Signs and wonders occur throughout the Old and New Testaments. They express the magnificent creativity and sovereignty of the Lord, described in the Bible. They are also expressions of the power, goodness, mercy, grace, compassion, and love of the Lord, and show the nature of our omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God.
Signs and wonders point to the One and True Living God, and also demonstrate that this Living God is a Personal God who is very interested in people, both individually and corporately. This same God described in the Bible is very much alive and active today just as he was then.
Our hope is that through this subject you will encounter God and be transformed in this encounter. We pray that you will be challenged and stirred up to move in faith and obedience to God who can empower you with his Holy Spirit to do what Jesus did and even greater works (John 14:12). As you learn to move in God’s power and in ways that are naturally supernatural and supernaturally natural, may you become more Christ-like in your personal life, ministry, and vocation in this world. And may you be an instrument in advancing the Kingdom of God on earth as you become filled with passion and clothed with power from on high.
We especially thank Cecilia Estillore Oliver, a medical doctor and B.Min. graduate, for her work in helping to compile and write this Study Guide. Cecilia prepared and compiled the information in this Study Guide from materials gathered and arranged by Geoff Waugh for the degree programs of Citipointe Ministry College, the School of Ministries of Christian Heritage College in Brisbane, Australia, and made available here with permission of the college. This book reproduces the content of that former Study Guide, adapted here for general use.
Contents
This Signs and Wonders study guide includes
Biblical Foundations:
Old Testament
Jesus’ Ministry
The Epistles The Cross
Theological Foundations:
The Supernatural
Worldview
The Kingdom of God
Spiritual Gifts
Ministry Foundations:
Church History
Case Studies
Practices and Pitfalls
Integrated Ministry
Much of the material is developed and adapted from the course at Fuller Theological Seminary conducted by John Wimber in 1984, titled MC510: Signs and Wonders and Church Growth, used with permission.
Class Testimony
Reproduced from the Signs and Wonders Study Guide Appendix
A student we prayed for one morning in class went to her doctor that afternoon for a final check before having a growth removed from her womb. That afternoon her doctor could find no trace of the growth after checking with three ultrasound machines, so he cancelled the scheduled operation.
“My class at college laid hands on me and prayed for me,” she explained to her doctor. “I believe God healed me, and that’s why you can’t find the growth any more.”
“I don’t know if God healed you,” he responded. “But I do know that you don’t need an operation.”
Our class studied this Signs and Wonders subject. We usually began each class with prayer, and that day our prayer included praying for specific needs such as that woman’s health. One of those praying in class was Cecilia, a medical doctor. She prayed with strong faith, joining us in laying hands on the ‘patient’ student, knowing that God heals through prayer as well as through medicine. What rich resources we have for ministry – right there in the group.
I love hearing medical people pray for healing. They have medical skills as well as faith in God. A nurse in one of our week night meetings prayed for another lady who had severe back pain.
“L4, be healed in Jesus’ name,” the nurse commanded as she lay her hand on the woman’s back. It takes medical knowledge plus the revelation of a ‘word of knowledge’ to be able to pray like that. All pain immediately left the lady being prayer for. Apparently the problem was in the Lumbar 4 (L4) section of her spine.
Many people are not healed so quickly. Perhaps most are not healed so quickly in our materialistic Western society. There are many reasons for that, including our Western scepticism, lack of compassion or faith, and our sinfulness such as jealousy, competition or failing to forgive others freely as God has forgiven us.
We all can learn more together about effective ministry. That learning is enhanced and expanded rapidly when we share our experiences and learning together. The ‘teacher’ usually shares from his or her experiences, but others can do also. So the more that our ministry education fosters mutuality, the more we can learn from one another.
We call this open education, or open ministry education. It is open to everyone and everyone can be involved. It is not just for leaders. Our leaders can help us, but their main job is to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12). We can do these things in classes, small groups, seminars, training courses and home or church groups.
This testimony is also included in the Introduction to
Learning Together in Ministry Mutual Education: from compteition to co-operation
Each Study Guide in these Blogs refers to a paperback and eBook Study Guide for each of these seven subjects.
These Study Guides are adapted from former Distance Education materials produced by Citipointe Ministry College, the School of Ministries of Christian Heritage College in Brisbane, Australia. Now they are adapted into these books for your benefit. The current courses use different and updated materials as part of internet resources for students.
For information about current courses, contact the Principal,
Signs and wonders occur throughout the Old and New Testaments. They express the magnificent creativity and sovereignty of the Lord, described in the Bible. They are also expressions of the power, goodness, mercy, grace, compassion, and love of the Lord, and show the nature of our omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God.
Signs and wonders point to the One and True Living God, and also demonstrate that this Living God is a Personal God who is very interested in people, both individually and corporately. This same God described in the Bible is very much alive and active today just as he was then.
Our hope is that through this subject you will encounter God and be transformed in this encounter. We pray that you will be challenged and stirred up to move in faith and obedience to God who can empower you with his Holy Spirit to do what Jesus did and even greater works (John 14:12). As you learn to move in God’s power and in ways that are naturally supernatural and supernaturally natural, may you become more Christ-like in your personal life, ministry, and vocation in this world. And may you be an instrument in advancing the Kingdom of God on earth as you become filled with passion and clothed with power from on high.
We especially thank Cecilia Estillore Oliver, a medical doctor and B.Min. graduate, for her work in helping to compile and write this Study Guide. Cecilia prepared and compiled the information in this Study Guide from materials gathered and arranged by Geoff Waugh for the degree programs of Citipointe Ministry College, the School of Ministries of Christian Heritage College in Brisbane, Australia, and made available here with permission of the college. This book reproduces the content of that former Study Guide, adapted here for general use.
Much of the material is developed and adapted from the course at Fuller Theological Seminary conducted by John Wimber in 1984, titled MC510: Signs and Wonders and Church Growth, used with permission.
Class Testimony
Reproduced from the Signs and Wonders Study Guide Appendix
A student we prayed for one morning in class went to her doctor that afternoon for a final check before having a growth removed from her womb. That afternoon her doctor could find no trace of the growth after checking with three ultrasound machines, so he cancelled the scheduled operation.
“My class at college laid hands on me and prayed for me,” she explained to her doctor. “I believe God healed me, and that’s why you can’t find the growth any more.”
“I don’t know if God healed you,” he responded. “But I do know that you don’t need an operation.”
Our class studied this Signs and Wonders subject. We usually began each class with prayer, and that day our prayer included praying for specific needs such as that woman’s health. One of those praying in class was Cecilia, a medical doctor. She prayed with strong faith, joining us in laying hands on the ‘patient’ student, knowing that God heals through prayer as well as through medicine. What rich resources we have for ministry – right there in the group.
I love hearing medical people pray for healing. They have medical skills as well as faith in God. A nurse in one of our week night meetings prayed for another lady who had severe back pain.
“L4, be healed in Jesus’ name,” the nurse commanded as she prayed with her hand on the woman’s back. It takes medical knowledge plus the revelation of a ‘word of knowledge’ to be able to pray like that. All pain immediately left the lady being prayed for. Apparently the problem was in the Lumbar 4 (L4) section of her spine.
Many people are not healed so quickly. Perhaps most are not healed so quickly in our materialistic Western society. There are many reasons for that, including our Western scepticism, lack of compassion or faith, and our sinfulness such as jealousy, competition or failing to forgive others freely as God has forgiven us.
We all can learn more together about effective ministry. That learning is enhanced and expanded rapidly when we share our experiences and learning together. The ‘teacher’ usually shares from his or her experiences, but others can do also. So the more that our ministry education fosters mutuality, the more we can learn from one another.
We call this open education, or open ministry education. It is open to everyone and everyone can be involved. It is not just for leaders. Our leaders can help us, but their main job is to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12). We can do these things in classes, small groups, seminars, training courses and home or church groups.
Dr R Heard led the Christian Tabernacle in Houston in growth from 250 to 3,000 members. On Sunday, October 20, 1996, a move of God exploded in the church.
During 1995 the Christian Tabernacle in Houston had a strong emphasis on knowing Christ intimately. In August of 1996 Hector Giminez from Argentina ministered there with great power and many significant healings. Awareness of the presence and glory of the Lord increased during October, especially with the ministry of evangelist Tommy Tenney, who was to speak the morning of October 20. Dr R Heard was preparing to welcome him and had just read about God’s promise of revival from 2 Chronicles 7:14 when God’s power hit the place even splitting the plexiglas pulpit.
Powerful times of repentance, evangelism and healing came with this visitation of God. People are still being converted, often 30-40 a meeting. Pastor Heard commented that everywhere in the church the carpet is stained with the tears of people touched by God and repenting. He spoke by telephone in November 1996 with Norman Pope of New Wine Ministries in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, who put the transcript of the discussion on the Awakening E-mail. The following is an edited selection of Dr R Heard’s comments:
Background
This is just a kind of a brief background about me. I spent 18 1/2 years in crusade evangelism, and I did not have a natural gifting for this kind of thing and God, at our conversion, really addressed the need for his empowerment in my life. I came from a very legalistic kind of background with a lot of condemnation. I was raised that way. . . . So at any rate, because of the background, the condemnation, and so forth, when I began an evangelistic ministry, we spent 18 1/2 years travelling and I prayed an average of 8 to 12 hours a day. But it was not for the right reasons. It was motivated because of my need to prove myself to God in hope that he, in turn, might minister through us and to us. But in spite of that, there was a measure of God’s anointing and blessing on our ministry. I think my motivation was wrong, but he in his infinite wisdom and in his grace, decided to bless us anyway. When I came here to pastor, I fell into the trap that so many pastors fall into. The demands of pastoral ministry become so large that your devotional time erodes away and you don’t even realize that it’s being taken from you.
Then about 2½ years ago, I experienced a heart problem, and I’m a very healthy person who was in the top 3% of the physically fit in the nation. I exercised regularly and ate the right things and I had about 45 or 50 episodes of ventricular tacordia. I should not have survived the first one, much less that many. But what happened after that is what set the stage for what God has been building toward here, I think, and that the church has grown dramatically during that period of time.
