Charismatic historian William De Arteaga introduces us to The Order of St. Luke, where it came from, how it has influenced charismatic leaders for generations, and reports on the most recent international convention held in Orlando, Florida.

The Order of St Luke was founded by The Rev. John Gayer Banks in the 1930’s, an Episcopal priest residing in California. His intention was to introduce healing prayer into the Episcopal and the mainline churches in the United States. By the 1950s the OSL became a leading and important anti-cessationist group proclaiming a prophetic message among the Protestant churches in North America: the Church’s healing ministry must be reclaimed. Ultimately, the OSL also became a solidly charismatic bastion, sharing in many areas of the world the message that the healing ministry reaches its fullness in conjunction with the gifts of the Spirit. The latter transition was not and easy one, as will be described below.

Dearmer’s labors in reestablishing healing prayer in the Church was partly in response to the vast inroads that Christian Science and the other Metaphysical cults were making during the 1900s in attracting orthodox Christians to their churches. The Rev. Dearmer rightly understood that the root problem was that the orthodox Christian churches no longer believed or practiced healing prayer – i.e. cessationism.[2]

The Rev. Percy Dearmer

Dearmer and two other Anglican churchmen banded together to remedy the situation. This was done through a new organization, The Guild of Health, which was attached to the Anglican Church. (Anglican love doing their ministry through “guilds,” it grounds the group to the Anglican Church and its Episcopal oversight and besides sounds genteel.) The guild spread throughout the UK, sponsoring and organizing lectures and “missions” of three day teachings ending in a church service and the laying on of hands at the altar rail.

John Ganer Banks was born in England but later emigrated to America to get his doctorate in religious studies, and went on to be ordained an Episcopal priest. He determined to do the same for the Episcopal Church in America as the Rev Dearmer did in the UK. From his base at St. Luke’s Church in San Diego, he and his wife Ethel began healing services at his parish, and did healing missions wherever he was invited. While he pastored the parish, Ethel administered the OSL and wrote most of its literature. She began a mimeographed journal of healing testimonies and book reviews. The mailing list for this two page newsletter steadily grew to reach every part of the nation. Within two years it morphed into a more sophisticated printed journal with the name “Sharing.” It continues to this day as the official journal of the OSL.

In response, professors and theologians turned to early Christian church fathers, their doctrinal commitments, devotional practices, and a variety of early ways of worship. In so doing they found their lives transformed in a modern movement of intense intellectual curiosity as well as a questioning scrutiny by traditional believers. Familiar names, writings and stories included in this issue are Tom Oden, Bob Webber, Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, Kathleen Norris, Thomas Howard, and William Abraham. (The title of this issue echoes Abraham’s 1995 book Waking from Doctrinal Amnesia, a critique of liberal United Methodist theology.)

“Compiling this issue has reminded me of my own personal revival,” said Jennifer Woodruff Tait, Managing Editor of Christian History magazine. “At seminary, I learned of the riches of early church theology and devotion, and found my spiritual life strengthened by fasting, disciplined scripture study, and frequent Holy Communion. Webber describes people somewhat like me in his most famous book, Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail—that “trail” being a metaphor for a spiritual journey.”

CH issue #129, contains 10 feature articles and 4 shorter side-bar articles; a chronology time-line; an archive of rare art-work & photos; a ‘letter to the editor’ section and an extensive reading list compiled by the CHM editorial staff. The magazine is available on-line and can be conveniently read on screen at: https://christianhistoryinstitute.org.

Highlights from the Issue 129 table of contents:

Fulfilling a longing for the early church by Thomas C. Oden and Christopher A. Hall

An excerpt from Oden’s Ancient Christian Commentary

Acid rain and Christian truth by Jonathan A. Powers

Why do we need to recover from modernity?

“He made no new contribution to theology” by Christopher A. Hall

Tom Oden’s influential return to orthodox faith.

