Charismatic Christians spread “exciting faith”to immigrants

http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/05/22/charismatic-christians-spread-exciting-faith-to-immigrants/

 

With some members speaking in tongues, Pastor Brent Cantelon said that humans' "time is short" on this planet - and Jesus could be returning to Earth at any moment. Therefore, he urged his followers to donate money "while you have the chance."

‘God’s movin’ in this place. I am undone. I’ve got tears flowin.’ I’ve got snot comin’ out of my nose. God, we can be undignified with you. Knowin’ our indignity is all for you.”

Pastor Rico Galindez is shaking in front of about 500 people who are praying and swaying in the near-dark sanctuary of Cedar Grove Baptist Church in north Surrey.

It’s Sunday morning and Galindez, one of 10 pastors at the giant church, has been playing his electric guitar along with the Christian rock band. They’ve been pumping up the congregation for almost 25 minutes straight.

“I just want to cry out to God right now,” Galindez shouts above the steady praise music, which appears to have some in the congregation in a kind of trance.

Many are hunched over praying, sounding as if they are talking to themselves in an unintelligible language.

   Some are clapping in unison. Others are undulating, arms stretched to the heavens. Others just stand and listen, rapt.

Cedar Grove Baptist Church is what is known as a “charismatic” church, part of a growing worldwide movement of Christians who speak in tongues, engage in spiritual healing and, for the most part, prepare for the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ.

Cedar Grove Baptist is also one of several key mega-churches supplying students to Pacific Academy, the province’s second largest private kindergarten-to-Grade 12 school, which is a 10-minute drive away.

Pacific Academy, which has more than 1,400 students on a distinguished-looking 40-acre campus north of Highway 1 in Surrey, describes itself as “unabashedly Christian to the core.”

Financially supported by self-made B.C. billionaire Jimmy Pattison, Pacific Academy gives enrolment priority to students whose families regularly attend a Pentecostal church or have experienced glossolalia, also known as speaking in tongues.

RAPID EXPANSION

The Oxford Dictionary defines glossolalia as “the power of speaking in unknown languages, regarded as one of the gifts of the holy spirit (in the New Testament).”

Called “charismatic” Christians, people who engage in the ecstatic experience of speaking in tongues often describe it as being “slain in the spirit,” succumbing to “holy laughter” or being “drunk from joy.”

The spiritual “gift” of speaking in tongues – which to the uninitiated often sounds like gibberish – is most closely linked with Pentecostals, a denomination Pattison has long supported.

There are up to 500 million charismatic Christians in the world, especially in places such as the Philippines. People who engage in the ecstatic experience of speaking in tongues often describe it as being "slain in the spirit," succumbing to "holy laughter" or being "drunk from joy."

Evangelical Pentecostalism is expanding around the world; with an estimated 10 million adherents in North America and more than 200 million globally.

In 2011, Statistics Canada counted the number of self-identified Pentecostals in the country at almost half a million, with 53,000 in B.C.

However, the experience of speaking in tongues is also emphasized by a larger and more loosely defined group in Canada and around the world who have come to be known as charismatic Christians.

Charismatic Christians engage in their rapturous practices in many evangelical denominations (such as Baptist, Vineyard and Assemblies of God), as well as within a minority of congregations in the mainline, Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Globally, the respected Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life puts the total number of charismatic Christians at almost 500 million, with more than 50 million in the U.S. In total, charismatics may make up one-quarter of all the world’s Christians.

Most charismatic Christians believe in the miraculous healing of injuries and ailments. Many have also witnessed or taken part in exorcisms, according to the Pew Forum survey of 10 countries.

In regards to morality, the Pew Forum discovered a solid majority of charismatic Christians are opposed to homosexual relationships, abortion and divorce, with many also condemning the drinking of alcohol.

In contrast to most of the world’s Christians, who do not believe in prophecies about a cataclysmic “end times,” the Pew Forum found most charismatic Christians “believe that Jesus will return to Earth during their lifetime.”

At times, the charismatic movement in Canada and the U.S. has been associated with controversial evangelists, some of whom became embroiled in sex scandals.

They include Ontario-born Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944) and Americans Jimmy Swaggart and Jimmy Bakker – as well as, more recently, B.C.’s Todd Bentley.

But speaking in tongues is also encouraged in less contentious Christian charismatic circles. And it has a mainstream evangelical champion in Texas mega-church Pastor T.D. Jakes.