We started with about 250 members and we have about 3,000 now, but though I had built staff, the people of the church continued to do end runs around my staff to come to me, particularly those that were the founding members and that were here when I came. And I felt an obligation to them, and they had been here longer than I had. But after my illness they backed away and began to work with the staff and saw the quality staff we had, and that released me then to go back into the kind of devotion that I had cherished through the years, and God began a renewal work in me almost immediately, and that was in May of 1994 and during the rest of the year it was a very sacred time, and God began to address issues with me in terms of my relationship with him and knowing him.
Out of that, I spent the entire year of 1995 teaching. Every sermon I preached was on knowing Christ and intimacy with Christ. Our Church moved into a different dimension in their relationship with God during that period of time and began to truly hunger after God. We had all fallen into this American dichotomy of religion where you are a Christian and a Christian is what you do, not really who you are; where you have room for him in your heart, but not a whole lot of room for him, perhaps, in your life. He really addressed issues like that with us.
I’ve always hungered for God. Any time I heard about a fresh move of God I wanted to go and see and get prayed for, and receive impartation. We had been to Toronto and there was something wonderful imparted. I had heard about the revival in Argentina and had one of the pastors from there speak here for us and I went down and preached for him. He has the second largest church in the world. And I received impartation from those encounters as well. We were really hungering after more of the Lord.
I spent time in Zimbabwe in August this year [1996], where I had a team of people with us, and was flying back across the Atlantic, and was scheduled to have Hector Giminez, who pastors in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was to start with me on a Friday afternoon at 2 pm and I was flying in late Thursday. As I was flying in, the Holy Spirit spoke to me over the Atlantic saying that because we had sown into an area of harvest and a field of labor that we would not personally receive anything back from, he was going to move our church into a new season and answer our prayers and reveal himself to us.
I flew in and saw Hector the next afternoon as the service was starting and just mentioned to him that God had given me a word that he was really going to bless us. He walked out and opened his Bible and pulled out his notes, and his first sermon was, “God is going to change the season.” Here in the last four months of this year God is moving us into a new season with him
I returned the latter part of August from Zimbabwe. And almost immediately things began to take place. He was with us through the rest of that week and we have begun to see a number of miracles happen. People being healed of cancer, a man burned over 85% of his body with third degree burns, severely burned in his lungs, recovered with almost no problems at all. There were no problems in his breathing. They gave him a 3% chance to live. Even his hair is growing back and his eyebrows and eyelashes and just a number of things. The church was pregnant with anticipation, and we’d been wanting to go to Brownsville and to be honest, when I decided to go a number of our staff didn’t really care to. We felt like we were having a great move here.
But I brought about 30 of our staff to Brownsville and did not feel that we had received all that much impartation, but saw what was very obviously a work of God in terms of the hundreds of people that came forward for conversion each night at Brownsville. . . . That was just a couple of weeks ago, and we returned back on a Saturday, and Sunday morning, we went into service.
To back up, two weeks previously I had an evangelist come to speak for us that had been a long time friend (Tommy Tenney). We had such a touch of God that I kept him, and he cancelled his meetings and came back the next weekend. And once more we had a great move and in fact we decided to have a church special prayer meeting the next night and our church has been in prayer for years and years for revival. But we called a special prayer meeting on the Monday night and had such a move that I felt we needed to bring him back that weekend, which I did.
Sunday October 20, 1996
So I flew in on Saturday and he drove in. We didn’t see each other, but at service the next morning I was getting ready to introduce him and there was a very great presence of God in the auditorium, and the Holy Spirit had really been addressing with me for several weeks about 2 Chronicles 7:14. I walked to the platform and over my Bible and read 2 Chronicles 7:14 and told the people what I felt like the Holy Spirit had been speaking to me was that we were to seek his face and not his hand. And that so many people were seeking manifestations and something from God without actually seeking God. And when I finished that, the Spirit of the Lord came upon me very powerfully. I’m not given to manifestations, and have told the people of our church, “If you ever see me fall, it will be because God put me down. I don’t do courtesy falls, and no one pushes me over.”
I felt the presence of the Lord come on me so powerfully I grabbed the podium, the pulpit, to keep from falling, and that was a mistake. Instantly I was hurled a number of feet in a different direction, and the people said it was like someone just threw me across the platform. The pulpit fell over that I had been holding for support, and I was out for an hour and a half. . . . I almost hesitate to tell you what . . . I literally could not move. I’ve heard about people being pinned to the floor and things like that, but to be honest, I came from a classical Pentecostal background and I’ve seen genuine moves of God and I’ve seen my share of weirdness. And if something like this happens, and it doesn’t happen to someone that I know, that is credible and a person of integrity, I don’t discount it, I just have a tendency to let the jury stay out until I know that this has indeed happened to credible people. But I could not move. And I saw a manifestation of the glory of God. . . . I saw a vision and I did not see the Lord. I saw his glory. . . . There were thick clouds, dark clouds, edged in golden white and the clouds would ‑ there would be bursts of light that would come through that would just go through me absolutely like electricity. . . . and that went on for an hour and a half.
I could feel his glory. There was literally a pulsating feeling, as though I was being fanned by the presence of the glory of God. And it’s still really difficult for me to talk about it. . . . There were angelic manifestations that surrounded the glory and I didn’t know how long I was out. They said later that I was there for an hour and a half. In the meanwhile, all across the building people, they tell me, were falling under the presence of God. That’s not something that has happened much in our church, but people were stretched out everywhere. And the altar. We have three services on Sunday and people would enter the hallways that lead to the foyer and then into the auditorium and they would enter the hallways and begin to weep. There was such a glory of God and they would come into the foyer and not stop ‑ they would just go straight to the altar ‑ people stretched out everywhere. There was all kinds of angelic visitations that people had experienced. And we’ve got professional people in our church ‑ doctors, professors. Their bodies were strewn everywhere. And when I felt the glory of God lift, I tried to get up and couldn’t. It was as though every electrical mechanism in my body had short‑circuited. I couldn’t make my hands or my feet respond to what I was trying to tell them to do. It was as though I was paralyzed. And I was able to slowly lift a finger, and one of the pastors saw me and I beckoned for him to come and he got some of the other pastors and they carried me into the office and set me down.
Well, the pulpit, they said, fell over, and it’s made of space‑age plastic. It’s flat in the front with rounded sides that go back; it’s all molded, so the pulpit is three‑sided. The sides go back at a forty‑five degree angle and then it has the base that it stands on, that is attached to it, and then it has the top that you set your Bible upon with your notes. And it’s made of a kind of plastic that, one of the businessmen here in the church ‑ he works in these kind of things and called a supplier in California – and they said it has a tensile strength of 57,000 pounds per square inch, but when he described the configuration, they said it would be double that, about 114,000 pounds per square inch. We have a number of engineers in our church that are working to give me the exact strength requirements that would be necessary to cause that to break. They have corroborated what was told by the supplier. The top didn’t break off. The bottom didn’t break off. It broke across the middle, not up and down the lengthwise portion. And our engineers said that the power required to do that is astronomical. They said you could drop it from a ten‑story building and that would not happen.
It just split like lightning had hit it across the middle. In fact it even jagged kind of like lightning. It didn’t split at any joint where anything was fastened together, it was just across the middle. They said that, given enough force, they could explain a lengthwise split, but they cannot even conceive of this.
I felt like the Holy Spirit showed me that was because there were two things that were happening. First of all, he did not want his church to just be pulpit‑led with a two‑caste system of clergy and laity, but that what he was doing was going to cause his church to be mobilized again back into the ministry that he’s called all of us to be involved in, and I’ve preached that for years, but you know how it is ‑ the people get involved in their stuff. The second thing is that he was changing the order of the ministry here in our church, and that we were moving to a different level. It was as though the old pulpit was no longer adequate for what God was going to be doing. And basically brother, that’s the story.
We had one service that day, and the service literally never ended. It went all the way through the day until 2 am. It had started at 8:30 am. We decided to have church the next night, and I didn’t want to be presumptuous, but we went on a nightly basis on that order, just announcing one night at a time, and as we got deeper into the week I could begin to see that God was doing something that was probably going to be more extended. So we took Monday and Tuesday night away and I added services Wednesday through Sunday. There have been numerous healings. The evangelist didn’t speak at all that Sunday. In fact, the entire week he spoke maybe twenty minutes. There’s been a really deep call of God to repentance. People come in and they just fall on their faces.
Manifestations of God
There have been angelic visitations. We have a school, and there’s a Catholic girl that teaches in the school. Her sister is a member of our church and her sister is Spirit‑filled. They had an angelic visitation, this Catholic teacher did, in her classroom, that was seen by both the teacher and the students. It frightened her so badly that she went home and got her rosary and it’s in the auditorium right now (she gave it up).
We know of four tumors that have completely disappeared. One lady had a tumor about 2 1/2 inches in diameter, and was going to have to have surgery. It just ruptured, bled, dried up, and fell off. And there have been several others ‑ tumors just turned black and fell off and left little white scars. These were external tumors.
There was a man with a sleeping disorder that literally would go days without sleep and sometimes even weeks, and instantly he was healed. A lady with a digestive ailment that she’s had for 25 years since the age of five (she’s 30) and had to have special medical treatment, was instantly healed.
None of these are people that we had laid hands on to pray for these things to happen. We didn’t even know about it. They just started calling in. . . . God sovereignly moving, and we’ve had nothing to do with it. You and I come from similar backgrounds and can trace some of our history back to Azusa and I’ve often read about William Seymour, and I can understand him praying with his head in the apple crate. But I’ve read that when he spoke that he would sometimes put a bag over his head with two holes cut for his eyes, and for the first time I understand why. When God shows up, there’s absolutely no contribution that you could make. Any human addition is actually a subtraction.
We’re just having a sovereign move of God. They baptized for an hour Sunday morning and half an hour again Sunday evening and once again Sunday the services just ‑ they never ended. People are staying until 2 am in the morning on some nights and there are all kind of angelic visitations and healings and things that are happening. As I said, our church was not given to manifestations, but there are people that when God has been on them have been intoxicated for 10 days.
