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A History of PRMI
A short history of the charismatic move of the Holy Spirit (and of the founding of PRMI in 1966.)
Dennis Bennett and the beginning of the charismatic renewal - 1959
Within the Protestant Church, the charismatic renewal formally began at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Van
Nuys, California. While Dennis Bennett was rector in 1959, spiritual gifts, including tongues, began to be
manifested in a small prayer group in the church. From this group, about seventy people began to have similar
experiences. But they agreed to keep things quiet for fear that their experience might become divisive.
Eventually the word did get out and Bennett was forced to make a public statement to his denomination of what
had happened. This statement, made in April, 1960, caused great controversy and prompted his subsequent removal
by the bishop. Despite the fact that Bennett was "exiled" to a small mission church near Seattle, he continued
to write and teach on the Holy Spirit. He was a great encouragement to the many small charismatic prayer groups
that were spontaneously springing up in many denominations.
Louis Evans at Bel Air Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles- 1963
In 1963, an outpouring of charismatic renewal took place in the Bel Air Presbyterian Church near Los Angeles.
The pastor, Louis Evans, Jr., led the people into a "...program based on commitment to Jesus Christ, the
discipline of studying and obeying the Word of God, and training lay leadership for group study and prayer."
(Hummel, p. 46) This led first to effective ministries of evangelism and healing. Later they began to discover
that as they were obedient to God, spiritual gifts of 1 Cor. 12 would manifest.
Though I have given just two examples, the charismatic renewal swept over the American church, "setting
aflame" Christian groups from every denominational and cultural background. As these outpourings of the Holy
Spirit in non-Pentecostal denominations became public, it caused a great deal of excitement as well as
controversy. The excitement was from the blessings, the controversy was from the split churches.
The Founding of the Presbyterian Charismatic Communion (PCC)
In May 1966 a group of Presbyterian pastors who had been touched by the Holy Spirit gathered together at Camp
Furthest Out at Lake Murray, Oklahoma and founded the Presbyterian Pastors Charismatic Communion. This group was
dedicated to promoting an experience of the Holy Spirit but in terms that were consistent with their Presbyterian
theology and style.
Photo:
Brick and Marge Bradford
Following the founding of the Presbyterian Charismatic Communion in 1966, other mainline denominational groups
such as the United Church of Christ, the Lutherans, Methodists and the Episcopalians all followed suit with
renewal groups of their own. There was also charismatic renewal in the Roman Catholic church. Parallel to these
streams of charismatic renewal in the United States and Canada were similar outbreaks around the world.
We believe the charismatic renewal was God's gift to the mainline Protestant Churches. Wherever the movement
stayed on track and was received by the church's leadership there was blessing and infusion of new life and
vitality.
Recent Waves of the Holy Spirit
In a number of places, the charismatic wave of the Holy Spirit has continued to deepen and to mature. In some
places, the movement has fizzled out or lost its vital renewing power. In other cases, those providing leadership
had retired or passed away. Other leaders fell into immorality and were removed from leadership. By the mid-eighties,
the "charismatic renewal" as a movement was on the wane.
In the mean time there has emerged the "Third Wave of the Holy Spirit," to distinguish it from the first and
second waves of the this century which are the Pentecostal and Charismatic.
The pioneers in this third wave of the Holy Spirit have been John Wimber (who taught the class, "Signs, Wonders
and Church Growth" at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA), Peter Wagner and Chuck Kraft. Peter Wagner
tells of the beginnings of this surprising movement of God as follows.
To complicate matters more, the charismatics began giving
Partly because of the church splits, the boundaries between
John, who worked with me at the Fuller Evangelistic Association,
In 1982, John began teaching MC510 "Signs, Wonders and Church
(pg. 16 Forward by Peter Wagner, >The Kingdom and The Power
Where is PRMI at the dawn of the new Millennium?
In 1990, Dr. Zeb Bradford Long (Brad) became Executive Director of PRMI. He came from nine years of missionary
service in Taiwan and brought a global vision to PRMI.
PRMI, as an organization and its present leadership have deep roots in the interpretation of the Holy Spirit
as found in R. A. Torrey of the 1900 revivals as well as the experience of the charismatic renewal of the
1960s-1980s. In practice and understanding of the Holy Spirit we are most at home in this present movement
of the Holy Spirit that Peter Wagner has identified as the "Third Wave." In our theology and grounding in
Scripture, we identify strongly with the Presbyterian and Reformed stream of Christianity.
It is our desire to understand and faithfully follow the Holy Spirit, not according to some movement, but
according to what we find in Scripture. As we have sought to be faithful to Scripture, our teaching and
practice is in dialogue with these renewal movements that provide our context. Our teaching and practice also
transcends these movements as it faithfully follows the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our own unique context.
The fundamental purpose in all these movements if and when they are inspired by the Holy Spirit, is to up
build the Church and to equip Christians to witness to Jesus Christ so that the Kingdom of God may advance
on earth. That is the purpose of PRMI.
