Highlights from the Charismatic Anglican 2014 Prayer Conference
In the Archbishop’s plenary session he stressed the importance of intercessory prayer and shared some quotations of the great saints and heroes of Church history, such as Charles Finney, on their high view of prayer. He showed us his own prayer journal which spanned his years in ministry. As a priest, he prayed for every member of his congregation (when it became large, he divided it into five segments, one for each week day. When he became Bishop and had to oversee many churches he could not pray for every person in all the congregations, so he limited himself to prayer every day for the pastors and clergy. He assumed they would be praying for their sheep daily. Recently, when he was called to be Archbishop, he shifted to praying for the bishops of ANCA, again divided into daily segments so that every week every Bishop would be prayed for.
This was followed by my address on inner healing as a Eucharistic intercession. Most people associate inner healing as a prayer of visualization, but I showed how the first inner healings pioneered by Agnes Sanford were really Holy Communion intercessions modeled after a Medieval practice of reparation prayer. This was, in essence, a form of burden bearing that all Christians are enjoined to do (Galatians 6:2) I stressed that this early form of inner healing as intercessory prayer is a ministry that every Christian can and should do.
An outstanding plenary session was the one by Rose Marie Edwards, a layperson who has the title of ACNA Lead Intercessor. How many other denominations would honor their prayer warriors with such a title? I had the pleasure of praying with her at the conference and immediately sensed her prayer power and intimacy with God. She had studied under and ministered with Dr. Francis and Judith MacNutt, and Mrs. Leanne Payne, all giants of the Charismatic Movement. Her session “From One Intercessor to Another” described the importance of parish level intercessory groups, and how critical it was to have proper prayer cover for these groups.
The praise music was wonderfully led by Mr. Tyrone Bragg, who with his wife, initiated and organized the conference. The workshops were: Rose Marie Edwards, “How to Start a Team of Intercessors,” the Rev. Canon George Ivy, “Healing Ministry,” the Rev. Jim Cheetham, “Portraits of Prayer: Biblical Illustrations of Prayer,” Deacon Dena Upshaw, “Hindrances to Prayer,” the Rev. William L. De Arteaga, “Agnes Sanford, Intercessor.”
It was the first conference of its kind for the diocese, and was a great success. I expect even greater things for next year.
The plenary sessions were all recorded, but unfortunately not the workshops. To watch them, go to the website of Holy Cross Anglican Church: http://www.hcanglican.org/live-streaming-of-services
PR
[1] In 1984 I was in a home group within a faithful and highly charismatic Episcopal church in Marietta, Georgia, St. Jude’s. The leader of the group felt a call to the ministry and went to be interviewed by the bishop of our diocese. He was told by the Bishop that he was not acceptable as a candidate to the Episcopal priesthood because he was “white, male and too orthodox.” Providentially, Ministries Today had just run an article on the CEC (Charismatic Episcopal Church), a “continuing church” and I handed a copy of the article to my friend. He became a fine CEC priest.
[2] Her principal book on this topic is Creation Waits (Plainfield: Logos International, 1978).
[3] William L. De Arteaga, “Is Calming Tornadoes a Christian Ministry?” Anglican Pentecostal, June 1, 2013. http://www.hcanglican.org/live-streaming-of-services
Category: Ministry, Summer 2014
Followers
Fans