It started in our staff and then just from there just spread like fire. We’ve had altar calls where, it hasn’t turned completely evangelistic yet. There’s strong intercession and repentance now. But there was one service where there were a lot of unsaved people and the evangelist spoke maybe ten or fifteen minutes and gave an altar call and we had several hundred instantly surge forward.
Just to be honest, it’s the most disruptive thing I’ve ever experienced, and I’ve preached revivals 18 1/2 years. I know how to have revivals, but I don’t know how to handle a move of God. . . . They’re two different things.
I was supposed to have had a gospel singer this past Sunday night, and he was in town and I tried to reach him. He was scheduled to be at another church pastored by a friend of mine Sunday morning, and when he finally got in town I spoke with him and told him we could not have him, and explained why. I just was very candid and said if we were not having a sovereign move of God, and God was not doing anything that exceptional and you’re just having church, that he could have been a great addition. But with what God was doing, there wasn’t anybody that could add anything, and so I started calling around to try and place him, and I was astonished at how many churches in Houston had begun to experience something. I called one friend the same Sunday morning that this happened here. They had a similar invasion of the presence of God. . . .
William Seymour was from Houston and left our city because he was discouraged with the racism and the sectarianism, and at the invitation of the Nazarene pastor – the lady in Los Angeles – he went there. And we believe, and I’ve preached and taught, our church and our minister friends, and shared it with numbers in the area that we believe that there’s an unfulfilled mandate that God has for this city. Hebrews says when once God gives a promise, that promise remains until someone receives it or claims that. Isaiah said his word that is given ‑ it’s a created force ‑ it never returns void or empty. And we think that Azusa was supposed to have happened here. . . . And so we’ve tried to encourage our people to believe for a supernatural visitation, and we’re just absolutely thrilled.
That’s exactly where we are. I walk in, but there’s been absolutely no structure to the service. We had a great choir. We’re a multi‑ethnic congregation. A Brooklyn Tabernacle kind of sound, if you’re familiar with that. Great worship and praise. Sunday morning there wasn’t a choir member standing on the platform. They were all scattered like logs all over the platform. And we go in ‑ they begin to play, to lead us into the presence of the Lord, and they play very softly. Because of our background, usually our worship is very strong, very dynamic, a lot of energy. Not any more. It’s like you’re afraid to even lift your voice; even the notes on the piano they want to play very gently and then the Lord sweeps in. Five nights last week I wasn’t even able to receive an offering.
I mean, when he begins to move there’s not one thing you can do. You just get out of the way and let him work. . . . Billy Graham has said concerning Houston that he would rather preach in any city in the world than here, because the churches are so divided. But I’m seeing a tremendous hunger among God’s people. How this has gotten out, I don’t know. I have no idea, but immediately, we started having people from all over this place come in. There are pastors flying in now from various states. But people from our city, and not many pastors yet. Some have come. But I don’t know where the Lord will take all of this. When his presence has come so close, you’re afraid to even exert any preference and say, “this is what I want You to do,” you just back away and say, “whatever you want, God.”
We’ve cancelled everything that we had planned We have a lot of outside activities. We have 122 ministries within the church that have helped our church to grow, and these ministries were primarily either for getting people here or holding people once they’ve converted. . . . But we have at this point‑‑I was telling our staff‑‑they were asking, “are we going to have Christmas musicals and Childrens’ pageants ever?” And we do a big passion play every year that brings in thousands and thousands of people. And I asked them, “Why do we do all of this?” and they said, “Well, we want people to come here so they can encounter God.” I said, “Look at what’s happening. We’ve got people storming in here that we’ve never seen, never heard of, never talked to. And God’s doing it in a way that is so far superior to what we could do that whatever we’ve got going on. We’re cancelling everything,” and that’s literally what we’ve done. There hasn’t been a single objection. That’s what amazes me.
I think that this is probably going to end up ‑ whatever this season is that the Holy Spirit is bringing us through in terms of our commitment to him and the deep searching of our own hearts – it has the feeling at this point like it’s building toward even a greater evangelistic outpouring.
There’s a big difference in renewal and revival. You know, I had the same skepticism of the laughter. I was raised in a classical Pentecostal background. I saw that from time to time, but the latest thing ‑ I just ‑ something inside of me just had a difficult time with it. And [now, in our church, after this visitation] there are people that are laughing like crazy now, and, I mean, all of this stuff I said that I had reservations about and didn’t particularly care to see, I mean it’s just as though God has said, “This is My Church. It’s not yours.” And I see the reality of it now. I think it’s going to end up turning strongly evangelistic. It has that feeling and a lot of people are coming and being saved each night. There are many being saved, and there’s not even really an altar call made that distinguishes between people that are already saved ‑ that just need renewal and those that need conversion [because] it’s just so intense right now.
__________
Great changes
Rose Moon, from Christian Tabernacle, added these comments on the Awakening e-mail early in 1997:
God began moving us into a level of deep repentance and intercession for three months. The services lost most all recognisable form for that period of time. The preacher and the evangelist could not preach and the choir could not sing unless God allowed them. No one could ‘perform’ as before. The awesome fear of God came over most who experienced this. As they tried to preach or sing, they either would end up on the floor, rooted to their seats, laughing or crying as the Spirit moved. After three months God began to give new direction through the preaching of the word and the choir began to sing again, although there are still many times when the Spirit of the Lord moves in and changes everything that had been planned for that service.
Great changes in individuals have taken place in all those in leadership and most of the others that not only has lasted but continue to increase. The most pronounced changes are sincere humility, a love and a hunger for God and his Word, boldness, freedom and power to minister or witness from the pastors and staff through most of the rest of the church.
Our Sunday and Wednesday services are powerful. There have been many in every service who have been saved. It is unusual now if people are not being baptised at the end of those services. Thursday and Friday services are for worshipping and soaking in the presence of the Lord. Every service has been different but he always shows up and is continuing to bring deep changes, healings and deliverances. Many truly miraculous events have taken place from that first Sunday until now. Most of the physical healings have taken place with no one laying hands on those persons. They were healed by just being in God’s Presence during the services. I will share a few of them:
1. On the first Sunday, one woman had a cancer fall off her. Many since then have come to the pastor with similar stories. Some have been healed of internal cancers with confirmations from their doctors.
2. The week before Thanksgiving one of our members became very ill and had to be taken to the hospital. He had severe abdominal pains. His colon had ruptured in four places and his abdominal cavity was filled with infection. The doctors never expected him to leave the hospital alive. With the church praying, he improved enough to go home. He was scheduled for surgery the week before Christmas to replace 3 inches of colon. He went in for the surgery and was placed under anaesthesia. The doctors made new pictures of the colon before surgery. Then without operating, they went out to his wife who was in the waiting area. They were shaking their heads, causing her to fear the worst. Instead they said that the new pictures showed a completely whole, normal colon. There would be no surgery. Her husband was most surprised when he woke up with no pain or incision. God had healed him.
3. One 8 years old boy had been tested by a specialist the school referred them to for hearing because he was doing poorly in his schoolwork. Because of an early childhood illness, one ear had a 70% loss of hearing in one ear, causing the other ear to only have a 40% hearing capacity. They wanted him to be placed in special education classes and be taught sign language. He was scheduled to be tested by a hearing specialist the school had recommended. His mother asked one of the young men to pray for him during one of the ministry times. About a week later she thought she noticed a difference in her son’s responses. She took him to the specialist for testing. His hearing was found to be completely normal. Pastor Heard asked them to share in the 8:30 a.m. Sunday early service. After they did Pastor Heard asked those who had hearing problems to come for prayer. He had the boy and his mother pray for those. Of those who came forward, 3 had their hearing restored that morning.
4. About 2 weeks ago a man, whom the Pastor Heard knows, testified a skin cancer had fallen off his face. It had been there for about 2 years. He had been scheduled for surgery. One Sunday morning Pastor Heard shared that he felt there were cancers and growths that were going to fall off. The next morning the man felt an itching sensation and reached up to touch the area where the cancer was and it fell off in his hand. The skin underneath was pink and smooth.
5. About 1 month ago, Pastor Heard shared his story. In May of 1994, he fell to his knees while preaching a sermon. He was taken to the emergency room of a hospital. The doctors discovered he had a congenital heart defect that he would have to live with the rest of his life. He has lived with that until the latest check‑up in February. The doctor ran the dye tests and came in to tell him his heart was completely normal. Pastor Heard asked the doctor, “Do you mean normal for me or for someone without an abnormal heart condition?” The doctor replied his heart was completely normal as it should be. There was no longer a congenital condition. They did not even give him a stress test. No hands were laid on specifically for his heart condition. As others have been, he was healed by being in this Presence of the Lord. There have been many dramatic inner healings and deliverances of some who have been under a doctor’s care for a long time.
It is wonderful that our church is not the only one experiencing this. There are churches all over the greater Houston area that are experiencing this including Baptist, Assembly of God, Methodist, Church of Christ, Nazarene and many others. We are just praying for an increase of what God is doing.
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Dr Rodney and Adonica Howard-Brown are pastors and revival evangelists.
Critics focus on the rip-roaring style of his revivalist “camp meetings”, but this US-based South African evangelist says all he’s interested in is God touching people’s lives.
The Holy Spirit wants to touch the lives of real people.
I don’t spend much time wondering about God’s ability
to do what he said he could do. I just trust him.
______________________________________________
On previous visits to Australia, Rodney Howard-Browne has attracted both crowds and controversy. But vigorous debate about his methods and the “phenomena” seen at his meetings has not kept thousands away. … The US-based South African evangelist spoke with Rob Buckingham about spiritual power, the simplicity of faith, and how it feels to be surprised by God.
Buckingham: Things took off for you number of years ago. Can you tell us what took place at that time?
Howard-Browne: We’d moved to America in December ‘87 and travelled wherever the doors opened. One pastor in upstate New York asked us to have two meetings a day and invited the whole congregation. So in April 1989 we went to [a town called] Clifton Park to a church with about 250 members.
