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THE ROOTS OF THE CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT
The Charismatic Movement emerged as a distinctive movement for the first time during the late 1950s and early 1960s (Anderson 2004:144). Stronstad (1984:1) describes Charismatics as children of the marriage between Pentecostal experience and traditional Reformed, Lutheran, or Catholic theology. As neo-Pentecostal, they interpret the baptism of the Holy Spirit to be a subsequent experiential evidence of the Holy Spirit who was given earlier in conversion. It was in 1956 when Richard Winkler, a rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Wheaton started the first Charismatic prayer meeting among Episcopalians soon after he experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit. During the same year, a Presbyterian minister, James Brown, received Sprit baptism and started a Charismatic prayer meeting in his church in Pennsylvania.
The following year, Bredesen began a Charismatic prayer meeting in his church in New York. By the early 1960s, the Charismatic Movement was already represented in many conservative denominational churches, but many of those who experienced it did not come out to the open for fear of persecution and rejection (Anderson 2004:144; Synan 2001:153). Hanson wrote:
―Then in 1959, through contact with Pentecostal Christians, people in mainstream churches began to have Pentecostal experiences. Most of these people chose to remain in their mainstream churches rather than join a Pentecostal church. This movement involving mainstream church people with Pentecostal experiences is commonly called the Charismatic movement…‖ (Hanson, 1997:236).
The events which took place in St. Mark‘s Episcopal Church in California in 1960 marked the ―inauguration‖ of the Charismatic Movement. Ennis Bennett, a rector of St. Marks‘ Episcopal Church who had received baptism in the Holy Spirit in 1959 through a vicar and lay persons in his perish, had led about seventy people in his parish to receive baptism in the Holy Spirit by April, 1960. It was during the same year that Bennett testified openly to his parishioners at a Sunday service. Pandemonium broke out as some members of his perish protested. McDonnell (1980:1) states that one of his curates resigned, another declared that the Episcopal Church could not tolerate such matters, and the church treasurer demanded Bennett‘s resignation (Synan 2001:153).
Following Bennett‘s saga was the decision of the Bishop of Los Angeles diocese to ban speaking in tongues at functions held under church auspices. He thereupon appointed a commission to study the outbreak of tongues. The commission studied the New Testament evidence and the attitudes of the historic church and made comparisons with the glossolalia practiced by Bennett and friends. The commission‘s report identified those speaking in tongues as enthusiasts who placed their achievement above Jesus Christ and his church. The report labelled Bennett‘s testimony as focusing on his newly found happiness rather than confessing the lordship of Jesus Christ. The report concluded with doubts over the normality of those speaking in tongues when compared with the Acts 2 experience in which those who spoke in tongues could be understood by bystanders (McDonnell 1980:1). Bennett‘s humiliating experience deserves much attention as it provides background for the emergence of the Charismatic movement. Bennett’s story made news headlines all over the world. The national publicity he received made him a controversial figure overnight. This encouraged other Charismatic Christians to take their testimonies to the public domain. Subsequent to this, the Charismatic Movement became publicly known as ‘The Charismatic Renewal’ or Neo-Pentecostalism’ (Anderson 2004:147; Synan 2001:153). It appeared later that the humiliation Dennis Bennett suffered was actually setting him up for a significant ministry. Another bishop who sympathised with his sacking appointed Bennett to the position of a rector of a small Episcopal Church in Seattle, which was struggling. Under Bennett’s leadership, the church experienced rapid growth until it was the largest in the diocese, boasting a parish membership that afforded him a platform to minister to 2000 people weekly. Bennett turned the run-down urban church into a centre of Charismatic Renewal which attracted people from different denominations including Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, and Presbyterians. It was possible for people from other denominations to attend his meetings because Bennett was conducting evening services in which people were baptised in the Holy Spirit daily (Synan 2001:155).
It was through Bennett that other ministers became involved in the Charismatic Movement, especially with the support of FBMFI (Full Gospel Businessmen‘s Fellowship International). It appeared as if the Charismatic Movement was fuelled by the opposition it received from such conservative denominations as the Southern Baptist Convention, the Church of the Nazarene and the Lutheran Church. They expelled Charismatic ministers and congregations. But regardless, the Charismatic Movement continued unabated, causing church splits which precipitated the rise of independent Charismatic Churches (Anderson 2004:148; Synan 2001:155).
Media reports accentuated the growth of the Charismatic Movement in 1963. Whilst the FGBMFI‘s Voice was the main publication promoting the Charismatic renewal, one of the Charismatic members, Jean Stone saw the need to establish a quarterly magazine called Trinity 1961 which served as a herald for the acts of the Charismatic Movement. It was in the 1960‘s that the Charismatic Movement spread like wild fire in the United States and Canada, with such men as Bredesen and Larry Christensen, a pastor from the Lutheran Church taking the lead. Bredesen introduced Yale University students from different denominations to the Charismatic Movement in October 1962, an event which received international publicity. Christensen took the Charismatic experience to Britain and Germany in 1963. Even as popular as the Charismatic Movement had become in the 1960‘s, it did not spread without opposition. Some conservative church leaders labelled it as a dangerous movement that was posing a threat to the unity of the church. Anderson wrote the following about the publicity which the Charismatic Movement enjoyed:
―In spite of the opposition, Charismatic experiences in the older churches were encouraged by news reports of Charismatic happenings and by hundreds of popular publications – the two most influential of which were probably David Wilkerson‘s The Cross and the Switchblade (1963) and journalist John Sherrill‘s They Speak with Other Tongues (1964)‖ (Anderson 2004:148).
