I've been wanting to circle back on My Early Story and touch on the Charismatic Movement. A friend of mine made a comment to me a couple of weeks ago that motivated me to do it.
The Charismatic Movement
I imagine I
should say some things about the Charismatic Movement, since it also played a
formative role in my early life (the 1960s and early 1970s). I realize that not everyone has good memories
of the movement, and I see some crazies today who are products of it. However,
I also meet folks for whom it was a formative blessing, many of them now in
vocational ministry in traditional settings.
Frankly, when I
consider the disgusting unconscionable behavior, including coverups, that have
occurred in churches, Protestant, Pentecostal, Anglican, Roman Catholic, and
Eastern Orthodox, the excesses of the Charismatic Movement pale in comparison. The
problem with Pentecostals and Charismatics used to be that they didn’t know how
to properly deport themselves, they weren’t “religious” enough, that was
really, I think, their great sin (that and being a threat to old wineskins).
Furthermore, whatever sins and stupidness were present in the Charismatic Movement
generally weren’t institutional (as with traditional churches) – for it had no
institutions in the beginning.
There isn’t
anything today that I’d term a Charismatic Movement, but there is a lot of
craziness going on – everywhere, in non-traditional settings and in traditional
settings. I don’t know really what to think, so much poison in thinking and
behavior. Well, I do know what to think, we need Jesus, O how we need Jesus.
While I am going
to focus on the positive, I want to mention that I had a terrible time at one
point when associated with the “Movement.” I can’t look back on it without
shame, disgust, and sorrow. I want you to know that I write from a critical
point-of-view, but that I’m also thankful for the Spirit of renewal that not
only touched many during that time, but which laid the foundation for many of
my future relationships.
When we go
astray it is usually because Jesus is no longer enough, we think we need
something to add to Him (2 Cor. 11:1 – 3; Mt. 17:5).
My initial
exposure to the movement took two forms, one was through the Full Gospel
Business Men’s Fellowship International, the other through a local Assembly of
God.
After my abbreviated
time at Bible college, I sought fellowship in a local church back in Maryland. Considering
my experience at Bible college, and considering that my two pastors who were
instrumental in sending me to the school did not follow up with me after my expulsion,
it was natural that I’d look elsewhere for a place to worship and meet people. Perhaps
the pastors were embarrassed that someone they had endorsed was expelled,
perhaps they just didn’t know how to relate to a kid who had not been raised in
their tradition, perhaps it was simpler for them to leave me alone – teenagers
can require investment, time, work, and patience.
I began
attending a small Assembly of God within walking distance of where I lived. The
building would probably only hold 100 – 150 people and there was no threat of
overcrowding. The pastor was a retired FBI agent who exhibited a thoughtful and
quiet demeanor. There was a group within the congregation that gathered on
Sunday mornings, they were charismatic refugees from the Methodist Church; the
refugee Methodists befriended me.
The “refugees”
greatly respected the pastor, and I think were bemused at his dilemma, for
while he was a traditional AG pastor, they were not traditional Pentecostal
parishioners. Yet, in looking back, the pastor was likely ideal for them in
that he had a breath of experience outside his religious tradition, and he
could give them room to grow in Christ; he was able to minister to folks
outside his tradition as well as those within it – a rare combination.
Of the three
major “white” Pentecostal denominations, I have long thought that the
Assemblies of God were more open to those from other traditions…and to those
from no tradition. I think this ability to welcome and assimilate, to be
permeable in culture, has contributed to the growth of the AG. While I have
encountered AG throwbacks that focus on externals and legalism and a message of
condemnation, these have been the exception in my experience. The same is true
for having an emphasis on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with the initial
evidence of speaking in tongues, this is not “the thing” today that it once was
in the AG, and I wonder why my Pentecostal brethren don’t rethink this
“distinctive.”
Let me return to
the “refugees” lest I dwell too much on Pentecostals.
The refugees met
in homes regularly as a way of life. We’d read the Bible, pray, and listen to
teaching tapes by various charismatic teachers. There were times when we’d
drive to the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. and pray in one of the
chapels – in those days at least one chapel was accessible 24 hours a day.
I don’t recall
an insistence that people speak in tongues, or any notion that people who moved
in the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4 – 13) were better than anyone
else. I don’t remember any hint of exclusiveness. I do recall that it was
assumed that everyone was valuable, that everyone had something to share. I cherish
my memories of the refugees being excited about Jesus, about God being alive in
our lives on a daily basis.
Christ Church
was an Assembly of God in N.W. D.C. It had a large seating capacity, and it
opened its doors during certain evenings for folks across the city to come and
worship in an open and “charismatic” fashion. I don’t recall whether this was
weekly, but it was regularly scheduled. I think it was called “T.A.G,” which
meant “take and give.” That was the spirit of the Charismatic Movement as I
knew it in those days, you gathered with other disciples of Jesus to share and
receive, the notion that only one person did all the talking was foreign, the
notion that we were expected to do the same thing the same way week after week
was alien. We were growing together, learning together, worshipping together.
To be continued...
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