Living a “with-God” life by Tina Fox

The friendship of Richard Foster and Dallas Willard and the birth of Renovaré

Going behind Aquinas by Hans Boersma

Nouvelle théologie and The Catholic retrieval of mystery

Freedom for tradition by Robert Saler

The Lutheran tendency to defy denominational categories has been a strength as they seek renewal

Restless and reforming by D. G. Hart

The Mercersburg Theology presented Reformed Christians with a link to the past—if they chose to use it

“We’re not done with virtue yet” by Jennifer A. Boardman

Many different approaches to recover from modern amnesia

A church of the ages? By Jason Byassee, Chris Armstrong, and Greg Peters

We asked some pastors and professors to reflect on what it means to recover from modern amnesia and how the ancient and medieval faith can inform the church of the future

Christian History Institute
www.ChristianHistoryInstitute.org
Worcester, PA, April 16, 2019

Mel Robeck

Flyer about the lecture (available at the time of publication)

When: Friday, March 23, 8:00 a.m. through Saturday, March 24, 1:00 p.m.

Where: Grace Bible College in Wyoming, Michigan (Wyoming is a suburb of Grand Rapids).

To register, and for more information: 2018 ETS Midwest Meeting Overview

Read David Bradnick’s review of Amos Yong’s 2014 book, The Future of Evangelical Theology: Soundings from the Asian American Diaspora.

Amos Yong says Western dominance of theology cannot continue to be the trend.

Amos Yong begins this monograph by emphasizing the global diversity of Christianity. He argues that, in terms of demographics, we can no longer view it principally as a Western religion. After all, the growth of Christianity is occurring most rapidly within the Global South. Yong emphasizes that this global feature is not new; rather, Christianity began as a multi-cultural movement – consider those present at Pentecost. Too often, however, evangelical theology has failed to embrace indigenous voices. Yong suggests that this failure may result from a fear that local voices will “dissolve” the biblical narrative (46) or that it will result in an uncritical syncretism. He maintains that contextual theology need not succumb to these dangers. Asian theology, for example, can be both deeply evangelical and open to Asian sensibilities (56). So, while evangelical theology has been dominated by Western theologians, this should not be the continued trend, and for Yong, Western dominance cannot continue to be the trend. Global voices, including Asian ones, have a valuable perspective to offer. He argues “the vitality of evangelical theology going into the middle of the twenty-first century depends on its contextual inputs” (33). Evangelical theology, if it is going to thrive, must be informed by local, or contextual, dynamics.

Reviewed by David Bradnick

Publisher’s page: https://www.ivpress.com/the-future-of-evangelical-theology

When a Westerner participates in a house church service, your experience will be very different. You will likely enter into a city apartment or a village home. You will be greeted by a group of ten to twenty believers, possibly more. When the service starts, you will quickly be surrounded by the sounds of lively, earnest singing. The songs will flow from music quite different than anything that you have ever heard. The lyrics, if you were you able to understand them, would seem equally strange. They highlight themes from what appears to be another world. Utilizing largely rural imagery, the lyrics evoke a world of struggle and persecution, sacrifice and mission, courage and hope. The service will include the sharing of testimonies and prayer requests. This is a time that inevitably culminates in corporate prayer. Everyone is given an opportunity to contribute; everyone is expected to participate. The preaching that follows will center on a passage from the Bible and seek to apply this text to the life of the believers. This biblical message typically will be followed by much discussion. Various members of the church will share what they feel God is saying to them through this message. The service will often conclude with a specific call to action and always with prayer. After the service has concluded, the believers will share a meal and joyful fellowship. In short, it will all seem very different from traditional church services back home. The nature of the music, the structure of the service, the expectation of your participation, the character of the message, the discussion that follows, and the intimacy of the fellowship will all take you by surprise. You will recognize that you are in the presence of believers, but the unique (and, perhaps, if you are astute, the uniquely Chinese) character of what has taken place will be very clear.

