The Christian Charismatic Renewal Church Movement, which started in the 1960s, has undergone changes over time. It began as people in mainstream Christian denominations began to experience an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. A similar experience had been going on for decades in Pentecostal churches. The Christian Charismatic Renewal has grown to become one of the largest groups of Christians in the world.
Here are five key events in the evolution of the Christian Charismatic Renewal Church Movement:
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1. Dennis Bennett: The April 1960 Easter sermon of Father Dennis Bennett is considered to be the "shot heard round the world" for the Christian Charismatic Renewal Movement. Bennett was an Episcopal minister who preached that morning on his experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit. He caused controversy in his church and moved to another parish that accepted his claims and grew.
2. College Campus renewal: A Yale University group of students who were members of the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship experienced speaking in tongues in 1962. The experience involved members of several mainstream protestant denomination including Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Methodists. Similar experiences followed on other college campuses.
3. The Catholic renewal: While Bennett's sermon ignited the Protestant world, a retreat in 1967 at Duquesne University brought the renewal to Catholics. A group of students there experienced a renewal in the spirit which grew into the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. The movement is accepted by the Catholic Church as a ministry that has been part of the gospel since the first Pentecost. Today, nearly 120 million Catholics in 220 countries identify as Charismatic.
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4. Kansas City Charismatic Conference of 1977: This gathering brought together 50,000 Charismatic believers from three main traditions: Pentecostal, Protestant and Catholic. Worshipers were "baptized in the spirit" in this ecumenical gathering which was reformist rather than separatist in nature. In other words, these believers came together to be inspired to create change within their churches, not to convert other believers to their denominations.
5. Acts29 Churches: Bennett founded the Episcopal Renewal Ministries, which is also known as Acts 29 Ministries. This ministry calls itself a network of churches rather than a denomination. It is focused on "planting" new churches. The churches have an emphasis on Evangelism. While they recognize the "empowering presence of the Holy Spirit" importance of "spirit leadership," they do not promote a clear Charismatic emphasis.
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