THE CHARISMATIC movement, with its lightning growth and its unprecedented penetration of the mainline Protestant churches and the Catholic Church, is among the great issues in the world of religion today.
Adventist ministers and laymen are confronted with questions about the gift of tongues, faith healing, miracles, and baptism of the Holy Spirit in virtually all of their evangelistic and witnessing contacts. It is imperative that we and our people hold clear, positive concepts on these issues and that we take an unequivocal position without a defensive attitude.
With this objective in mind the General Conference Ministerial Association announced several months ago the preparation of a series of lessons called Charismatic Countdown. A pilot series using the newly prepared materials was conducted in the Takoma Park, Maryland, church by the authors of the course from February 12 through March 19.
The program was developed under the direction of N. R. Dower, secretary of the Ministerial Association. Leo R. Van Dolson of the Ministerial Association was assigned the task of putting the package together and writing the leader's manual. The course uses R. R. Hegstad's Rattling the Gates as a textbook and includes an 80-page printed study guide prepared by Hegstad. Included in the program are audio-visual materials prepared by Van Dolson.
Interest and audience participation were high in the Takoma Park pilot presentation. According to Pastor Dwight Hilderbrandt, who coordinated the series for the Takoma Park church, approximately six hundred people registered for the course. The attendance held up well through five weeks of Sabbath afternoon and Wednesday night sessions.
Van Dolson led out in the presentation of the series. Several of the Bible study presentations were made by Dower, and Hegstad conducted most of the study guide and discussion sessions. Others participating were: J. R. Spangler, of the General Conference Ministerial Association; Gordon M. Hyde, General Conference field secretary; R. W. Olson and Paul Gordon, of the E. G. White Estate; and J. J. Blanco, academic dean of Columbia Union College. Lenard D. Jaecks, Takoma Park pastor, and the elders of the church gave excellent support.
A rapid pace was maintained in the seventy-five-minute sessions by a variety of presentations. A twenty-minute Bible study opened each session, dealing with the theme of the lesson and giving a sound theological basis for understanding the various issues studied. Many of the sessions included an audio-visual presentation. A half hour was devoted to the study-guide lesson, explaining the correct answers to the questions the class participants filled out in their home study. Roving microphones were available to those desiring to comment or ask questions.
Although the various phenomena vaunted by the Pentecostals and the modern charismatics as evidences of the baptism of the Holy Spirit are examined, the Charismatic Count down series is not a polemic on Pentecostalism. The course takes a positive posture with a challenging, heartening message of its own regarding the ministry of the Spirit in the Advent Movement and His important place in the final work of the movement in the latter rain.
On the other hand, Charismatic Countdown is more than a series of answers to mystical questions that come out of today's theological melee. While it does seek to give sound answers, it is as greatly concerned with personal devotion and godliness. Each lesson contains its appeal for the denial of self in order to make room for the working of the Holy Spirit in the individual life. Each session of the Takoma Park series concluded with such a spiritual application, often with members participating in small prayer groups, or in giving personal testimony.
The course begins with a study of the charismatic movement and its background, and proceeds to deal with questions raised by Pentecostalism. Then there is an analysis of the relationship of feelings to reason, and experience to truth, followed by a study of the Biblical gift of tongues and modern purported manifestations of it. The subject of miracles is thoroughly studied—miracles in general, and also miraculous healing. The series concludes with a study of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and a lesson regarding Pentecostalism in prophetic perspective.
The audio-visual materials include five slide presentations and four recorded interviews and dramatizations geared to specific lessons in the course. One dramatic slide presentation deals with the phenomenon known as "psychic surgery." Another slide series that was well received by the Takoma Park audience portrays the occult revival. It was made available for use by artist Joe Maniscalco of Pacific Union College. An 11- minute 16 mm. color news film from NEC's Today Show documenting the charismatic movement is available from the General Conference Ministerial Association on a rental basis for use by church audiences only in connection with this series. All the other materials are available through the Adventist Book Centers, except the Leader's Manual, which is also provided through the Ministerial Association.
By special arrangement with the Home Study Institute, academic credit for the course can be arranged for those desiring it. Pastors conducting the course may receive credit toward their study requirements in the Academy of Adventist Ministers.
Although the pilot program was conducted by its authors, Charismatic Countdown is a package program that is designed with ample helps to enable any pastor to conduct it in his own church. Several churches in North America have already begun to present this series and report remarkable attendance at midweek sessions as a result.