This is the real beauty, in my opinion, of the house church movement in China: it allows for the rich diversity that characteristics the body of Christ, and it does so in an authentically Chinese way. Worship in the house churches is more diverse in nature than in the TSPM churches, and it is also much more indigenous. A “one size fits all” approach to church life simply cannot contain the wonder and beauty of the body of Christ, globally or in China. This is true of worship styles, but it is also true of theology and church structure. It is especially true when the apparent uniformity is forced and contrived.

(Kingston, Jamaica) — A three-day consultation took place involving representatives from six different “believers baptism” church traditions to share their understandings and practices of baptism and to explore how their thinking has changed in light of the emerging theological convergence on baptism and growing ecumenical encounter over the past 30 years. This was the first time such a gathering has taken place, and thus represents an historic moment in the life of these traditions.

The traditions included the Baptists, Brethren, Churches of Christ, Disciples of Christ, Mennonites, and Pentecostals. The 18 participants came from Jamaica, Kenya, Germany, Paraguay, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The initiative for the consultation grew out of the annual meeting of Secretaries of Christian World Communions in 2012, which noted fresh thinking and official agreements around the mutual recognition of baptism between churches who practice “infant baptism” and those who have practiced “believers baptism” have been observed.

The agenda of the consultation included presentations from each of the traditions on their past and current teaching and practice of baptism, with attention to how their understandings have changed or developed, along with the opportunity to discuss the presentations. A representative of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches was also present to provide input from the perspective of the wider global discussion on baptism within the ecumenical movement.

The highlights of the consultation, as stated in a report on the meeting, included:

• gratitude for the opportunity to have an open and honest reflection on the meaning, practice and shared understandings of baptism among the participants;
• naming the potential found in the image of “being on a journey” for the Christian life, with different forms and expressions of initiation and confession, while sharing a similar call to discipleship;
• the significance of understanding the Holy Spirit as a source both of our diversity as well as our unity in Christ;
• the need for a re-examination of the language of ‘sacrament’, ‘ordinance’, ‘sign’ and ‘symbol’ as ways to acknowledge that God is the primary actor in baptism;
• the need to recognize the continuity between ecumenical reception of other traditions as church, and the practices that marks each tradition as a unique expression of the body of Christ.

The full text of the report on the meeting will be shared with both the Conference of Secretaries of Christian World Communions and the Faith and Order Commission of the WCC with the hope that it will move the discussion and work on the mutual recognition of baptism and Christian unity forward.

Postmodernism, The Church, and The Future
A Pneuma Review discussion about how the church should respond to postmodernism

Editor Introduction (Winter 2007)
Editor Introduction: Postmodernism, The Church, and The Future

David Livermore (Winter 2007)
Emerge or Submerge

Is “cultural relevance” an effective and theologically sound wineskin for the emergent church or is it moving Christianity toward oblivion?

Suggested Reading (Spring 2007)
Spring 2007: Suggested Reading

Winfield Bevins (Spring 2007)
Retro Faith: A Christian Response to Postmodernism

Dony Donev (Spring 2007)
Postmodern Rebels

Suggested Reading (Summer 2007)
Summer 2007: Suggested Reading

B. Keith Putt (Summer 2007)
From Babel to Pentecost:
Proclamation, Translation, and the Risk of the Spirit

Suggested Reading (Fall 2007)
Fall 2007: Suggested Reading

Tony Richie (Fall 2007)
Effectively Engaging Pluralism and Postmodernism
in a So-Called Post-Christian Culture
A Review Essay of Lesslie Newbigin’s The Gospel in a Pluralist Society

Suggested Reading (Winter 2008)
Winter 2008: Suggested Reading

Craig A. Carter (Winter 2008)
The Myth of Relativism: Christianity in a Postmodern World
Professor Carter unpacks what relativism is to give us a better understanding of what postmodernism really is.

