If You Want to See REVIVAL
What Happened When
The Holy Ghost
Came to church...
A Personal Account
In April of 1997 a friend told me about a prayer meeting that she thought I might be interested in. It was being held in of all places, St. Andrew's United Church in Nanaimo, B.C. Anyone familiar with the recent history of the United Church of Canada (ordaining homosexual clergy) would be forgiven if they wondered if the Lord would ever seriously consider using such a place for an unusual move of the Holy Spirit. I for one did feel that something different was going to happen at this church. Up until this time I had never attended a regular church as any I had gone to seemed to have something missing, I now understand, it is the freedom for the Holy Spirit to be who He is, and that is God.
However, the minister at this church did seem to genuinely give freedom for the Spirit to move and to this novice things seemed to be ripe for the Holy Spirit to bloom . The resident minister was being aided by a retired pastor who was mentoring him, if you will. My understanding is that the minister up until two years previous, had been your typical United Church minister. Then he went to the 'Toronto Blessing' and had a real encounter with the Lord. He seemed hungry for something out of the usual and there seemed to be no end of 'words' and 'visions' to confirm the fact that the Lord indeed had something special in mind for St. Andrew's United.
The schedule of activities was pretty intense for a United Church, Sun. morning there was of course 'church', Tues. night was prayer and praise, Thurs. morning was a prayer meeting and usually one other night there would be a Bible study. Tues. night and Thursday morning seemed to be the most 'spiritual' if you will forgive the expression. It usually went something like this:
Everyone would be invited to give thanks or a testimony at the beginning of the meeting. Then we would either begin singing right away, or sometimes we would pray and wait on the Lord. Either way, sooner or later either the minister in charge or his mentoring pastor would have some sort of vision with regards to the coming move of the Holy Spirit. This would include such things as giant waves hitting the city, great volcanoes pouring out lava which went up and down the island, giant roosters waking up the other churches in town, people coming from all over the world to see what was happening at this church, etc. etc. Whether any of these visions were truly of the Holy Spirit, I can not say, as visions has not been one of the Lords' methods of talking to me. However, since these two leaders seemed to have much experience between them, it seemed acceptable to me, since I was as green as grass and still dripping behind the ears. After these 'visions' we would usually move into a time of prayer, which consisted of each person taking a chair in the middle of the room and everyone else laying hands on them and praying for them. During these sessions, there always seemed to be spirits needing binding and most often encouraging words spoken by at least one of the leading ministers. Others in the meeting were encouraged to speak out if they felt lead by the Lord. All in all, this was more or less the way the meetings went for the first year and a half.
The number of people in attendance during the first year would be 12 - 18 on the average night with sometimes less and sometimes more. In my mind there is no doubt that during most meetings we would experience a touch from the Lord which was more than we usually experienced in Sun. church services. Over time the meetings seemed to gain momentum as more and more people began to attend, until during the last six months or so sometimes upwards of fifty people would attend. Most in attendance I would add were not members of the United Church and in fact very few attended the Sunday services at this church. You see, Sunday church at this church was the same as it was at any other United church. The only time things out of the ordinary happened was on Tues. night and Thursday morning, but never it seemed on Sunday.
During this time the Lord would bring people from far and away who seemed to be sent to encourage our little group that the Lord did have something special available for St. Andrew's. As time went on the momentum did indeed increase until finally one Thursday morning the Holy Spirit took up residence in our little prayer room. The minister wound up on the floor for about two hours this day, and it was felt this indeed was the beginning of something being fulfilled. Someone said they felt that the Holy Spirit was in fact 'moving in' and that His Presence would always be in this little room. The next morning I remember excitedly hurrying to the church at 8:30 to see if it was really true. Sure enough, as soon as you went into the prayer room, you knew you were in His Presence. It was Glorious.
