Charismatic Movement

My Adventures With God : 
CHAPTER 6 : The Early Charismatic Movement

While all this was happening there were major upheavals going on in the Turramurra Methodist Church. It is the early 1970's, the Charismatic Movement is bringing renewed vitality to mainline churches around the world. There were both good and bad aspects, as I experienced at Turramurra.

Drew Hill, the well loved minister moved on. A new minister was chosen. (I can't remember his name and Freud would probably have had something to say about that!). In the month or so between being appointed and actually arriving the minister and his whole family underwent a profound conversion experience in the “Charismatic Movement”.

They, and more particularly their teenage son and daughter hit Turramurra like a whirlwind. There was already a large teenage youth group. The forceful personalities of the pair and their stories of supernatural things like speaking in tongues and miracles created an immediate effect. The practices like informal gathering to sing catchy scripture-set-to-music songs and the strong emotionalism resonated strongly with the spirit of the 70's.

Among adult members of the church there was a divide. Some were drawn to the movement some were not. Some found the small groups with the singing, praying and sharing very helpful. Some found the whole thing confronting, overly-emotional, and of dubious spiritual depth.

A case in point were the Melbourne family. Husband, wife and six children were a central part of the youth scene. “Mel” as Les Melbourne was affectionately known was an always present feature of youth activities. Never leading, there were young people who very capably did that – just there keeping an eye on things and available to any who wanted to talk. He was sensible, down to earth, of deep faith in Christ and understanding of people. One illustration: He worked for a large corporation. He used to start every day by praying for the wisdom to see the things that needed to be dealt with first, and the wisdom to do these tasks well. One time he foresaw that upper management would order lay-offs. So he talked to the workers, used his contacts throughout the industry and found jobs for some of them to simply transfer over to. When the order came through to cut the workforce there were no forced retrenchments because these arrangements had already been made in a timely and sympathetic way.

“Mrs. Mel” was equally remarkable in perhaps a less visible way. She combined caring efficiently for Mel and the six children with running an open house that was virtually a drop-in centre for the young people of the church and neighbourhood. Together they managed to be a powerful force for good. Their care, hospitality, listening ear and wise counsel had a tremendous stabilising effect on a very large group of us (yes, me too!) going through the turbulent teens and twenties.

Mrs Mel. and the children were all part of the charismatic scene. Mel was not. In time he was one of those who worked to persuade the minister to move on. Yet they managed to maintain their family unity.

In the general congregation, unity was not maintained.

The minister believed that he was being inspired by the Holy Spirit when he preached. I don't know what his preaching had been like previously, but at Turramurra it was long winded, repetitive and vacuous. Towards the end one could tell who the scheduled preacher was the moment one turned into the street where the church was. If it was the charismatic minister there was just a smattering of cars parked there, if it was someone else both curbs were packed right down the street.

One contrast in preaching that I still recall was between the charismatic minister and an old retired pastor. The retired pastor radiated a love for and knowledge of God and a great understanding of scripture. By comparison the charismatic was just froth and bubbles.

Me? I was only ever a watcher on the fringe. But by the end it was the bad bits that stuck in my mind. The preacher's evidently false belief in his inspired preaching. The effect the over-emotionalism had on some of the young people. The claims of miracles (leg lenghtening was a favourite) didn't ring true. The exclusivity and superiority of the inner circle.

Sue and I were among the many who left the church. The experience left me with a healthy caution in my future encounters with the whole pentecostal movement – even though I would say I am equally a “Holy Spirit believer”. (Well no, I would actually want to say “Trinitarian believer” - I worship and adore God Father, Son and Holy Spirit: but the point is that I do believe in the Holy Spirit and the Spirit's work in and through a believer just as much as they do!)