Suggested Reading (Spring 2008)
Spring 2008: Suggested Reading

Philip G. Ryken (Spring 2008)
Answers to Questions with Philip Ryken

Suggested Reading (Summer 2008)
Summer 2008: Suggested Reading

Frank Viola (Summer 2008)
A New Kind of Church for a New Kind of World

Winfield Bevins (Summer 2008)
Response from Winfield Bevins

Suggested Reading (Fall 2008)
Fall 2008: Suggested Reading

Suggested Reading (Winter 2009)
Winter 2009: Suggested Reading

Tony Richie (Winter 2009)
Becoming All Things, Spoiling the Egyptians,
and Occupying Culture till Christ Comes
Reflections on the Recent Postmodernism Conversation: Pastor Tony Richie wraps up our discussion on how the church should respond to postmodernism.

Pentecostalism and Ecumenism: Past, Present, and Future (Part 1 of 5)

Pentecostalism and Ecumenism: Past, Present, and Future (Part 2 of 5)

Pentecostalism and Ecumenism: Past, Present, and Future (Part 3 of 5)

Pentecostalism and Ecumenism: Past, Present, and Future (Part 4 of 5)

Pentecostalism and Ecumenism: Past, Present, and Future (Part 5 of 5)

November 2016 update: This series has been translated by Ana-Marie Begič, “Pentekostalizem in ekumenizem: preteklost, sedanjost in prihodnost,” in Corneliu Constantineanu & Christopher J. Scobie, urednika (eds.), Binkoštniki v 21. stoletju: Identiteta, verovanje, praksa [Pentecostals in the 21st Century: Identity, Beliefs, and Praxis] (Ljubljana, Slovenija: Podvig, 2016), 307-55.

Pentecostalism’s Heritage

Pentecostalism’s formation and development looks to the nineteenth century Holiness Movement for its parentage. Perhaps every generation has looked at the Church they have inherited, compared it with the biblical account of the early Church and pronounced the diagnosis that something fundamental was awry. Certainly, by the late nineteenth century, Evangelicalism was ill at ease with itself and had spawned many agencies seeking to kick start the Church back into life.

In Britain, the Holiness Movement, particularly as mediated through the Keswick Convention, became a significant breeding ground for proto-Pentecostals. The theology surrounding this ecumenical event (its motto was ‘All one in Christ Jesus’) focused on the desire for a victorious Christian life that many of its delegates desired above all else. The answer to this overwhelming desire was to be found in an experience of a life lived in the ‘fullness of the Spirit’. Rejecting the more extreme views of ‘sinless perfection’, the clear expectation was that the believer, once justified by faith, could have a distinct divine experience which would become the gateway into leading a ‘life of overcoming’. This life would then be transformed into service—the work of the Spirit would provide the disciple with power to witness.

For many Evangelicals, convinced of the fact that too often the Church was leading a spiritually substandard life, this was deemed to be the obvious answer. Many early proto-Pentecostals became frequent visitors to the convention in Keswick, returning to their mission halls and prayer meetings having claimed this experience of sanctification by faith. That this was the answer to the problems of the Church was given credibility when the Welsh Revival broke out in 1904. Led by the trio of Holiness revivalists: Seth Joshua, Joseph Jenkins and Evan Roberts, the freewheeling dynamism of the Revival awakened many people’s imaginations to the possibility of a much wider spiritual renewal. The Welsh Revival was to be a significant precursor to Pentecostalism for a number of reasons. Some future Pentecostal leaders were converted in the Revival; others, such as Rev. A. A. Boddy, visited Wales and returned to their home churches having witnessed the radical freedom of the services, believing this to be a hallmark of the Spirit in action. A third reason related to the fact that the post-revival period was marked by small home-groups that delineated themselves as ‘Children of the Revival’. It was amongst these groups that Pentecostalism would break out. They had experienced the freedom of the Revival, were convinced that this was what churches had been missing for years and were not content to return to the formalism of non-conformist churches.