I was amazed to see people so hungry for the things of God. On the Monday morning 60 people came to the morning service. This was amazing, especially in America at that time – there had been some major set backs with different major ministries crumbling, and people were disillusioned. Next day we had 100 people at the service – nearly a third of the church coming out on a Tuesday morning!
While I was teaching, just like I normally do, the praises of God just filled the room, and people started falling out of their seats. It looked like someone was sitting in the balcony and shooting people with an invisible gun. Some were crying, some were laughing, others were rolling on the floor. It took a little getting used to.
The presence of God literally filled that place. We saw an outbreak of a revival that now, this April, is nine years old. It’s gone around the world, touched the lives of millions of people, an it hasn’t subsided or stopped. It’s been a great adventure.
Buckingham: What are your reflections now on what took place back then?
Howard-Browne: I see it as an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It’s not like we weren’t expecting it. We were crying out to God to come and move; we just didn’t know how or when it was going to happen. So when it happened the way it did it totally took us by surprise.
Buckingham: Is there any change in what took place then compared to what’s happening now?
Howard-Browne: It’s just multiplied many times over. In the beginning it was 100 people and now it’s thousands. Whether we’ve been in China or Japan, Holland, Germany, Russia or the islands of the sea, it’s the same. People are the same and they have the same needs. The Holy Spirit wants to touch the lives of real people. There are many religions in the world, but religions will leave you empty because it’s man’s vain attempt to reach God. But Christianity is God reaching man through the person of Jesus Christ.
Buckingham: There are reports of physical healings at your meetings. Do these happen in every country?
Howard-Browne: It happens everywhere. We look at it this way. When people come to a meeting where the Holy Spirit is moving, whatever their needs are God will touch them at that point. Healing is just one of these. People come with cancer, arthritis, different diseases, and the presence of god touches them. Some are healed in their seat without even having hands laid on them, and it’s only later they find out that they’ve been healed.
Dolly, a little Alaskan native lady, came to our meetings in a wheelchair. She’d had arthritis for 18 years, the last five confined to a wheelchair and the final two years bedridden. She came as a last resort, asking God to please touch her. We laid hands on her, but we didn’t really pray that she’s be able to get out of the wheelchair, just that she’d get some joy and that God would touch her. I said, “Lady, what do you want to do?” She responded, “I want to get out of this chair.” So I said, “Well then, go ahead.” Then she climbed out of the chair and walked around the building and was totally healed of crippling arthritis. This happened back in 1991 and we’ve seen her subsequently. She’s still totally healed with no trace of arthritis in her body.
Buckingham: That’s physical healing. What about emotional healing? People can carry a lot of baggage around inside.
Howard-Browne: There are many examples. One is about a woman in North Dakota who was raped by a so-called friend. She contracted two venereal diseases, the worst the doctor said he’d seen. He told her that she’d never be able to have children.
This woman came to the meeting pretty traumatized – this had only happened weeks before. The power of God touched her, she fell on the floor and as she was lying there she felt like there was a fireman standing over her with a big fire hose washing her clean. For about two-and-a-half hours she felt this water washing her clean. When she got up she could remember the rape but it was like it happened to somebody else. God had totally removed the hurt from her. When she went back to the doctor there was no trace of the diseases. That was over five years ago. Today she’s married to one of the pastors of the church. They’ve had children with nothing wrong.
Buckingham: What about other stories?
Howard-Browne: An executive-type lady came to a meeting with a lot of deep hurt in her heart. About 20 years ago she’d had an abortion, and every time she was around things of God she felt guilty and condemned with thoughts like “God’s never going to bless you because of what you did.”
We prayed for her and she was overcome, lying there filled with joy. Laughing hysterically. Later she told us it was as if she was taken up to heaven to see a little girl dancing around, with Jesus standing to the side. The little girl said, “Look Jesus, Mummy’s laughing”. When that happened, she said it felt like a hand reached down inside her and pulled out all the hurt. When she got up from the floor she didn’t feel guilty any more. She knew that God had forgiven her and everything was all right.
Buckingham: Are these incidents isolated events?
Howard-Browne: No. People are healed from depression, a lot from fear, even from wanting to commit suicide. There’s so much pressure on people today. People feel like they can’t make it. So they come to the meetings. God touches them and sets them free. It’s wonderful to see.
Buckingham: Australians are quite different from Americans, and you minister in America a lot. How do you respond to that difference in your meetings when you come to Australia?
Howard-Browne: Because I’m a South African, I think it’s probably easier for me to respond than it would be for an American. I find the Aussies very direct, which I like. There’s no airs or graces, nobody’s pretending. I think maybe that’s why we’ve had such a great response in Australia.
Buckingham: You travel extensively around the world. That must be draining on you. How do you handle the pace?
Howard-Browne: Actually, I find the travel exhilarating, so that by the time I get to a new place I’m refreshed. We travel 46 weeks of the year, and it’s awesome to see people’s lives touched and changed. That’s the thing that’s refreshing. When we get tired, we try to take a break for two or three days.
Buckingham: Rodney, how do you describe your own relationship with God?
Howard-Browne: I would describe my relationship as very, very simple. I don’t understand some people when they always want to complicate God. I just see him as God – nothing is impossible to him. I have a very childlike faith that God honours his word. I don’t spend much time arguing about it or wondering about his ability to do what he said he could do. I just trust him.
Buckingham: How does your relationship with God impact your life personally?
Howard-Browne: Well, because nothing is impossible for him, I always want to believe him for big things. When you think that he made the heavens and the earth, then everything we come up with after that is really so small. I just think sometimes people make everything so difficult when there’s nothing too hard for God.
Buckingham: What about your relationship with others? How does your faith impact that?
Howard-Browne: I want God to do for them what he’s done for me. I’m not anything special or different. I’m just an ordinary person. But I know that if he can do great things for me, he can do great things for them.
Buckingham: How does your faith impact your care for the world around you?
Howard-Browne: When I see a need, my wife has to calm me down; she says, “You can’t do everything.” God leads you into areas where you can minister effectively to touch the needs of people. We all want to reach out and feed the poor or help those less fortunate than we are, yet because I’m busy doing what I’m doing, I can’t do it. So I try to find other ministries and get behind them. I don’t have to do what they’re doing: I just finance and support them.
Buckingham: What can people expect at your meetings this year?
Howard-Browne: Pretty much like two years ago, we’re going to focus on he person of Jesus – people being touched by the Lord and coming back to their “first love”.
Buckingham: What do you mean by “first love”?
Howard-Browne: “First love” is the love you have when you first give your life to Christ – the joy that you’ve just met him, that he’s set you free from sin, that all the guilt and condemnation is gone. It’s like a young guy and a girl; when they first fall in love, they’re just beside themselves.
It’s so easy as a child of God to get caught up in the daily grind, trying to please God, caught up in rituals and traditions. You end up losing that joy and peace. Revival is about people falling in love with Jesus all over again.
Anything can happen when people come back to their first love.
This is an edited version of an interview conducted by Rob Buckingham for use in On Being ALIVE and his weekly radio program “Rob Buckingham and Friends”. It was originally broadcast on 3MP on 29 March, 1998.
Reprinted with permission from On Being ALIVE Magazine, No. 4, May 1998, pages 30-34.
(c) 2011, 2nd edition. Reproduction allowed with copyright included in text.
Many books examine the place of Signs and Wonders in the church today.
John White’s When the Spirit Comes with Power: Signs and Wonders among God’s People, Hodder & Stoughton, revised 1992, gives many current accounts and helpful comments.
John Wimber’s classics written with Kevin Springer, Power Evangelism (revised 1993) and Power Healing (1986), both Hodder & Stoughton, are well known and give detailed examples and principles.
Charles Kraft’s Christianity with Power: Experiencing the Supernatural, Marshall Pickering, 1990, examines cultural concerns such as worldview as it affects our understanding of the Bible, and offers helpful ministry guidelines.
Video/DVD
Biblical Holism
Biblical holism: where God, People and Deeds Connect is a Christian Interactive Video Workshop – a Journey Towards Understanding – prepared by John Steward, the Development Services Manager of World Vision in Australia. World Vision has a brochure that introduces this resource. The workshop is for small groups who work through, with the help of a 3 hour video, a study on the Lordship of Christ over every area of life. This foundation leads to studies on the application of the biblical material to Christian life and service.
Of particular interest to the theme of Signs and Wonders, one section of the study shows how these are part of the divine activity in the world that often leads to questions which open the way for the word of witness. Brian Hathaway shares how God led the Te Atatu Church in New Zealand into this awareness. A case study shows the critical importance of Signs and Wonders among Folk religions.
For a free introductory video about the workshop, write to World Vision Australia Book Shop, GPO Box 399C, Melbourne, Victoria 3001. Ph. (03) 287 2297; Fax (03) 287 2427.
In the summer of 1985 I was leading a four week Youth With A Mission (YWAM) training school for some fifty students in Holland. I had quit my job as a civil engineer and joined YWAM in 1977. A friend, and former YWAMer, Paul Piller from the Philippines, contacted me and offered to speak for a few days when he visited Holland.
I consented, although I wasn’t thrilled about his subject: healing. I knew one had to watch out for people who only wanted to talk about healing, faith, miracles, and demons.
I trusted Paul, but you never know what can happen to someone who has spent five years in the U.S. Paul had brought some others along: young fellows in T-shirts, blue jeans, and sneakers. I wondered why they had come. Were they going to sing or perform a drama?
As Paul began speaking, I relaxed. No screaming, no emotionalism. After the lecture, he and the young fellows moved around the group praying without saying much. One word stood out: ‘more’.
‘More of you Lord!’ They seemed unperturbed as certain things I was unfamiliar with started happening. Someone started weeping, others collapsed on their chairs, someone else stood shaking. After three days the place was turned upside down. People were filled with joy, received healing, delivered from demons, released from grief. I had hundreds of questions! I had tasted the new wine and I wanted more.
Paul suggested I go to a conference in Sheffield, England, led by a man named John Wimber. Off we went, with a number of YWAMers. I was ready for anything. My ‘holy frustration’ had reached a point where I was willing to let God do whatever he wanted.
