortunately, they left to lead churches before they had learnt everything they needed to know. They had just begun to learn about the gift of healing and the power of deliverance. They left for leadership roles in the various churches before they were confident with these gifts.
These young leaders spread themselves too thin to be effective. Things that had happened when they were together stopped happening when they went out on their own to lead their own churches. God had wanted them to go out in pairs or small teams, rather than as individuals.
Once they were appointed to lead church, these leaders attempted to move the charismatic activity from the living rooms of the people into their church services. They forgot that they had first experienced the Holy Spirit in the lounges and living rooms of their friends' homes.
Healing ministry was moved to the front of the church service, usually by visiting speakers, because in the church itself, there were few people with the faith to pray for the sick in front of a large audience.
Deliverance ministry was also moved to the front of the church service. Unfortunately, it became messy, because evil spirits love and audience. The result is that deliverance now rarely happens.
Leaders tried to bring prophecy and the word of knowledge into their church services. People were not well enough discipled in these gifts of the spirit, so it got messy. The leadership felt pressure to bring order and control so that the worships services would not be disrupted. Very soon, people were having to get their words checked by an elder or pastor, before they were allowed to speak. This change brought back order, but it killed spontantety and the activity of the Holy Spirit.
Because they were being watched by people who were ambivalent or hostile to the Charismatic Renewal, leaders worried too much about what they saw as problems. Trying to prevent them probably stifled the Spirit. This was unfortunate, as most would have died out on their own accord anyway.
Moving to a church meeting environment allowed a controlling and manipulative spirit to wiggle its way in. This happened mostly in places where leaders were insecure. This spirit choked the life and the gifts of the Spirit.
The leaders of the movement were over-confident and did not take spiritual warfare seriously enough. Too many spirit-filled leaders were taken out in various ways.
Many church leaders saw the growth in numbers, so they jumped on the charismatic bandwagon without having had a deep experience of the Holy Spirit. They were not confident in life in the Spirit, so they found it hard to carry charismatic churches on. They were not equipped to lead their people deeper into the knowledge of the Holy Spirits activities.
Prophetic Message
At the time when the tide of the Spirit went out in the 1980s, God was speaking to his people and asked them to go back to where they had discovered the Holy Spirit.
Meet together in homes in the communities where you live.
Learn to love one another and do the one another stuff, not by singing "We are one in the bond of love", but by serving and caring for each other.
Lay aside the things of the world that would encumber them and live simply on what God provides, sharing everything with each other and the people around.
Learn to support each other through storms and shakings, so you can stand together in Jesus while everything around you is shaken.
Rediscover the gifts of the Spirit as you pray for each other. When you are confident, go out and pray for the people of the world who are sick.
Learn about the ministry of deliverance by discovering the victory that Jesus imposed on the spiritual powers of evil. When you are confident, go into the world and set the captives free.
Learn how to divide and grow by sending out small teams of the best people to establish new groups.
Be prepared for distress, but equipped for victory.
Not Heard
Unfortunately, the church did not heed this call. People listened, but did not hear.
A word that is not heard,The church did not take up God's call, so the tide of the Spirit that had brought so much blessing and refreshing stayed out.
cannot be fulfilled.
God shared his strategy,
and people listened,
but they did not hear
Amen, Amen! they said,
but no one got ready.
So God could do nothing,
he could not fulfil his word.
A word that is not heard,
cannot be fulfilled.
Leaders quickly took up church growth techniques from the United States as a substitute. We replaced the Holy Spirit with technique and well-managed programs. The church stopped trusting the spontaneity power of the Holy Spirit and started to rely on technique and good organisation. This became a reinforcing cycle. It brought order out of the chaos, but dulled the moving of the Spirit.
Most Charismatic Renewal churches have become church growth churches just like all the other Pentecostal-type churches that now predominate the landscape. The gifts and power of the Spirit are not present in the way they once were.
However, the problem is always with us, never with God. We must not blame God for our failings.
Shut Down
Recently, the New Zealand government shug down all church services for two monthes to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. This was an opportunity to move back to homes, but it was not taken. Instead, church leaders substituted to zoom and internet preaching. However, the Holy Spirit was not able to move through them in the way that he had previously moved in homes and living rooms.