Presbyterian Reformed Ministries International 1966 - 2006 by Rev. R. Carter Blaisdell Forty years ago, in May 1966, six Presbyterian ministers joined together at a retreat to pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Presbyterian churches. From that humble beginning, today there are more than 13,000 lay and clergy households – 900 from fifty-nine nations outside of the United States – and from each of the U.S. fifty states, Guam and Puerto Rico in the ministry of Presbyterian Reformed-Ministries International (PRMI). The ministry was led by Rev. Dr. George C. “Brick” Bradford from 1966 to 1989, and since 1990 by Rev. Dr. Zeb Bradford Long. The Ministry’s Mission Through prayer and in consultation with the PRMI Board of Directors, PRMI’s vision expanded beyond conferences and congregational renewal events after 1990. The ministry adopted in 1993 this mission statement:
Igniting the Church in the Power of the Holy Spirit under the authority of Scripture as the Word of God through Prayer, Leadership Development, Congregational Renewal and Mission Outreach So that the Church may be empowered To do all that Christ commands for the glory of God the Father The Dunamis Project PRMI’s Dunamis Project for leadership development has been equipping hundreds of spiritual leaders throughout the United States, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Brazil, Haiti, United Kingdom and Uganda since its inception in February 1991 at Lake George, New York. A series of six, two to four-day retreats involve teachers working through a teaching manual, which includes chapter outlines, a guide for further study, and is a resource for equipping others for ministry. Each day there is lab time to allow the lay and clergy to be in supervised prayer ministry. The day concludes with a debriefing session to evaluate what has been learned, observed and experienced. PRMI’s vision for the Dunamis Project is to cultivate spiritual leaders with an appreciation for our Reformed heritage as well as a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, a firm grounding in Scripture, and the maturity to minister in the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit. Dunamis Fellowship The Dunamis Fellowship, established in August 2002, is composed of Dunamis Project alums who have had ‘post-graduate’ training, are tapped as leaders for PRMI events, and meet annually under the direction of Rev. Cynthia R. P. Strickler. The PRMI Leaders Retreat, begun twelve years ago, has evolved into this fellowship. Community of the Cross The Community of the Cross is a place of encounter with Jesus Christ! The 24-acre retreat center – five minutes from Black Mountain and Montreat, North Carolina – was purchased by PRMI in 2003. In 2004 week-long family camps were held for the first time throughout the month of July under the direction of Jeanne Kraak. Many persons and groups have come to pray in this pristine setting, strolling through the wooded pathways, bounded on one side by a clear flowing mountain stream, where some have been baptized, and others have renewed their baptismal vows. The Walk of prayer with various prayer stations was developed by Rev. Dr. Alan Leach. Mary Ellen Conners has overseen PRMI’s prayer initiative since 2004. Youth Ministry Senior High Youth Empowerment retreats began in 1996 in Plainfield, New Hampshire, and Black Mountain, North Carolina, and expanded to Anapolis, Goias, Brazil, in 1997. The Dunamis Project manuals were adapted into a youth version by the early leaders of these retreats: Rev. Rob Burns, Rev. Sam Hale, Rev. Adger McKay, Shawn Stewart and Rev. David Pierson. The first of several high school camping/mountain climbing retreats, titled Upward Challenge, began in 2003 under the direction of Elizabeth "Eli" Long Schultz and since 2004 has been based at the Community of the Cross. Ignite! Ignite! was developed in 2005 by Rev. Dr. Thomas Swieringa and Jeanne Kraak and tested in Reformed churches in Michigan to encourage a congregation to be more open to the power of the Holy Spirit in its life of prayer, teaching, worship and mission outreach. Ignite! is now available to any church, regardless of denominational affiliation. Spirit Alive PRMI’s primary congregational renewal program from 1983 to 2004 was Spirit Alive, wherein teams of clergy and laity went for two to five days as encouragers to congregations with an emphasis on prayer, the Lordship of Jesus, healing and the Holy Spirit. All programming was led by the visiting team: music, sermons and classes for all ages, from three to adult. Team visitors gave their testimonies, led small group discussions, and prayed with church members. One hundred fifty-seven Presbyterian and Reformed congregations throughout the U. S. and Canada hosted from one to seven Spirit Alive missions, totaling 320 missions altogether during the 21 year period. Smaller teams led 26 Alive in Christ missions from 1996 to 2001. New Spirit Alive manuals for congregations and PRMI Coordinators were written in 1990 – 1991, at which time a congregation’s financial support was changed from a contractual obligation to a free-will offering. From an average of 14 missions per year for the period 1983 - 1991, the number of Spirit Alive missions grew rapidly thereafter. In 1995, forty-one congregations hosted a mission. Spirit Alive was directed by Dr. Brick Bradford (1983-1988), Rev. R. Carter Blaisdell (1988-1999), Dr. Tom Manetsch (1999-2002) and Michael Schrowang (2003-2004). Sixty PRMI Spirit Alive Coordinators had been trained from a volunteer pool of 2,700 PRMI lay and clergy, many of whom had been trained through the Dunamis Project. Rev. Bill Dean directed PRMI’s Congregational Renewal initiative from 