WHERE HAVE THE CHARISMATICS GONE?

by Bishop David Chislett SSC

Any contemporary church history must come to terms with the charismatic renewal in the mainstream churches that began to gather momentum in Australia in the late 1960's - a few years later than in the USA. Of course, the renewal here had its antecedents. They included the large healing services conducted by Canon Jim Glennon in St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, and the ministry of Father John Hope, Rector of Christ Church St Laurence from 1926 to 1964, who combined a deep understanding of the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit with his leadership of the Anglican Catholic movement in New South Wales and beyond.

During the social upheavals of the 1960s many baby boomers - but not all - left the churches. A good number of those who stayed became part of this renewal movement which drew people together from across the Christian spectrum. In the days when ecumenical relationships were few and far between, many were surprised to hear of Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Orthodox, Presbyterians, Baptists and classical pentecostals sharing in prayer meetings, study groups, retreats and conferences.

Ecumenical prayer meetings at the University of Sydney, for example, saw evangelicals and pentecostals learning about the life of discipleship and prayer from Roman Catholic Professor Alex Reichel and the Cistercian monk, Father Gerald Hawkins, while Catholics, both Roman and Anglican, gained so much from the insights of evangelical and pentecostal leaders. In fact, for quite a number of young men and women across the ecclesiastical spectrum, these gatherings at the University of Sydney turned out to be an amazingly deep phase of ministry formation. It was truly a time of divine visitation.

Classical pentecostal groups like the Assemblies of God and the Foursquare Gospel Church had also begun a new phase of growth, and new independent pentecostal churches sprang up in the cities. At the same time, large suburban prayer meetings and then covenant communities developed in the Roman Catholic Church. Structured renewal fellowships emerged in most of the denominations, not least in the Anglican Church.

At its best, the charismatic renewal of the '60's and '70's emphasised:

* Jesus Christ as Lord

* Scripture as the Word of God

* The supernatural work of the Holy Spirit

* The Christian life as primarily communal or corporate

* The sacraments as real encounters with Christ

* The ministry of every Christian

* A holistic view of our life and witness in the world

* The imperative to evangelize.

In 2002, Pope John Paul celebrated 30 years of charismatic renewal in the Italian Church. He said:

"The Renewal in the Spirit can be considered as a special gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church in our time."

Summing up the experience many have had of charismatic renewal, the Holy Father continued:

"Born in the Church and for the Church, in your movement one experiences in the light of the Gospel the living encounter with Jesus, the faithfulness of God in personal and community prayer, confident listening to the Word, the vital discovery of the sacraments, as well as courage in trials and hope in tribulations."

But the Pope also encouraged the charismatics to be aware of the pitfalls to be avoided, notably

"the risk of remaining, unwittingly, in a merely emotional experience of the divine"

and

" . . . an exaggerated quest for the 'extraordinary,' and a private withdrawal that avoids apostolic commitment."

Those of us who have been participants in the renewal understand only too well the relevance of the Holy Father's remarks.

I say this because what began as a movement focusing on Jesus Christ as Lord, so often ended up with the people of Jesus focusing on themselves and their spiritual experiences. This is uncannily reflected in the music of the renewal. Whereas so much popular hymnody, protestant and catholic alike, had historically been individualistic, with the most used words being "I", "me", "my" and "mine", in the early days of the renewal our Scripture songs and worship choruses took the attention off "I", "me", "my" and "mine", finding their focus on God and his glory in the face of Jesus Christ, together with the Church as his body.

In those charismatic circles in which the catholic tradition is undervalued, it is not an overstatement to say that a movement away from real praise and worship has taken place. In particular, since the mid 1980s in the pentecostal churches this has gone hand in hand with a demonstrable drift away from Scripture set to music and a corresponding use of songs (now almost exclusively in a modern rock idiom!) that concentrate on "how I am feeling."

This drift parallelled the demise of the most ecumenical phase of the renewal. Everything seemed to hold together while participants were content to use classical pentecostal language to describe the charismatic experiences they had been granted. But most catholics and reformed evangelicals became dissatisfied with "baptism in the Spirit" terminology and "second blessing" theology. They also came to see that an "is" in the Acts of the Apostles is not necessarily an "ought" for the whole Christian community of all time.

While wanting to affirm that what had happened in our lives was a work of the Holy Spirit, many saw the need to use other kinds of language, more consistent with sound biblical teaching, to describe our experiences. This meant, of course, that the classical pentecostals and the new independent congregations developed along lines of their own, often becoming more fundamentalist the less they were encumbered through fellowship with "church" charismatics with the discernment of two thousand years of experience in spiritual direction.

Nevertheless, the charismatic renewal had an effect for good on Australian Christians and churches quite disproportionate to its numerical strength. Roman Catholic leaders often say that key insights of Vatican II that became part of church life were greatly facilitated by the renewal. Most Anglican parishes and traditions - including those that were openly hostile to or dismissive of the renewal in the 1960's and '70's - have been influenced by its early music, its experience of spontaneous prayer, and its emphasis on the ministry of all the baptized, while not deprecating older traditions. Then there is the fact that in most Christian circles today the ministry of healing is so normal as not to excite comment.

But there have been negatives. Good people have been psychologically damaged by the teaching and extravagant claims of those healing evangelists who fail to develop a corresponding and compassionate theology of suffering. Others have experienced high levels of manipulation at the hands of "prosperity gospel" preachers. And, in spite of the efforts of the best leaders, it has sometimes proven difficult to move people away from the kind of fundamentalism (or literalism) that is intellectually stultifying. At a less serious level, (but nonetheless heartfelt for a musician!), there is also the implication that the Holy Spirit can never use the truly great music we have inherited!

I discovered a few years ago that, in Australia at least, it is quite difficult to find charismatic renewal leaders from the '60's and '70's, apart from some senior Roman Catholic figures and classical pentecostal pastors.

Where are they? My anecdotal research indicates that very many no longer practise any form of Christian faith. There is also the amazing fact that some former charismatic clergy in the mainstream Anglican and protestant churches went on to become theological liberals, inhabiting a strange world of conflicting presuppositions held together by a subjective view of reality, every impulse of the human heart - and mind - being attributed to the Holy Spirit. The rest, not surprisingly, have tended to gravitate towards the catholic tradition in its Roman, Anglican or Orthodox manifestation (although in Australia there has not been the large movement that has taken place in the U.S.A. of charismatic, pentecostal and evangelical leaders - and in some cases entire congregations - making that journey together).

I am very grateful for the charismatic renewal. I am also enormously encouraged by the fact that Fr Raniero Cantalamessa, the Papal Household Preacher since 1980 (whose remit was renewed by Pope Benedict), continues to be a leader and participant in the Italian charismatic renewal, signifying acceptance at the very heart of the Church of the abiding significance of the renewal. For surely the wholeness of the Christian Faith includes a lively sense of the Holy Spirit's work among us, convicting us of sin, helping us to hear God speaking to us in Scripture, revealing the things of Jesus to us as we worship, nurturing our unity as members of the body of Christ, and empowering us with his gifts for our witness in the world.

As Anglican Catholics we know our need of the Holy Spirit's wisdom, love and power at this time.

Adapted from an article first published in NEW DIRECTIONS, April 2002