Soon after this the Lord instructed someone who had been attending St. Andrew's for some time to hold an independent meeting in his home to further prepare us for what was to come. This indeed, was the start of a truly precious time with our gracious Lord. The first night when we arrived at John's home the minister from the church was literally flattened by the Holy Spirit and he wound up on the floor for some four hours. The next to go was his mentor, who also hit the deck for much of the night. From the beginning, the Lord let us know that this was a special move of His and that it was His and His alone. He never did things the same way twice and actually did things before we had a chance to sing or do any other such thing. The degree of anointing experienced during these meetings was said to be greater than what had been experienced at the Toronto Blessing. Some nights the anointing would just fall and 'all' of us would simply check out for an hour or more as the Lord did whatever the Lord had to do.
These meetings were held everyday in the beginning and then changed over to every evening. In all of the time we had regular meetings (every night for five months) the Holy Spirit never failed to show up and do something different with each and every one of us. This was truly Holy Ghost University and there is only ONE person qualified to give the course. So don't bother trying to duplicate it, it won't work as soon as man puts his foul paws on it.
Now, back to the United church and what was going on there. The mid-week meetings were very well attended because it does not take long for people to hear that something REAL is happening. Some Tuesday evenings there simply wasn't any more floor space for anyone as the Holy Spirit showed up and 'did His thing". During all this time almost no one from the 'regular' United church congregation were involved with anything that was happening. Yet people were coming for miles to be in attendance.
Now forgive me, if I have to back up a little bit to explain the congregational 'groups' involved with this church. I do not intend to be unkind and feel that my assessment of the situation is fair. Others may choose to disagree. I would assume that St. Andrew's was not unique when it comes to old mainline churches. There were several different groups all trying to get along as we know all good Christians are supposed to. One group consisted of the old guard, who had been in attendance for the past forty or fifty years ( God bless them ). This group seemed to consist of some people who obviously do not know the Lord and are not born again, by any stretch. In the same group there were many dear old ladies who had baked and cleaned and rummaged sales for years, keeping the old girl afloat. There was also more than one or two well to do types who seemed to think the size of their tithes gave them ownership some how. There was no doubt that they wanted to run the show and that was that. At the same time they also seemed to want to pass the torch to someone else, but no one seemed to fit the bill. Then there was us 'Spirit-filled, born again types' who definitely wanted to see a new move of God and felt new music and a freer service would be the answer. At the same time, everyone did try to get along with everyone else, but relations were always clearly strained. The older members just not understanding why the new guys didn't want to maintain the status quo. And the newer types recognizing the need for change if anything fresh were ever to happen. The truth of the matter is, St. Andrew's was the perfect picture of just what happens when we sheep don't have a real shepherd and keep settling for the best that money can buy, Unfortunately this repeats itself time and time again in churches all across this fair land.
I hope this gives a fair background understanding to the 'political' structure that was in place trying to run the affairs of this church. To accommodate the 'new' types and hopefully refill the empty pews, the old guard agreed to an early contemporary service on Sunday morning. This would be followed by a traditional service after the early service finished. This went on for several years and the two groups seemed able to share the same building reasonably well. However, no one from the old guard was ever involved with any of the mid-week prayer meetings or Bible studies. A great many of the 'regulars' from the early service were not involved with the mid-week activities either. I say this to point out that only a handful of the early service members were involved with what the Holy Spirit was doing during the mid-week meetings. This included influential members of the governing board. This would become of some significance later as we would find out.
After two years of praying for a move of the Holy Spirit that would shake our city I was not prepared for what happened when He actually showed up in Sunday morning church. It happened on Mar. 21/99, the first day of Spring, the perfect day for something completely new to be birthed in a tired old church. The first part of the service was pretty much as usual with no real opportunity for the Holy Spirit to actually do anything. Then during the last fifteen minutes of the service the Holy Spirit fell in the sanctuary and the five of us who were present just welcomed Him and rejoiced in His presence. It is interesting to note, that the minister had vacated the sanctuary to take care of some other urgent business. Some of us 'fell out' under the power, some danced and interceeded and I just personally rejoiced. This continued for many minutes and finally the people from the 'traditional' service started to drift into the sanctuary. Needless to say they didn't know what to think. After all, the Holy Spirit had probably not shown up in this church for many, many years. At this point I had to leave to drive my son to work but felt certain things would still be rolling along when I got back. I was wrong!