I had been warned to get ready for change. God had spoken to me through the story in the second chapter of John’s Gospel – the wedding in Cana – where Jesus performed his first miracle of changing water into wine. Interestingly, the servants at the wedding were allowed to participate, because they filled the jars and took the newly transformed wine to the leader of the feast. Somewhere between the jar and the lips of that man, the water changed into wine.
The application for me of that story is that God is looking for people who want to co-operate with him in bringing this about. I had run out of wine, and now I wanted to see the Lord bring out his best vintage. I wanted God to restore my joy, and fill me with the Holy Spirit.
The conference was life-changing, even though I didn’t have any spine-tingling personal experiences or visions of ecstasy. Nevertheless God gave me a deep inner peace and an affirmation that the teaching I heard, and the ministry I was observing was from his hand.
Giving the Holy Spirit room
My wife and I and others returned home with a clear sense of purpose. Like the servants at the wedding in Cana, our part was to obediently draw out the water and faithfully carry it to others. God would change it into wine.
During the following months, I discovered how exciting life becomes when we give more room to the Holy Spirit! I tried to cultivate a greater sensitivity to God’s voice. My goal was to listen better to what he was saying, and act upon that in faith.
As John Wimber likes to point out, another way to spell faith is R-I-S-K. This new openness to the promptings of the Spirit led to some powerful times of ministry. My emphasis during individual counselling changed to less talk and more prayer. We also learned that demons are for real, but we have been given authority to drive them out (Matthew 10:8).
Though this new realm of ministry was exhilarating, we needed people from outside to help, advise, and direct us further. We invited people like Barry Kissel from the Anglican church in Chorleywood, England. He imparted to us much in the way of ministry skills.
At a certain stage in this new development I sensed the Lord said: ‘It’s time for you to begin modelling the ministry, like I did.’ After much hesitation, I announced we were going to start a training class with worship, teaching, and practical application. For the first lecture I had John Wimber on video. I led the practicum. The Holy Spirit ministered in a lovely way to a great many of the sixty who showed up. Some received comfort; others were healed. We decided to have a whole Saturday every month with those ingredients: worship, teaching, and ministry.
By word of mouth alone the group grew to about 350 after eight months. The team working with me had grown to about 30 persons. After each training day we evaluated, prayed, and discussed. I had learned the importance of multiplication. Your team can’t be big enough!
Passage to India
For the first two years of our marriage, my wife Marianne and I had worked with YWAM in Nepal, a country located between China and India, astride the Himalaya Mountains. For some time we had felt God was leading us back to that part of the world. In early 1989 we left for India with our three children. We ended up living in Bombay for almost four years. From the start I knew I was to invest myself in people. I constantly asked myself, ‘How can I give away what God has given me?’
I itinerated as a teacher in the discipleship training schools (DTS) which YWAM runs in different parts of the country. The theme that developed in my teaching was: ‘How to minister like Jesus.’ The teaching was simple, with lots of examples of how we should pray. After the lecture phase of the DTS, the students would go out for three months of outreach, usually involving evangelism and church planting. They came back with some amazing stories. For example:
The students were sent … to five different villages. At the end of two months they had established three fellowships in three different villages. Half the village where they stayed is ready to follow Jesus as Lord. Within the next three weeks 68 believers will be baptised. Despite all religious strongholds, barriers, Hindu militants and oppositions, God showed his mighty power through healings, and signs and wonders. Some people saw visions of Jesus hanging on the cross and showing them how much he loves them.
In that area the crops suffered from a disease. The farmers came and asked the team to pray to Jesus. The very next morning the people went to the field and discovered the disease had been totally wiped out. They came with great joy to confess their belief in Jesus since he had heard their prayers.
Once, while I was leading a small seminar, a local pastor named Garry walked in while I was praying for someone in front of the class. He left thinking, ‘I can do that.’
The first person he prayed for when he got home was his Hindu brother-in-law. For many years severe back pain had cost him many sleepless nights. The next day the brother-in-law returned, declaring the Lord Jesus had healed his back. He had slept through the night without waking up once.
Garry, who later became a good friend, had been having discussions with a strong Muslim about the Bible and the Koran. The argument always stopped where one would say ‘The Bible is the word of God’ and the other ‘The Koran is the word of God’. This time Garry took a different approach.
‘Can I pray for you?’ he asked, when he met the man again. Because Indians are among the most religious people on earth, this man, like almost everyone in India, was glad to receive prayer. As Garry put his hand on the man’s head and started praying the Muslim fell down and stayed on the floor for quite a while. Garry was puzzled! What next?
When the man got back on his feet, he shared what happened. While he was lying on the floor, he clearly heard a voice saying, ‘The Bible is the word of God!’ He went home with a Bible in his pocket.
Garry was on a roll. Wherever he went he prayed for people: in church, in the home groups, and especially in the streets while evangelising. In the time we worked together, several churches took root in the slums. People came mainly because they saw Jesus was more powerful than their own gods. Now Garry is going around equipping others to ‘minister like Jesus’.
‘Will this work?’
More and more I began to see the power of multiplication: invest yourself in a few people next to you and then let them go and do the same thing to others. You may never know the result until heaven, but it could be more powerful than the biggest healing crusade!
After a three week course, 25 YWAMers went back to their bases in different parts of the country. God had meet with us in special ways during those weeks, as we met together or as we went out to visit people and pray for them.
As two brothers went back to Varanasi, the holy city of the Hindus, they wondered, ‘Will this work back home?’ The first time they went into a Hindu village after their return, they started to worship Jesus. They intended to start a church there. Immediately the Holy Spirit started to come on people; demons manifested and were driven out. People saw the power of God and wanted to know more, providing an excellent opening to preach the Word of God.
While walking along the bank of the Ganges River, one of the brothers began talking to a Hindu priest. After a while, the Brahman complained about his headaches. Again, being highly religious, he was willing to receive prayer, even if it was offered in the name of Jesus. Under the power of God he fell down and after he got back up, his headache was completely gone. He sure wanted to know more about this powerful God!
Respect for God
India is more a continent than a country, with almost 900 million people who speak 1,600 different languages. Patrick Johnstone, in Operation World, estimates evangelical Christians comprise one per cent of the population, but the number is growing. Two thousand people groups have not been reached with the gospel yet. India must be reached by the spiritually equipped Indian church, but for a while non-Indian partners can help train and support Indian workers.
In YWAM, we have mixed teams of Indians and foreigners who plant churches, evangelise, and minister to the poor in various ways. Hindus and Muslims have great respect for God. The Hindus have millions of gods. Most Indians, especially the poor, are open to spiritual reality, and exercise great faith, upon hearing about a loving God who sent his Son to this world. In evangelism, miracles happen quickly and open many doors to preach the gospel.
I first experienced this in Bhopal, a city where some eight years ago a gas leak at the chemical plant killed at least 2,000 people. Today many still suffer the effects: eye problems, mouth sores and breathing difficulties. With a small team we visited the site where the calamity took place.
As some people gathered, one of us shared briefly who we were and our purpose for coming. One person was prayed for and got healed. More people came who wanted prayer. Some invited us to enter their huts to see those too sick to come out. We were busy for the next two hours to bless, comfort, and encourage. Many people received physical healing, saw visions of Jesus, were blessed with peace. We left many friends in this mainly Muslim community.
Of course, the nature of kingdom warfare is ‘attack – counter-attack’. The gospel does meet with opposition. Militant Hinduism is experiencing a revival. The north of India is hostile toward the gospel and to Western influence. To make one convert there is like making a hundred in the south.
An Indian friend of mine desired to work in Bihar, a state in the north, also known as ‘the graveyard of missionaries’. He had worked with me for sometime and learned more about how to minister in power evangelism. In Bihar, near the border of Nepal, he rented a home where he invited people. He shared with them, prayed for them and taught them how to pray for others. Many were blessed, healed, delivered, and came to salvation. A small church was established.
Across the border in Nepal, the spiritual atmosphere was different. Tremendous openings existed. Within a year almost a hundred people attended the newly started church! Approximately 50 churches have been planted in India by YWAM-trained workers through power evangelism.
More than eight years have passed since the visit of Paul Piller and since the conference with John Wimber in Sheffield. I have seen thousands of people who ran out of wine partake of ‘the best wine’ as I willingly brought them what I have: just plain water.
Dr Derek Prince holds a Ph.D. from Cambridge University and held a Fellowship in Philosophy at King’s College, Cambridge. He has produced many books and teaching videos on renewal.
Reports have been coming in from Christian groups in widely separated locations of what appears to be a strange new phenomenon. Believers of different ages and widely different social backgrounds are being overcome by prolonged outbursts of laughter which have no obvious cause. Sometimes they may also act as if they are drunk.
Often this laughter appears to be contagious. Those who have experienced it apparently ‘transmit’ it to others. Large groups may be seized by it simultaneously.
Both ministers and lay people from a wide range of denominations have been affected in this way. Some testify that it has had a stimulating effect on their faith and has brought them closer to the Lord. On the other hand, there are those who are sceptical and view this kind of experience as a deception of the enemy.
As a result of all this, I am frequently being asked whether I believe that the Holy Spirit at times produces in people prolonged, exuberant and apparently causeless laughter. ‘I have to believe it,’ I reply, ‘because that is how I was saved more than 50 years ago.’
In the summer of 1941, I was part of a medical unit of the British Army billeted in a hotel on the North Bay of Scarborough in Yorkshire. The hotel had been gutted of all its furniture and fittings. Our ‘beds’ were simply straw mattresses on the floor.
While in Scarborough I had some brief contacts with Pentecostal Christians, who confronted me for the first time with my need to receive Christ as my personal Saviour. At that point in my life I was a nominal Anglican, who never voluntarily attended church. I had never before heard of Pentecostals, and I had no idea what they believed or what kind of people they were.
