The Charismatic Movement is no longer charismatic 

31st October
(N.B. this article uses the word charismatic in its technical sense, not as the popular misnomer it has become to describe a form of spirituality).

Most institutions start off as movements centred around one Charismatic leader, but then evolve into institutions. A charismatic leader starts something small scale which then grows in a way that requires a carefully managed evolution from spontaneity to structure and formalised governance.

Thus is true of the Church, and also more recently of Park Run, which is now an international organisation with the professional CEO.

But the most visible signs of this in what started out as house churches can been seen and heard in the music.

What started off as simple songs in the 1960’s and 70’s playable on a single guitar has now evolved into the kind of music that requires a sophisticated Audio Visual system with a mixing desk, projection screens, sound checks and a music group of the kind of sophistication and ability that would rival many musical theatre pit bands and commercial theatres. (I write as someone who has played in both.)

Just like the evolution of the Church from a Charismatic founder, and his immediate followers (Jesus and the Apostles) to an institution with a Priesthood, and eventually a centralised administration, Charismatic “House” Churches now have their own priesthood (The Worship Leader) and are generally located in large Warehouse Style Mega Church, buildings whose aesthetics are fairly bland, but whose AV systems would rival those of secular stadiums.

Don’t misunderstand me, I quite like playing in these kind of environments, especially if I’m doing backing brass and more sophisticated modern worship songs have their place alongside traditional  musical forms, (I love both.)

But the very characteristics that defined the early Charismatic Movement, small intimate groups of people meeting in houses where everyone could participate, simple music that was neither syncopated or demanding to play, have been lost. It’s impossible to argue with the fact that the Charismatic movement is no longer Charismatic.

Add to this a younger generation who can no longer find first jobs, look forward to buying a home, or have the prospect of sharing in any of the benefits of the post war social contract, and you get a widespread anxiety and mental health problems which mean that the younger generation are no longer seeking the thrills offered by house church style worship and are seeking peace, prayerfulness and the security of a structured worship style and environment. (Unfettered capitalism and market economics have destroyed that world my generation grew up in with it’s comfortable certainties and expectations leading to a search for peace not power, and safety not the dynamics that have so often shifted into manipulation and abuse).

So God is doing a new thing, and that new thing sometimes looks surprisingly traditional.

(Just one postscript, calling what has all the trappings and governance structures of a traditional denomination a movement is fooling no-one. It’s a half baked deluded conceit.)