What happened next was totally unpredictable and the most unbelievable thing I could have ever imagined. But I am certain this has repeated itself time and time again in many different churches everywhere. The following Tuesday night was the regular mid-week meeting night which started at 7:30 p.m. We were informed there would be a 'meeting' prior to the regular meeting to discuss what had happened the previous Sunday. In attendance were the 'famous five', those of us who had welcomed the Holy Spirit, and several other members from the early service. The minister was in attendance also. The people with the 'political influence' included the property chairman, praise and worship team and the staffing chairman and his wife and also the chairman of the board. All of these people were not involved with the regular mid-week meetings, but rather only attended the Sunday services. The five 'trouble makers' while having very little 'political' clout were all regulars at the mid-week meetings as well as the regular house meetings where the Holy Ghost conducted school.
To make a long and troubling story short. Those with influence felt uncomfortable with the disruptive activities of we trouble makers. After all, we were completely upsetting the apple cart and who knows what might happen. Especially if all the old guard left church and took their cheque books with them! This did not really surprise me, but what the minister did, nearly blew my socks off! He tried to work out a compromise that would keep every one happy which primarily meant that we trouble makers were to tame it down, and that was that. I could not believe what was happening, we had prayed for this moment for two years, and when it finally happened, the minister wasn't behind it. I hasten to say that what I am expressing is my opinion but in all fairness I think that time has proven me out on what happened. However, I realize that the minister may have a different understanding of what happened.
Basically that night, two days after the Holy Ghost fell, things were over at this church. It took many months for things to finally come to an end and it really wasn't pretty. The minister wound up being fired by a church splitting vote. The early service just disappeared and went away. I really don't know what is happening with the remaining old guard United Church congregation but I doubt if it is growing or prospering. The whole situation did teach me something I could never have learned from reading of other churches experiences and I don't know how beneficial this little writing might be to someone. I hope it will perhaps shed some light if a similar thing should happen in your church.
Some of the things I learned from this.
If you think that 'revival' is going to be a smooth, gentle event, you are dreaming. The Holy Ghost will not show up to maintain the 'status quo' and He is neither tame nor is He predictable. There are very few of us who are mature enough (and I include the professional clergy) to truly know when the Holy Ghost is on the scene and what it is He really wants to do. I know He is not the least bit interested in our agendas and programs. I also believe He will not interrupt us while "we" are having church. He will politely sit quietly in the corner, and will not impose Himself but will only involve Himself when invited. I know we are far more convinced of the devils ability to deceive us than we trust the Lords ability to bless us. Hence, whenever something unusual does happen we begin immediately to think the devil must be behind it. This is a very dangerous stance, and leaders should pay particular attention. When the Holy Ghost does do something and you think it's the devil, you are treading very closely on blaspheming the Holy Ghost. Don't do it!
I have learned that very few people really know the Holy Ghost. In my own experience I have seen several ministers/pastors get together trying to decide if something truly is the Holy Ghost and then deciding against Him. How do I know? I know, that I know that I know. These are the same people that imagine themselves as being the 'gate keepers' and other such lofty dignitaries in the kingdom of God. The truth is, most of them wouldn't know the Holy Ghost if He bit them on the nose. Sad but true.
Many reading this may choose to disagree, and frankly, I am not the least bit concerned with engaging them in dialogue. If you can look at the present condition of the church and honestly say 'nothing is wrong' then you are indeed part of the problem and not part of the solution. If you expect to greet a genuine, true move of the Holy Spirit in your church, it is absolutely critical that you KNOW HIM ! If you don't, the only way to change that is to ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Don't assume that because you are born again that you know the Holy Ghost. That is a snare to many! I was a born again, tongue talker for over nine years before I came to know the Holy Ghost as the Third PERSON of the trinity. To this day, I do not know Him nearly as well as I would like too. Perhaps if I stopped talking a little longer at a time it would go better for me.
What I have written here is a first hand experience and I don't think I would have thought for one moment that things would have turned out as they did. But it did give me a better understanding as to why the Holy Spirit seems to have so much trouble moving in our churches. If the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever and He is no respecter of persons; do you suppose there is any reason a Welsh Revival couldn't break out in a thousand places at once, if we simply got out of the Holy Spirit's way?