The Charismatic Movement Comes to South Africa
According to Pastor Chris Venter, the international overseer of the IFCC, the Charismatic Movement started as a result of the failure of the Pentecostal movement which God used and unfortunately got stuck in their structures. The Charismatic Movement came as a result of a cry and hunger of those who wanted to see the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (personal communication, July 31, 2012). Amongst the church leaders in South Africa who were yearning for the move of the Holy Spirit was Pastor Ed Roebert, who, while pastoring the Baptist church in Hatfield, heard about the Charismatic Renewal in North America and Europe in the late 1960s. He began to investigate avenues that would lead him to Charismatic Renewal. He had a deep quest for leading not only his congregation, but the nation of South Africa to a complete Christian walk through the power of the Holy Spirit. On May 16, 1964, Roebert came across some articles amongst which were testimonies of how Dr Howard Ervin and Rev. Frank Downing had their Holy Spirit baptismal experiences. Their testimonies fanned his desire to seek the Holy Ghost baptism which, according to him would take his ministry to another level of effectiveness. Roebert was enthused about the testimonies so much that he was convinced that Christian life involved more than just being converted and set out to settle for nothing less than his full inheritance in Christ. He was tired of the monotonous liturgy of the Baptist church which he practiced for many years without vibrancy in his congregation (Roebert n.d: 31-34).
According to Pal Roebert, Roebert started encouraging his congregation to seek baptism in the Holy Spirit. His quest was so strong that he and his prayer partner, Kevin Doran began to meet together at six o‘clock every morning on Meintjieskop, a hill behind the Union Building in Pretoria, to wait on the Lord. They were praying for revival for their church and the nation (personal communication, August 17, 2012). One of the motivating factors behind his quest for baptism in the Holy Spirit was according to Roebert (n.d:135), ―…he sensed that time was running out and that God‘s children needed every available gift or spiritual endowment to enable them to be victorious, overcoming Christians and to win more people to Christ.‖ Being a traditional Baptist pastor at the time, Roebert opened up to the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the risk of being expelled or at the least, ostracised. He weighed up the benefits against the cost and found that the results that the experience was reported to have had in the lives of others were worth taking the risk. The unavailability of literature on Charismatic Renewal and the fact that there were no people who had had the experience in South Africa, left pastor Roebert with no option but to resort to studying every passage in the New Testament relating to baptism in the Holy Spirit. In this research, he noticed the boldness that came to the disciples when they were filled with the Holy Spirit and the signs and wonders that accompanied their ministry and wished that he and the church should experience this blessing. For this to happen, he would have had to make a public announcement that he was going to lead the congregation to uncharted waters in as far as the Baptist church‘s doctrine was concerned. Following this announcement, he introduced a series of bible studies on the gifts of the Holy Spirit after which he encouraged the congregation to wait on the Lord for the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (Roebert n.d:135).
Almost a year later, all the teaching efforts on the subject of baptism in the Holy Spirit and all the waiting on the Lord for the experience did not seem to yield any results. Roeberts‘s passion for the renewal was not quelled instead he introduced another series of bible studies on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Impetus to his efforts was injected by the visit of a young technician from England, Bob, who visited Pretoria to do work at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. One Sunday morning while he was leaving the church after preaching, Bob greeted him at the door telling him, ―I felt the same heavy anointing as I have experienced back home in the Anglican Church I attended in England.‖ Roebert invited Bob to join him and Kevin in a morning prayer where they asked him many questions about speaking in tongues. As the three knelt down and began to pray, Bob started speaking in tongues. A jolt of excitement hit Roebert and Kevin as they heard for the first time someone speaking in tongues. Although the two did not speak in tongues, they were encouraged to press on. Although Pentecostal churches in South African had long experienced speaking in tongues, Roebert, being a Baptist, did not feel free to learn from them because of the negative reports he had received on how they were conducting their meetings (Roebert n.d: 37).
Chapter 1
Introduction and Background
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 BUSHBUCKRIDGE MUNICIPAL AREA: AN OVERVIEW
1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.5 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
1.6 AIMS OF THE STUDY
1.7 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
1.8 CLARIFICATION OF CONCEPTS
1.9 CONCLUSION
Chapter 2
The Charismatic Movement in Bushbuckridge: A Historical Synopsis
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 THE AZUSA STREET REVIVAL
2.3 THE PENTECOSTAL MOVEMENT
2.4 THE CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT
2.5 CONCLUSION
Chapter 3
Leadership Mentoring and Succession: Theories and Practices
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 THE CRITICAL NATURE OF LEADERSHIP
3.3 LEADERSHIP IN THE AFRICAN CONTEXT
3.4 LEADERSHIP MENTORING AND SUCCESSION IN THE BUSINESS WORLD
3.5 THE BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF LEADERSHIP MENTORING AND SUCCESSION
3.6 CONLUSION
Chapter 4
Presentation and Analysis of Data
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF THE QUALITATIVE DATA
4.3 PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF QUANTITATIVE DATA
4.4 CONCLUSION
Chapter 5
An Illustrative Text – 2 Timothy 2:1-3
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 AUTHORSHIP (AUTHENTICITY)
5.3 ILLUSTRATIVE TEXT (2 TIM 2:1-3)
5.4 ORCHESTRATING SUCCESSION IN THE PAULINE TRADITION
5.5 CONCLUSION
Chapter 6
Summary and Recommendation
6.1 INTRODUCTION
6.2 SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT
6.3 DISCUSSION
6.4 RECOMMENDATIONS
6.5 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
6.6 CONCLUDING REMARKS
REFERENCE LIST
