Spiritual History and the Unique Present

November 9^th, 2011

                I want to take you on a brief history of my spiritual history, and the spiritual history of the church in North America. I think that this really speaks to something unique that is happening right now.

                I was born in 1962. By the time I was 10 years old the Charismatic movement was well on its way. People got on board with it, or reacted against it. But there is no question that the movement affected the entire Church. I grew up in the  middle of it. My parents were involved with people who were walking in this  movement of the Spirit. There was a lot of flakiness that surrounded the movement, but I have no question but that much of it was a genuine move of God.

                The movement itself started to fade in the early 1980’s. Some of it got entrenched in churches. But the movement  itself seemed over.

 On the heels of that movement, came on that emphasised Spiritual Warfare and deliverance. It seemed that in the late 80’s early 90’s everyone was talking about that.

                As that movement was fading in the early 1990’s  a revival in worship took place. Worship was being rediscovered. Worship wars were fought in church. But this focus on worship changed the face of the church. Very few parts of the church have been left untouched by it.

                About this same time in the early 1990’s the Promise Keeper movement rose up. It only lasted as a movement for a very short time. The early 1990’s saw the establishment of the mega church movement. Some of this was a move of God – some of it was the know how to leverage structural changes in the church. The 1990’s also saw the Airport Church come to prominence. Love it or hated it, it was a major fixture on the church landscape.

                The worship movement continued into the new millennium, but after making its mark, it started to fade. Or maybe it just became established. The Promise Keepers,  and the Airport Church movement also faded. Around this time a new movement sprung up called the city transformation movement. This movement spread around the world but seemed to stall in the middle of the decade.

                What interests me about these 40 years of the Spirit of God at work. For some of these thing, they became cultural fads rather than a movement of God. What interests me about this is, Now for the first time in my life, there seems to be no big move of God or any real Movement in the North American church.  It is as if things have gone silent.

                There is somewhat of a movement for social justice. But that does not he force to take us deeper into the heart of God – because so much of the social justice movement is done apart from God. There are movements in church structures, like the multi-site movement – but this may be more a leadership thing than a God thing. (Not that the two are mutually exclusive.)

                I can point to people and places where God seems to be at work. But they seem to more like stars in the sky, rather than the sun burning bright. It is as if we have entered a gray period in church life. I am hoping that this is not the beginning of 40 years in the wilderness. I am hoping rather that this is the time of waiting between the ascension and Pentecost.