1999-2001. He was also PRMI’s liaison to the Confessing Church Movement. A Worldwide Outpouring The Holy Spirit has been moving around the world. Churches in Africa, Asia and South America – many of whom are the fruit of Presbyterian and Reformed missionaries – have come of age and are being touched by the power of the Holy Spirit. They are experiencing the Lordship of Jesus Christ through signs and wonders and dramatic church growth. Publications Moving with the Spirit has become the ministry’s leading publication to the public and supporters, having succeeded the original Presbyterian Charismatic Communion’s Newsletter (1966 – 1979) and Renewal News (1980 – 1999). Dr. Brad Long has published since 1990 the following books: Passage through the Wilderness, Collapse of the Brass Heaven(with Douglas McMurry), Receiving the Power (with Douglas McMurry), Prayer that Shapes the Future(with Douglas McMurry), and Let Jesus Heal Your Hidden Wounds (with Cynthia R. P. Strickler). Tape, Video and DVD Resources PRMI has an extensive audiotape library of the messages and seminars from its international, national and regional conferences (1966-1996) as well as the teachings of the Dunamis Project retreats. This library was overseen by Rev. Douglas C. Hall, 1976 – 1991, in Oklahoma and by Robert Overby, 1991 – 2003, in North Carolina. Since 2002 the Dunamis Project series has been recorded on videotape and DVD for use by congregations and small groups seeking to grow in their understanding of the Holy Spirit in their lives and ministies. Early Leaders God raised up many leaders during the early years of this ministry, including Presbyterian pioneers John A. Mackay and James H. Brown. One of the original six pastors, George C. “Brick” Bradford, was the first Board President and eventually was called full-time in 1972 as General Secretary. He and his wife, Marjorie, worked as a team with the office staff until his retirement in December 1989. Zeb Bradford Long was called by PRMI’s Board of Directors to be the Executive Director, beginning January 1, 1990. He and his wife, Rev. Laura Cole Long, had been Presbyterian Evangelistic and Educational Missionaries from 1980 – 1989 in Taiwan. Joan Danely was the Executive Secretary from 1967 – 1991. Dr. Long, Rev. Carter and Anita Blaisdell were the staff that moved the ministry from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Black Mountain, North Carolina in July 1991.
An Ecumenical Community PRMI was the first of the U.S.A. denominational charismatic fellowships to be established among American Christians. In the decade to follow Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, American Baptist, Mennonite, Greek Orthodox, United Church of Christ and Methodist fellowships were formed. The worldwide outpouring of the Holy Spirit during the past forty years has brought about a grassroots ecumenicity as expressed in worship, ministry, prayer, Bible study and evangelism. A Witness to the Church PRMI has been committed to working, often as a prophetic voice, within the Presbyterian and Reformed denominations. Representatives have been present at PC(USA) General Assemblies, usually with a booth of literature, and since 1974 have sponsored a charismatic worship service. Prayer vigils were held from 1991 – 2002 at these Assemblies; most of them were led by Rev. Douglas and Carla McMurry. Representatives have been present at the Reformed Church in America’s General Synod and at each of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church’s General Assemblies since its formation 26 years ago. In the past ten years the ministry has worked with pastors and laity of the United Reformed Church in the United Kingdom. Pronouncements In the early days of the renewal there was conflict over the validity of some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit for today. This issue was first addressed by the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA) in 1970 with the adoption of the Guidelines in its report, "The Work of the Holy Spirit". The Guidelines included this statement: “We know the misuse of mystical experience is an ever-present possibility, but that is no reason to preclude its appropriate use.” Catholic theologian Fr. Kilian McDonnell, O.S.B., concluded from his study of published church documents from throughout the world during the 1960-1980 period that the UPCUSA report has had the most influence of any of the Protestant documents. In the 1971 Presbyterian Church U.S. report, "The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit", concluded with eleven paragraphs of guidance. Among the statements are these: “The renewed activity of the Spirit ought not to be designated ‘baptism,’ but as ‘filling,’ wherein the empowering Spirit moves to renew the believer and believing community.… The Spirit is active in all believers, and they may be filled with the Spirit in various ways for the mission of the Church.” The Reformed Church in America’s General Synod adopted their mission statement in 1975, concluding, “Every congregation should be open to the working of the Spirit in their midst….There should be no need for extra-congregational charismatic groups. Every Reformed Church congregation is charismatic.” The Reformed world is increasingly coming alive by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit to exalt Jesus Christ and glorify the heavenly Father. There is a growing awareness and desire to be in prayer and to be open to the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. Christians are being anointed in holy love for ministry within the Body of Christ and for outreach into an alienated, hurting and violent world.
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