About nine months previously, however, I had started to read the Bible through from beginning to end. I had no religious motive. I regarded the Bible merely as a work of philosophy. As a professional philosopher, I felt it was my academic duty to find out what the Bible had to say. At that point I had come as far as the book of Job – but it had been a dreary task!
Confronted in this way with the claims of Christ, however, I decided about 11 o’clock one night to pray ‘until something happened’. I had no idea what I might expect to happen. For about an hour I struggled in vain to form some kind of coherent prayer. Then about midnight I became aware of a presence and I found myself saying to some unknown person what Jacob had said when wrestling with the angel at Peniel: ‘Unless you bless me, I will not let you go’ (Genesis 32:26).
I repeated these words several times with increasing emphasis: ‘I will not let you go, I will not let you go …’ Then I began to say to the same unknown person, ‘Make me love you more and more’. When I got to these last words, I began to repeat them: ‘more and more and more …’
At this point an invisible power came down over me and I found myself on my back on the floor, with my arms in the air, still saying, ‘more and more and more …’
After a while my words changed to deep sobbing which rose up from my belly through my lips, shaking my whole body convulsively. The sobs did not proceed out of anything in my conscious mind. I had no special sense of being sinful.
After about half an hour, without any act of my volition, the sobbing changed to laughter. I had no more conscious reason for laughing than I had had for sobbing. The laughter, like the sobbing, flowed from my belly. At first, it was quite gentle, but it gradually became louder and louder. I had the impression that I was being immersed in a sea of laughter that reverberated around the room.
At this point the soldier who shared the room with me woke up to find me on my back on the floor clothed only in my underwear, with my arms in the air, laughing uproariously. Rising from his mattress, he walked around me rather helplessly two or three times, keeping at a safe distance. Finally he said, ‘I don’t know what to do with you. I suppose it’s no good pouring water over you.’ An inaudible voice within me responded, ‘Even water wouldn’t put this out!’
However, I remembered dimly having heard years earlier in church that we should not blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Contrary to all my natural reasoning, I knew that what was in me was the Holy Spirit. In order not to offend my friend, I rolled over onto my face and laboriously crawled to my mattress. Pulling the blanket over my head, I eventually fell asleep, still laughing – quietly.
A totally different person
Next morning I awoke to an amazing, but objective fact: I was a totally different person. No longer did vile language flow out of my mouth. Prayer was no longer an effort, it was as natural as breathing. I could not even drink a glass of water without pausing to thank God for it.
At six o’clock, as was my usual custom, I went to the pub for a drink. But when I got to the door, my legs ‘locked’. They would not carry me inside the pub. I stood there having an argument with my legs. Then, to my surprise, I realised I was no longer interested in what the pub had to offer. I turned round and walked back to my billet.
Back in my billet once again, I opened my Bible to continue reading. At this point, however, I discovered the most amazing change of all. Overnight the Bible had become a completely new book. It was as if there were only two persons in the universe – God and me. The Bible was God speaking directly and personally to me. This has never changed, and it is equally true of the Old Testament and the New.
I opened by chance at Psalm 126:1-2: ‘When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter…’
At that point I paused. ‘That’s exactly what happened to me,’ I thought. ‘It wasn’t I who was laughing. My mouth was being filled with laughter from some other source!’ Upon further reflection, I saw that this strange, supernatural laughter was the way that God’s people expressed their joy and excitement at being delivered from captivity. …
One evening about ten days after my first encounter with the Lord, I was lying on my back on my mattress in the billet and I began to speak an unfamiliar language that sounded to me like Chinese. Once again, I dimly recalled something I had heard in church about ‘speaking with other tongues’. I knew it was connected somehow with the day of Pentecost. At first I spoke timidly and hesitantly, but as I relaxed, the flow of words became free and forceful.
Once again, the initiative did not come from me. I was responding to a powerful inner force that came very specifically – like my previous laughter – from my belly.
The following evening I again found myself speaking an unknown language, but it was obviously different from the language I had been speaking the previous evening. This time I noticed that the words had a very marked poetic rhythm.
After a few moments of silence, I began to speak in English, but the words were not of my choosing, and their content was on a level far above that of my own understanding. Also, they seemed to have a rhythm similar to that of the words that I had previously spoken in an unknown language. I concluded that my words in English were an interpretative rendering of what I had previously said in the unknown language.
One brief section of what I said in English remains indelibly impressed upon my memory. In vivid imagery, it outlined God’s plan for my life. Looking back over more than 50 years, I can see how God’s plan has been – and is still being – progressively worked out in my life.
In retrospect, too, I have gained a new understanding of my initial experience of supernatural laughter. Unconventional as it was, it proved to be the divinely appointed door through which I entered a lifelong walk of faith. It also had the effect of liberating me from many preconceptions of my background and culture which could have been a barrier to my further spiritual progress.
In Matthew 12:33 Jesus states the most decisive test that must be applied to all forms of spiritual experience: ‘a tree is known by its fruit.’ I have to ask myself therefore: What has been the fruit of my strange experience? Is it possible to give an objective answer?
Yes, the fruit of that experience has been a life converted from sin to righteousness, from agnostic dabbling in the occult to unshakeable faith in Jesus Christ as he is revealed in the Scriptures – life that has been bringing forth fruit in God’s Kingdom for well over 50 years. Certainly that was no transient product of autosuggestion or of some mere emotional extravagance.
From time to time, in the succeeding years, I have received a renewed experience of supernatural laughter. I have also seen other believers touched by God in a similar way, but this has never been a main emphasis of my teaching. Almost invariably I have found this kind of laughter has a double effect: it is both cleansing and exhilarating. At times it has been accompanied by miracles of physical healing or of deliverance from emotional conditions such as depression. …
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cleansing and exhilarating –
at times accompanied by miracles
of physical healing or of deliverance
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The fruit we should look for
I have been emphasising the principle that ‘a tree is known by its fruit.’ Logically, therefore, in evaluating the current move in the church, we should ask: If this move is from God, what kind of fruit should we look for? In reply, I would suggest five main kinds of fruit that would authenticate the present move.
1. The fruit of repentance
All through the New Testament the first thing that God demanded was not faith, but repentance. John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus by calling for repentance (Matthew 3:2). When the religious people came to him for baptism, he demanded that they first produce in their lives the fruits of repentance (Matthew 3:7-8).
The first word that Jesus preached was, ‘Repent’ (Mark 1:15). He told the multitudes, ‘Unless you repent, you will perish’ (Luke 13:3-5). After his resurrection he told his disciples that repentance, first, and then forgiveness of sins should be preached to all nations (Luke 24:17).
On the day of Pentecost the first demand that Peter made of the convicted but unconverted multitude was ‘Repent – then be baptised (Acts 2:38).
Speaking to the people of Athens, Paul said, ‘God now commands everyone everywhere to repent’ (Acts 17:30). Throughout his ministry he required, first repentance toward God, then faith toward Christ (Acts 20:21).
True repentance is not an emotion, but a decision of the will – a decision to turn away from all sin and unrighteousness and to submit unreservedly to the Lordship of Jesus.
Repentance is the first of the six foundational doctrines listed in Hebrews 6:1-2. Those who have not truly repented can never have a solid foundation for their lives as Christians. Over the years I have counselled hundreds of Christians with various problems in their lives. As a result, I have concluded that at least 50 per cent of the problems in the lives of Christians are due to one simple fact: they have never truly repented.
I believe that a renewed emphasis on repentance is the most urgent need of the contemporary church in the West. To be effective, any move in the church must deal with this issue.
2. Respect for Scripture
A second decisive factor in our lives as Christians is our attitude to Scripture. Jesus called the Scripture ‘the word of God’ and he set his personal seal upon it by five simple words: ‘the Scripture cannot be broken’ (John 10:35). No amount of ‘higher criticism’ can set aside the plain meaning of these words. If we believe in Jesus then we believe in the Bible. If we do not believe in the Bible, then we do not believe in Jesus.
In Isaiah 66:2 the Lord says: ‘This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word’ (NIV). God here combines repentance – a humble and contrite spirit – with faith in his word.
Why should we tremble at God’s word? First, because it is the way that God the Father and God the Son come to us and make their home with us (John 14:23). Second, because God’s word will one day be our judge (John 12:48).
From creation onwards, God has worked through two main agents: his word and his Spirit. First, the Spirit of God moved; then God’s word went forth (Genesis 1:2-3). The result was creation.
Ever since then the Spirit and the word have always worked together in harmony. Anything that the Spirit does harmonises with what the word says. Furthermore, all Scripture is inspired by his Holy Spirit and he never contradicts himself (2 Timothy 3:16).
This means that every kind of spiritual manifestation must be tested by this standard: Is it in harmony with Scripture? If so, we can receive it. If not, we must reject it.
3 Exaltation of Jesus
In John 16:13-14 Jesus promised his disciples, ‘When he, the Spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth… He will glorify me…’
Jesus here reveals two important facts about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. First of all, his supreme function is to glorify Jesus. This provides an authoritative test of any spiritual manifestation. Does it focus our attention on Jesus? Does it exalt Jesus?
As soon as human personalities are allowed to take the centre of the stage, the Holy Spirit begins to withdraw. The exaltation of human personalities has many times quenched what was originally a genuine move of the Holy Spirit.
Then we need to notice that Jesus is careful to emphasise that the Holy Spirit is not an ‘it’ but a ‘He’. When people begin to explain spiritual experience in terms of getting ‘it’, it can easily happen that they get the wrong ‘it’.
Jesus is a person and the Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit, as a person, draws believers together around the person of Jesus. When we make a doctrine or an experience the focus of our gathering, we are spiritually ‘off centre’.
4. Love for our fellow Christians
In John 13:35 Jesus told his followers, ‘By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.’ In 1 Timothy 1:5 Paul said, ‘The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith’ (NASB). Any form of religious activity that does not produce this result, he dismissed as ‘fruitless discussion’.
In 1 Corinthians 13:2 Paul applied this test to himself: If I have all the spiritual gifts of power and revelation, but have not love, I am nothing.
Before we apply this test to others, we need to do the same as Paul and apply it to ourselves. We each need to ask: Has my faith made me a loving person?
