Charismatic Leaders Fellowship 2020
Another network of communities represented at the consultation was the “European Network of Communities,” ENC. The Polish communities within the ENC have grown greatly by the use of the Alpha Course, first developed in England.
Covenant communities was not the only topic of this year’s CLF. A very informative session was given by David Mahan about the LGBTQ movement and its agenda. It was both eye-opening, and depressing. David exhorted Church leaders to take more active stands against the LGBTQ agenda, especially in schools. It was suggested that one effective way for Christians to contend against it is to run for local school boards. These are elected into office most often by a mere handful of voters who care enough to vote on the issue – a great and “actionable” insight. (My own opinion is that it will take a next coming great revival to cancel the myths and damage of the LGBT successes.)
Karol Sobczyk
Another session was dedicated to youth ministry. Mrs. Karol Sobczyk from Poland gave a wonderful and emotion filled presentation on youth ministry in that country. All members, especially us “elders,” were touched by her enthusiasm and humility.
Yet another session was dedicated to the rise of spiritual direction. This ancient Christian discipline is well known among Catholics, but is now spreading among Protestants with much good fruit. The CLF group has given a detailed presentation of the local spiritual direction school operating out of the Alleluia Community – led by an Evangelical couple.[7] The director of another group, At His Feet Ministries (Arizona), described their tweaks on spiritual direction, and again, it is layman led and Evangelical in orientation.[8]
Pastor John Arnott
The Italian Catholic deacon, Matteo Calisi, who is the Vatican coordinator for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, filled us in on the goings on of CHARIS, the Vatican charismatic coordinating agency. I reported on CHARIS last year, to whit, that the Pope intends that all Catholics be Baptized in the Spirit. He reported that the Pope’s letter to the Bishops on this topic was largely unknown and bottled up in the Vatican Curia – the Vatican’s administrative agency which is made up of very traditional clergy. Many members of the Curia are hoping Pope Francis will soon die and the “charismatic threat” pass away.
Pray that the Pope’s letter will be quickly released and acted on. Imagine what the world would be like if a majority of Catholics were Spirit-filled. At this time, only about 12% of the world’s Catholics are charismatic, and most of those are in Africa and Brazil.
One of the high points of the CLF was ministry time by Pastor John Arnott, of Catch the Fire Church, formerly the Toronto Airport Vineyard, where a strong revival broke out in 1990s. His ministry time with us was powerful and many of the participants “fell under the power” as he laid hands on them. I was strongly touched by his ministry, but did not quite hit the carpet, yet I did discover that in the following week I was newly energized in my writing ministry – I had been down in the dumps from difficult circumstances in my life.
Category: Ministry, Winter 2020
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