The Pew Forum found that, in addition to the U.S., the charismatic movement is a predominant form of Christianity in nations such as Brazil, the Philippines, Kenya and South Korea.

ETHNIC DIVERSITY

At Cedar Grove Baptist Church, members of Filipino, Chinese and Latin American ethnic groups are well-represented. The congregation this Sunday is roughly half visible minority.

When the introductory music is over at Cedar Grove Baptist and it comes time for the head pastor’s sermon, Kevin Cavanaugh acknowledges the quiet suffering endured by his membership and warns about the power of sin to ruin lives.

His voice cracking with emotion, Cavanaugh goes on describe the “exciting” redemptive power of God and the Bible. “This is not a normal book,” Cavanaugh says. “It’s a supernatural book.”

As the preacher speaks, many members of the congregation pray and utter words that cannot be understood by humans.

“Do not leave this church this morning until you have had a God encounter.”

Pentecostal preacher Christo Emmanuel is shouting as he urges members of giant Langley’s Christian Life Assembly to have a euphoric connection with God this Sunday.

A few dozen of the roughly 600 people filling the auditorium-like sanctuary have strange sounds coming out of their mouths.

Their eyes are closed. Even many of those who are not speaking in tongues are weaving, rocking back and forth or holding up their hands.

Others stand or sit silently, waiting with open hearts to see what the spirit has in store for them this morning.

GIVING ENCOURAGED

Christian Life Assembly, located east of Langley City with a parking lot as large as that of a major shopping centre, is another prime feeder church for Pacific Academy. Other Pentecostal churches that send students to Pacific Academy include Broadway Church, Relate Church, Recovery Church and many more.

With the Christian Life Assembly band playing uplifting mood music to underscore his sermon, Emmanuel encourages “God encounters” among the faithful.

He talks about their pain, weakness and sinfulness and their need to be healed by the holy spirit.

The structure of the Christian Life Assembly service follows a format similar to that of Cedar Grove Baptist and other charismatic churches, most of which have rock bands and employ large video screens to post lyrics and inspiring images.

Such services almost always begin with 20 to 30 minutes of non-stop Christian praise music. At Christian Life Assembly, the opening singalong session includes more than 50 repetitions of the lyric: “For the sake of the world / spread like a fire in me.”

When the music eventually winds down, head pastor Brent Cantelon comes on stage in suit jacket and cowboy boots to tell members of the congregation about the “incredibly exciting” things God is doing at Langley Christian Fellowship.

His voice breaking with emotion, Cantelon sometimes shouts, calling on adherents to “do something bold” for the church. “You are broken,” he says, but “God has a plan and purpose for you.”

Since it is a Sunday devoted to Christian Life Assembly’s many global missions “to the lost” in Asia and Africa, Cantelon urges his members to donate generously – naming sums of anywhere from “$11 a month” to “onetime gifts of $20,000.”

There is no point, Cantelon says, in waiting to leave a legacy in one’s will to the Christian Life Assembly’s evangelical missions. “That’s not giving. …  Make a sacrifice offering for the kingdom of God.”

Saying that humans’ “time is short” on this planet – and Jesus could be returning to Earth at any moment to separate Christian believers from the rest – Cantelon seems to be crying as he urges his followers to “Give while you have the chance.”

BEYOND SPEAKING IN TONGUES

What is the future of charismatic Christianity – and how important to it is the gift of speaking in tongues?

While the Pew Forum has estimated there are about 500 million charismatic Christians around the world, its polling also found that roughly four in 10 reported they do not speak in tongues.

Charisma magazine, which is devoted to the movement, spotlights the emerging debate about whether speaking in tongues is essential to being a true born-again Christian.

Some maintain that moral behaviour, spiritual healing and belief in salvation through Jesus are just as central.

Washington state evangelical educator Ric Walston, author of The Speaking in Tongues Controversy, is among those who argue: “There is so much more to being a Pentecostal or a charismatic than simply whether or not you speak in tongues.”

However the debate about speaking in tongues plays out over time, it is clear from the Pew Forum survey of 10 countries that the charismatic trend is expanding – and it’s particularly influential in regions that provide Canada with millions of immigrants, such as China, the Philippines, Korea and India.

Members of those national groups and many others were solidly represented at the services at both Cedar Grove Baptist Church and Langley’s Christian Life Assembly.

Indeed, recent Statistics Canada figures show that more than one out of three Pentecostals in Metro Vancouver are visible minorities.

It’s a clear sign the charismatic movement is sure to grow in Metro Vancouver and across the rest of the country.