Changes in the Spiritual Climate and Expectation

It is difficult to remember how things were in our culture a few years ago. It is not difficult to think about when we consider the massive changes that have occurred in religion. Before the Jesus Movement people tended to attend services only with others of a like mind and similar worship styles. They rarely if ever mingled with people with other kinds of preferences.

I was reared in a Baptist Church and was not comfortable with folks from other streams of Christianity. The rituals of a Roman Catholic Church were very strange and I felt anxious when I attended a funeral or a wedding. I did not know any Catholics personally so I had little opportunity to discuss our beliefs or convictions.

That changed when I moved from a small town in Illinois to the large city of Cincinnati. My home town had few if any Roman Catholics but Cincinnati had a majority of Catholics so I met and shared life with them on a regular basis. My boss was Catholic and he attended church every morning on his way to work. I sat in the last pew and prayed spontaneously as he knelt and said his prayers from memory. The differences still kept us from mutual understanding.

Then everything changed. I was swept up in the movement of the Holy Spirit and began attending a small group in the home of a Presbyterian Minister. Over half the people in attendance were Roman Catholics. We shared deeply and openly and some of the barriers fell between us.

A similar thing happened with racial differences. I had a very few African American friends back in Illinois but that changed in Cincinnati where many of my dearest friends came from different racial/ethic backgrounds than I.

In my view, the major reasons why we have developed a healthier and more diverse society came from the Jesus Movement. We worshipped together, studied the Bible with each other and worked together. There was very little discussion about why mutual respect and honor were important. We just knew that the Bible told us so and we did it.

More later on changing musical styles.

Ps Congratulations to Josh and Ruth Willis on the grand Re-Opening of their Holy Spirit Worship Center in Hamilton. Josh is celebrating 25 years of operating The Good Samaritan Inn, a healing place for addicts. Josh came to faith in Christ at a Randy Matthews concert at the Butler County Fair Grounds in 1973. He is another radical that God brought to Himself in the Jesus Movement.

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Groups By Name

I recently came across the names the census takers give to the various age groups in society. I 'm not familiar with all so I am posting them for you. If you can't read the small fonts, I'll retype them.

World War I

GI

Pioneer

Baby Boomers

Post Modern

Milennials

Genomic

If we combine the Boomers with Pioneers and GI Generations the numbers of Seasoned Citizens is enormous. Yet, it remains to be seen if our churches have enough wisdom and skills to reach these people and involve them in meaningful activities.
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It will be a tragic mistake if Christian thinkers miss the opportunity to unleash the enormous wealth of resources contained here.

Top Ten Spiritual Changes Since the Sixties

There have been many books written about Boomers and their excesses, but, to my knowledge, little has been said about the spiritual revolution the Holy Spirit wrought in them along side the revolutions in sex, drugs and rock music.

A couple of posts ago I wrote about the massive numbers of people who have come to faith in Christ since the Sixties. Actually, that post covers about three of the most dramatic and far reaching aspects of the Top Ten.

1. The Holy Spirit brought revival to people in every nation. In fact, Christian growth has been much greater in regions that were formerly under represented spiritually.

2. When revival came the Word of God was released and relished by the new believers. Bible and their study have preceded and followed the Spirit-led revivals. These were not revivals that came as a result of national revolutions with promises of better lives here on earth but that arose as a result of Bible translations, mass distribution and preaching/teaching. As revival grew so did the knowledge of the converts.

3. When people read the Bible under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit they discovered that God loved them and had decided to give them His gifts. Wherever I travel around the world to teach and train people they all seem to accept the fact that they are gifted. The fact that God has actually called all people to share His glory and gifts is one of the greatest motivators for evangelism in Third World countries where oppression and emotional slavery are normal.

4. The top three paradigm shifts has led directly to the fourth: All of God's people are called and gifted to serve Him. The common distinctions made between rich and poor, male and female, black and white, educated and uneducated are less important than who we are in Christ. I was in Kenya, East Africa in 1983 and heard many stories about the gifts of power and healing as well as teaching and prophesy that were given to illiterate and destitute people.

5. These Spirit-filled Believers began to minister. One illiterate woman whose name I have forgotten, was so powerful and gifted she started an entire movement of millions. God gave her entire sections of the Bible as she preached despite her inability to read.

6. Since Constantine recognized the Christian Church as the official religion of the realm, there has been a theological split between the spiritual and physical world. Religious leaders were designated as "holy men of God with "spiritual callings" while normal lay Christians were considered to be "secular people involved in secular work". This split is generally called, a "Scared/Secular Split" or to be the result of "Greek Dualism".