Then – and only then – can we apply this test to the present move in the church. Is it producing Christians who sincerely love one another – regardless of denominational labels? Will it cause the unbelievers to say of these people what the world said of the early church: ‘See how these Christens love one another?’
5. Loving concern for the unreached
In John 4:35 Jesus told his disciples, ‘Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are white already for harvest.’ If those words were true even in the time of Jesus, they are certainly more true today. I have been privileged to travel and minister in many nations and I have formed one firm conclusion: We are living in the harvest hour!
Yet, alas, many Christians, who could be working in the harvest fields of the world, are caught in a snare of materialistic self-centredness. I believe that any genuine move of the Holy Spirit will result in multitudes of new labourers being thrust forth into the world’s harvest fields. Otherwise it does not truly reflect the heart of God.
If a significant number of Christians in the current move successfully pass all, or most, of the five tests outlined above, then it is safe to conclude that this is, essentially, a move of God. This does not mean that everyone or everything in it is faultless. God has no faultless people to work with.
It is amazing what he can do with weak and fallible people who are truly surrendered to Him.
Brian Hathaway, an elder in a Brethren church in Auckland, and national principal of the Bible College of New Zealand, wrote of the journey towards integration in ministry.
Our congregation in West Auckland was formed in 1965 as an offshoot of a Brethren church in Auckland. In its early days it was very much a youth outreach. In the 1970’s we were impacted by the Charismatic Renewal that was going on in New Zealand. People in our congregation attended services and conferences, read books, listened to tapes and of course came back and discussed this in the church and home groups. Not surprisingly, this created a degree of conflict and tension in the congregation.
However, previous to these events God had brought us to an understanding of the importance of relationships in the church: the need to be honest, open and transparent with each other so that we could handle tensions. I’m grateful to God that he brought that to our attention first. It enabled us to handle more easily the pressures that the renewal brought to us.
I need to say that at no time in our history did we ever sit down and devise some sort of master plan for what has happened in our congregation. All we sought to do as an eldership was take the steps that God led us into. In Mark 4:24 Jesus says, ‘Consider carefully what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.’ It is crucial to understand that we must use what God gives us.
If God teaches us something, use it. Apply it. The measure we use whatever you apply, whatever you use, whatever you appropriate that will be measured back to you again and even more. This principle is fundamental in leadership. It’s about going forward individually and corporately; growing together personally and as a group; listening to God privately and collectively. We are on a pilgrimage. And that’s a community activity, as the New Testament sees it. A ‘walking with Jesus, and in the company of others’ (Fung). Our history has been an expression of a desire to follow God through a series of doors he’s opened to us.
With Charismatic Renewal occurring in many churches around our country, and people in the congregation becoming interested and involved, we clearly had to address the issue. In l978 the elders decided to spend the year talking about Charismatic Renewal together. What was it? Could we embrace it? Were there things we could learn from it? We spent one night a month talking, praying, reading papers, looking into the Scriptures discussing the matter and by October we had come to the unanimous conclusion that we could embrace two main features of the movement.
1. We concluded that each Christian needed an empowering work of the Holy Spirit. We did not want to argue over what to call this or whether it came at or after conversion. What we were concerned about was that people knew the Holy Spirit experientially not just in their head, or as theology.
2. We decided that we would be open to all the gifts of the Holy Spirit and seek to operate these gifts along Biblical guidelines. To us it did not seem consistent to believe that certain gifts ceased at the end of the first century.
Thus at the end of l978 there was a change in the elders’ attitude towards the work of the Spirit. A paper was presented to the Church outlining our conclusions, and then discussed thoroughly. The whole process evoked a very positive response from the congregation. People said that at last the elders knew where they were going. We didn’t really! We had started on a pilgrimage and we are still on a pilgrimage, taking steps of faith. I hope we will always do this. Not to do so is to wither and die.
In a nutshell I guess what we said was, ‘Lord, do anything you want to. With your help, from our Brethren foundation, we will seek to discover in practice what it means to follow your Spirit. We don’t want to be a Pentecostal church; neither do we want to copy Charismatic churches. We may go to them to receive insight, but we want this to be unique for us.’ Can’t the God who makes unique snowflakes also make unique congregations?
At the beginning of l979 the congregation started to grow very rapidly. Nothing had changed but our attitude towards the Holy Spirit. People became Christians in January. Unusual for New Zealand! God’s in the Northern Hemisphere over January; New Zealanders are at the beach! To see six adults converted in January was staggering; and it continued month after month.
Over the next ten years, as best as we can estimate, we saw about 1,000 people come to faith in Christ. As we look back on this, all we can say is that God saw our unity and change of attitude towards his Spirit and began to work in a new way among us.
New Directions
Within a year, God led us into penetrating the community. Normally when a church starts to grow, the first thing you think about is getting a fulltime pastor. God seemed to be saying to us, though, that we should think about our wider community first. So we approached a couple about this, and for eighteen months financially supported by the congregation they worked within the local community. Via newspapers, local groups and Government departments, they signalled availability to senior citizens, single parents and those who were sick. They cut hedges, mowed lawns, cleaned windows, provided transport.
Often after doing a job they would be invited in to have a cup of tea. The person helped would want to know how much they owed for the service provided. Hearing it was nothing would inevitably open up further discussion as to how and why this was possible. This would lead quite naturally to sharing about Christ. In eighteen months this couple led about 8 people into a totally new relationship with the Lord. We now realise that we had linked together social concern and evangelism.
From there a cluster of community ministries developed to begin to meet peoples’ needs within the community. We were also involved in overseas mission and most recently we have been engaged in church planting. Currently we have three congregations that are seeking to work together. Our premise here is that it is a little short sighted to form a new congregation and lock up all the resources of that congregation within itself. Our aim is to have congregations with their own responsible elderships inter relating, with a free flow of resources, people and training across congregations.
A co-ordinating group facilitates combined arrangements and there is recognition of visionary people who can maintain the bigger view. You will probably realise that this is not a Brethren pattern. Nor has it been easy to implement. In the past, new Brethren congregations fairly quickly isolated themselves from others or the birthing body to go their own, totally autonomous, way. We do not feel that this is a Biblical model. There seems to be a degree of liaison between the churches of the New Testament.
Thus our aim is to get the best of both worlds local elders committed to the establishment of work in the local area, while at the same time maintaining relationships between elders in each congregation to enable a free flow of resources.
For us, combined areas involve overseas missions, youth, equipping, about six combined celebrations a year, and elders retreats. Currently we are responsible for somewhere over 1000 adults and children across the three congregations.
As we look back on the steps that we have taken, we recognise that we have been seeking to integrate three major emphases. Onto our heritage of a conservative evangelical church we have sought to build the strengths of the Pentecostal/Charismatic streams of the Church and then the strengths of the social justice stream of the Church.
In endeavouring to interweave the strengths of these three movements we have also come to recognise their weaknesses. Let me sketch these quickly for you. I am indebted to Roger Forster from the Ichthus Fellowship, London, for some of these insights.
The Conservative/Evangelical Position
The first weakness we see in this position is the rather emasculated gospel of ‘souls’. Two things that were impressed on me in my younger days were the necessity of living a holy life and the need to save souls. I have discovered that these goals are not wrong but they are insufficient.
Another weakness of this position has been the tendency towards a bigoted, self righteous exclusiveness. I can remember in my Bible class days analysing the cults. We would discuss why the main world religions were wrong, why the Jehovah’s Witnesses were wrong, the Methodists, the Presbyterians…..! Let me, to be fair, say that I am talking about a conservative country assembly of 35 years ago. I also want to make it quite clear that I am very grateful for my Brethren heritage. I am not putting that down. I wouldn’t dare to. Its innate strengths, prayerful parents and many Brethren friends make any rejection of my origins impossible. And it is part of God’s good grace to me, anyway! I am just pointing out some of the weaknesses.
A further weakness for many conservative evangelicals has been the emphasis on personal piety at the expense of social concern or social issues. This has probably stemmed from, and been reinforced by, the idea of ‘coming out from among them and being separate’. This was a strong element of teaching in my youth. In practice it often meant no dances; and no cinemas. When my Dad played cricket for a local Club he was criticised not for playing on Sunday but for playing on Saturday. ‘You don’t do that. You might get caught up in their sinful habits!’ In Exclusive Brethren Assemblies such an attitude is taken to the extreme of not eating with people, not listening to radios, and blocking windows of churches so people cannot see into the buildings.
I do not want to criticise rather I would analyse. This is a far healthier approach as it invites us to work together on areas that create division and destabilise relationships.
The Pentecostal/Charismatic Position
A major weakness of this stream has been the lack of objectivity in assessing ‘results’ and an accompanying tendency towards extravagant claims. Objective assessment of healings may be seen as lack of faith and sometimes extravagant claims are made prematurely.
Another weakness here is what many would see as manipulation and guiltproducing techniques. Before an offering is taken up I have heard some preachers say, ‘If you give $10 to God he will multiply it tenfold.’ I have been in many Pentecostal services and I sometimes sense that the worship leader is trying to manipulate the congregation. Such activities are not what God requires. They worry me.
A further weakness is the personal indulgence, the selfinterest, the ‘Ime’ Christianity. This is not limited to Pentecostals and Charismatics, but is quite strongly reinforced in these groups, especially in Western nations. We see its extremes in Prosperity Teaching. ‘What’s in this for me?’ is often the motivation. Such an attitude is fed by our selfcentred society and our highly individualistic culture. Very often we Christians do not realise that this is happening to us.
The Liberal/Social Justice Position
The first weakness here is the failure to recognise the spiritual base of evil. Jesus clearly identified two kingdoms in conflict and he came to destroy the works of darkness. We’ll not overcome the kingdom of Satan or social injustice simply by using human force, ingenuity, education or organisation. I am not saying that such human activities are unnecessary or futile, but in themselves they are insufficient. Sin is at the root of social injustice and you can’t overcome sin in human systems solely by human endeavour. This tendency leads to an involvement in social justice dealing with fruits rather than roots.