As a result of the Sixties Revivals, the "wall of separation" has been constantly challenged. Increasingly there are cadres of non clergy man and women with gifts, insights, wisdom and power who are greatly used to evangelize, establish ministries to the poor and build various kinds of ministries. It is thankfully common for engineers, sales personnel, pilots, cooks, fashion designers, entrepreneurs and house wives to be involved in ministry.

Fun for Seasoned Believers

Last year my grand kids received another electronic, video gadget for Christmas. It was called, Wii and it is made by Nintendo. At first I was turned off by the thing. After a few games I quickly learned to love it. Now I strongly recommend that all your grand parents out there get one.

No, not just for the grand kids but also for you. It is a barrel of fun. It has several active games on it but my favorite is bowling. The game allows me to actually simulate a real bowling game and it becomes really competitive after a few minutes of action against my wife or grand kids.

Our five year old grand daughter is the champ at bowling. She does not take the game seriously but has an uncanny ability to throw strikes and beats all the rest of us while twirling, jumping and throwing fom behind her back. It is hilarious. A few times she has even rolled over while throwing the ball and gotten a strike.

I am 69 and Lily is 5 yet we both have a great time. I cannot name very many games where that is possible.

Take a look at this web for more information.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/NintendosWiiASurpriseHitWithSeniors.aspx

Sons and Daughters Will Speak About God

Since the Jesus Movement, leaders dress differently!



The old paradigm was summarized like this in a former post.
1. The primary focus was on "religion" and "religions" that were tightly organized and controlled by a hierarchy, traditions and cultural agreements. The "Mainline Churches/Denominations" were large, dominant and the epitome of what people expected from God. (They were called "mainline" after the railroad of the same name that ran along Philadelphia's richest and most powerful neighborhoods.) Religion was divided between Jews and Christians and the Christians between Protestant and Catholic, ignoring less prominent groups.

Here is the new paradigm that is emerging

Because of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the entire world in buckets and barrels the prophesy of Joel has taken place big time. People all around the globe are being touched by God and responding in amazing ways to His Spirit.

Sons and daughters have started speaking forth God's word and acting out His works.

The division between clergy and laity has become blurred and many of the largest Christian movements, including churches, are not in the mainline of wealth but in the suburbs abd cities where the common person lives.

They are led by men and women whose careers did not pass through Bible Schools and Seminaries. Some were more acquainted with the requirements of an MBA (Masters in Business Administration) or Psychology than Divinity.

Even more importantly, the "People in the pew" are not staying in the pews. They have increasingly been empowered by both God and their inner convictions to preach, teach, evangelize, heal and serve. We have seen a Perestroika break out between the professional and the lay classes of Christians. The wall is down.

Over 90% of all religious conversions are the result of ministry by Peers instead of Pros. Believers at work and play, God's house and Golf Courses, have become centers of renewal, revival and reformation. Old men are dreaming dreams and telling about them to their friends. Young men are getting visions about a better planet and sharing their passion with family and friends. Money and power have lost their hold and Believers both young and old are taking the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Thanks for listening to God, Joel.

My How You Have Grown

On a recent post I mentioned ten paradigms that controlled or described the religious situation in America. Some of those paradigms still have a lot of influence but there is a spiritual wave that has overwhelmingly influenced the religious ideas of almost every Christian group in America as well as the rest of the world.

Paradigm Shift #I. The Holy Spirit has been increasingly poured out on all Christians since the great Jesus People Revivals of the Sixties and Seventies. There have been more and great instances of people coming to Jesus Christ as Savior in the last forty years than ever before in history.

Just think about the revivals in Africa and Asia to say nothing about South America, North America and Europe/Russia. Author and missions researcher Patrick Johnstone, known for his 'Operation World' books, has published a new book under the title "The church is larger than you think", dealing with recent missionary developments:

"From the birds-eye view of history, we can see an incredible pattern in God's missionary action over the last 200 years -- in the 18th Century, the focus was on the North Atlantic, in the 19th Century the Pacific, in the 1960s, Africa, in the 1970s it was Latin America, East Asia in the 1980s and Eurasia in the 1990s. The 10/40 Window, particularly Central and Southern Asia and the Middle East are the final great challenges for Christianity, aside from secularized Europe and the Jews."

Johnstone sees evangelicals as the main force behind the growth.

1. Evangelical Christianity has grown slowly but steadily in the West, while the rest of Western Christianity has shrunk significantly;

2. The real growth of Evangelical Christianity in recent years has been in Latin America, Africa and Asia. In 1960, non-Western Evangelicals were around half as numerous as those in the West. In 2000, they were 4 times as many. In 2010, 7 times as numerous.