The result of this is often tired, wornout people, overwhelmed by the needs of society. We have to ask questions about that. I do not question such peoples’ motivation. They are well meaning and very committed to relieving a hurting society. I am not saying that serving God is easy or that you won’t get tired. Of course not. None of us would. However I do sense a stress level in some of my Liberal Church friends who are very passionate about social needs in the community. I also see them often having great difficulty peopling their ministries.
If I were to juxtapose the liberal position with the classical evangelical position I’d say that Liberals go for improvement of life but ignore sin, whereas Evangelicals go for forgiving of sin but ignore life. E. Stanley Jones, speaking of this tension, says ‘the one preaches the Gospel of bodies without souls, while the other preaches the Gospel of souls without bodies. The first is a corpse and the second a ghost.’
Now let me now draw your attention to the great strengths in these three streams of the Church. It’s here that we can really learn from each other.
Words: living by the truth of God
The major strength of the Evangelical position is clearly its strong biblical base and emphasis on the need for a personal encounter with God through Jesus Christ. The commitment to Scripture as the basis for our Christian faith and the commitment to faith in God through Christ for salvation. I am glad for the heritage of my Biblical base. I’d not trade it for anything. I’m glad my children have it. In such an uncertain world it is a great foundation on which to build.
Signs: living in the power of God
The major strength of the Pentecostal/Charismatic position seems to be the emphasis on the practical experience of the empowering, gifting and leading of the Holy Spirit. I choose the words `practical experience’ carefully. In most of my Brethren upbringing we never got practical in this area. If we talked about the leading of the Spirit we never learned how actually to experience it. I remember one of our early New Zealand evangelists telling about being led by God in the 1930’s to visit a town not on his itinerary, to discover many people waiting to hear the Gospel. This same man later came out very strongly against Pentecostal and the charismatic movement in our country. Our denomination has closed off from this whole dimension for about 30 years.
The Holy Spirit to the average Pentecostal/Charismatic is more than a theology or set of ideas or verses. He is the dynamic source of their spiritual life and Christian activity. Most Pentecostals and Charismatics are so because of an identifiable encounter with the Holy Spirit often subsequent to their salvation experience/event. Many such encounters that I have observed are life changing and deeply motivating. Intoxication was the description used in Acts 2. For them, Christian faith moves away from a solely intellectual and rational appeal and touches the deepest regions of a person’s being. Often expressed in vibrant life, it can be very attractive to the nonChristian.
Much of our Brethren expression of our Christian faith (in New Zealand anyway) has been legal, rational and intellectual in its approach. Scripture assures us that ‘the letter kills; the Spirit gives life.’ To put the two dimensions of mind and spirit together is one of the greatest challenges facing Christians worldwide. I am very glad that our four children have been brought up in a church which understands this. They have seen people healed, they have experienced miraculous things, they have sensed the vibrancy and the expectancy of faith. They have all had a deep experience of God. We are glad about that. It has brought great strength to them.
I acknowledge that in this area there is also a danger of ‘froth and bubble’. Lack of depth or maturity which may lead to postpentecostals and postcharismatics (See Barratt, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 12, No.3, July 1988).
Let me add that the Maori people have taught me a lot about sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. They are often very sensitive spiritually; sensitive to God and sensitive to the presence of demonic forces. It is those of us from a Western world view and I identify myself here in particular, coming as I do from a rational scientific background and a conservative Brethren heritage who have had particular struggles with aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit. This has been a great part of our pilgrimage over the past decade, seeking to discover this dimension and outwork it within the framework and guidelines of Scripture.
Within this major strength in the Pentecostal/Charismatic stream of the Church I have observed three further highlights. Each seems to have inherent strengths and weaknesses.
i. The evidence of spiritual gifts
Strength: The expectancy (faith) that the God of heaven is not dead, but loves to manifest his grace gifts among his people, is a characteristic feature of this `stream’ of the Christian church. I well remember a Saturday morning just over two years ago, when a group of about 40 young people from our congregation were waiting expectantly for a session to begin. We had invited a person with a prophetic gift to our congregations and I knew that he had never met any of these young people before. One by one he stood them before him and spoke what he sensed God was saying to him. The group laughed as he touched on personal character traits that they recognised. Some cried as he mentioned their deepest longings and encouraged them to follow closely as God led them on.
Time after time we were awed as he spoke of things that he could have had no previous knowledge of. To the young man in the process of closing a business and with very little else offering ‘You are having financial struggles but God is going to open up something new to you.’ And it happened within a few weeks. To a young woman who had just returned from working with drug addicts and prostitutes in New York ‘You have the underprivileged on your heart.’ To another whose family was going through deep waters ‘You have been grieving for your family and God has seen your great concern.’ To one of the ‘characters’ of the group ‘Come here stirrer!’ And so it went on. Clear insights that could only come from the Spirit of God. Those young people left the room that morning walking on air God had spoken to them directly.
That type of prophetic gifting operating in a church is very powerful. Over recent years we have sought to encourage people who have sensed God leading them in this way to use this gifting.
Weakness: People can get ‘hooked’ on the supernatural and may be unable to handle periods of struggle or suffering. Then there is also the problem of hyper-faith and presumption. When you get involved in praying for healing, make sure that you have a theology of nonhealing as well, because pastorally you will need it. I have no problem if people get healed; the problem is when they don’t.
ii. A heightened awareness of spiritual warfare and the need for prayer
Strength: The awareness of the spiritual dimension of life and the nature of the spiritual battle that is occurring on this planet are taken very seriously by most Pentecostals and Charismatics. Intercession is a word more commonly used by people of this stream of the Christian Church than by most of those in our Brethren assemblies.
Weakness: The danger of attributing everything to the devil and not recognising that much evil still lurks within the human soul.
iii. Dynamic music, worship and praise
Strength: There is little doubt that much of the best Christian music has come out of this stream of the Church over the past 30 years, inspired, they would claim, by the Holy Spirit. It’s very attractive especially to young people. Many of the melodies and words seem to touch people deeply, often producing an outpouring of genuine love and adoration to the Lord.
Weakness: Worship may degenerate into a form of mushy sentimentality which caters for the prevalent existential ethos of much of our current society. While I am discussing the Pentecostal, Charismatic and Third Wave (those who embrace the gifts and miraculous dimensions of the ministry of the Holy Spirit without wanting to be identified as Pentecostals or Charismatics) stream of the Church, let me remind you of its incredible growth over this century. From about 1% of the Christian Church at the commencement of 20th century to an estimated 30% by the end of the century. That’s somewhere in the vicinity of 600 million people. An incredibly significant increase by anybody’s reckoning! It has been noted that both the first century and the 20th century have been centuries of the Holy Spirit. Recent research reveals a correlation between the evidence of the supernatural power of God and Church growth, particularly in the two-thirds world countries.
Deeds: living out the love of God
Finally let me outline what I see as the great strength of the Liberal stream of the Church their passionate concern for social justice. Frequently their perspective on Scripture has ‘brought me up with a jolt’, as I have seen something of the passion of God’s own heart for justice and his desires for his people.
Put another way, its strength lies in the understanding that the gospel has implications beyond personal salvation. I have come to understand that God is committed to the salvation, the reconciliation and the redemption of the whole universe. The cross does not only address personal sin. Its implications are much bigger. Ultimately everything that sin has touched and spoiled, God wants back under his rule and authority. He has commissioned us to go down that track as far as we can.
Conclusion
One of the problems we human beings have is ignoring strengths when we find weaknesses in a position contrary to our beliefs. If I can find weaknesses, I will focus on them and use them to dismiss and undermine strengths in an alternative position that I should be examining. This happens in all areas of life. As a leadership we have tried to listen to and learn from the insights of other perspective of the Church . We have sought to integrate the strengths of our evangelical heritage with those of the Pentecostal/Charismatic stream and the Liberal stream of the Church. We still have a long way to go, with much to learn and embrace; but then I guess that’s what it means to be on a pilgrimage.
For the Evangelical the Gospel is most powerfully proclaimed by words; for the Pentecostal/Charismatic the declaration is most clearly emphasised in signs; for the Liberal the good news is most meaningfully expressed in deeds.
Words announce the truth of God. Signs demonstrate the power of God. Deeds express the love of God.
If we only have words, we compete with all the philosophies and the theories that are circulating in society and we compete poorly because often churches are poor at communication. If we only have deeds, we find we are competing with philanthropic agencies in our society and what difference do people in the community see between these and the Church? If we only have signs we end up competing with the demonic.
I believe that the key for the Church today is to integrate make one these three dimensions. Not to lose evangelism, for example, but to link it to the power of the Spirit flowing through social concern and bringing them together in a biblically holistic Gospel.
This is what it means to follow Jesus. He is both the Head and Source of our faith. He is also our example. In Luke 4:18 he could say ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me (pentecosta1/charismatic emphasis). He has anointed me (again the pentecostal/charismatic emphasis) to preach good news (evangelical focus) to the poor (Liberal emphasis), he has sent me to proclaim freedom to the prisoners (double emphasis announce; justice), recovery of sight to the blind (double emphasis announce; miraculous sign), to release the oppressed (triple emphasis announce; deed; identify with), and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour’ (again surely the triple emphasis).
In his second book, Luke reports Peter as saying to Cornelius: ‘You know the message that God sent the people of Israel telling the Good News of peace through Jesus Christ. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. How he went around doing good deeds, healing all that were under the power of the devil, because God was with him’ (Acts 10:37-38).
Thus in the life of Christ we see the integration of these three dimensions. A commitment to words and truth; a commitment to signs and power, a commitment to deeds and love.
I believe it is God’s intention to raise up congregations all over Australia that embrace these three strands. Leaders are needed that seek to integrate them, struggle to maintain a healthy balance between them, and equip and release their people for them.
(c) Grid Autumn 1993, published by World Vision Australia, GPO Box 399C, Melbourne, Vic. 3001. Brian Hathaway has traced more fully the pilgrimage of the Te Atatu Bible Chapel in his book Beyond Renewal: The Kingdom of God (Word Publishing, 1990). Used with permission.
This testimony is also included in the Introduction to