3. Although Christianity as a whole is growing slightly slower than Islam, Protestant Christianity is expanding faster than Islam at 2.9% per year, almost double the rate of population growth, currently at 1.7%;

4. The Roman Catholic Church is expanding more slowly than the population and means that the percentage of Catholics in the population is decreasing. This is mainly due to the secularization in Europe and the trend to Evangelicalism in Latin America;

5. Protestantism is growing almost twice as fast as the world population, but this is almost entirely due to Evangelicals. Non-Evangelical Protestants are shrinking significantly. Liberal theology is being preached in ever-shrinking churches in increasingly empty church buildings.

6. Evangelical Christianity is expanding more than three times as fast as he world population, and is hence the only religious group in the world with significant growth through conversion, at a rate almost double that of Islam. However, Christians will lose the battle for religious growth unless we produce far more children than we presently do now.

Next time, more on Christian Growth

Sweeten Life Systems Board Meets

This week Jens-Petter Jorgensen came all the way from Norway to be at our International Board meeting. We had a great time and you will hear more about it later.

Rick Kalal drove up from Knoxville and the Cincinnati team members also came to seek the Lord's guidance about the future. Cyndi Wineinger, Steve Griebling, Ron Peake, Jim Donovan and the Sweeten's had a great time of sharing and prayer.

Unfortunately, George W. was tied up with some minor issues in Washington, D.C. and could not make it.

Top Ten Changes Since the Jesus Movement

Stained Glass Religion

Joel 2:28-29 was one of the favorite passages of scripture quoted by preachers and teachers during the Jesus Movement.

Joel 2: 28 "And afterward,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

your old men will dream dreams,

your young men will see visions.

29 Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

Why was this such an important passage to the young men and women of the Sixties and Seventies? I suppose the answer to that question is somewhat obvious to anyone who reads it. In fact, I think this verse by an obscure prophet of whom most of us had never heard was the guiding plan for almost everything that has happened since the Jesus Movement.

So, before I post my ideas about the top ten changes let me post thoughts about the top ten paradigms that controlled religious thought before the Holy Spirit's great Revival in the second half of the 2oth Century.

1. The primary focus was on "religion" and "religions" that were tightly organized and controlled by a hierarchy, traditions and cultural agreements. The "Mainline Churches/Denominations" were large, dominant and the epitome of what people expected from God. (They were called "mainline" after the railroad of the same name that ran along Philadelphia's richest and most powerful neighborhoods.) Religion was divided between Jews and Christians and the Christians between Protestant and Catholic, ignoring less prominent groups.

2. Ecumenical Movements focused on dialogues among and between the various Protestant and Catholic denominations, sometimes inviting Jews. They were led by erudite members of the clergy who ruled the National and World Council of Churches.

3. Social action and the "Social Gospel" was preached and taught and mostly meant that the NCC and WCC urged the Federal and State Governments to pass legislation designed to help the poor. Some groups also had food pantries and supported soup kitchens.

4. There was a strict demarcation between clergy and the laity. Clergy were well trained and well spoken graduates of advanced education who were ordained to preach, pray, baptize and do the spiritual work of God. They were paternalistic and kindly to the unenlightened laity. The laity did secular work and supported the clergy by attendance and financial contributions.

5. The laity were not expected to be knowledgeable of the Bible or implement any spiritual practices at home, work or in the world. Religion was a passive spectator sport mostly designed for women and children.

6. Religious services were done by the professionals and watched by the laity. Clergy wore special garb and used special language and had special music that separated the church from the people and the world. The Holy Spirit was rarely mentioned except at baptism. His gifts were restricted to the clergy if mentioned at all.

7. There was little leisure time and few people went on vacations or understood what was happening overseas or over the mountains in America. People worked hard and after stopping were often physically or emotionally able to be active in community, church of family life.

8. There was a strict separation of races, ethnic groups, classes and cultures in most churches. This separation was strongly reinforced by language, dress, musical styles and traditions. Traditions and practices stayed the same from region to region with similar hymn books, readings, the liturgical year and in some cases nation to nation and language to language.

9. The style of communication emphasized one active speaker to many passive listeners.

10. Few people had ever traveled outside their city and state nor did they know people of a different religion, ethnicity or race.

Wow, did these assumptions ever change as a result of the Jesus Movement. If you have lived through them yourself, you can understand why some people have been overwhelmed by all the trauma.

My next posts will cover the TOP TEN CHANGES since the Jesus Revival.