I have been very excited to have received a CD through the post with the ENTIRE collection of Restoration Magazines in PDF format from the Revival Library! It has been a continued source of frustration to me trying to hunt down and find these key foundational magazines to much of my charismatic heritage.
I've got a massive collection of New Wine and Restoration Magazines from my home church in Dunstable when much of the charismatic past was being erased. However there were large gaps in both magazines. David Moore has written possibly the most academic review of the Shepherding Movement in particular and said;
"...essential for an accurate history of the Shepherding movement is a complete collection of New Wine. The magazine published from 1969 through to 1986 was the principal publishing voice of the five teachers and the movement."
I've got a massive collection of New Wine and Restoration Magazines from my home church in Dunstable when much of the charismatic past was being erased. However there were large gaps in both magazines. David Moore has written possibly the most academic review of the Shepherding Movement in particular and said;
"...essential for an accurate history of the Shepherding movement is a complete collection of New Wine. The magazine published from 1969 through to 1986 was the principal publishing voice of the five teachers and the movement."
It is commonly understood in academic study in general that journals are an essential part of any research - even more useful than many books. Books are written and are often out of date as soon as they are published whereas the journal can tend to keep up to date with the rapidly changing scene of life. I think the same is true for church life and was definately so in the Pentecostal/Charismatic Movement.
The spiritual scene was changing so rapidly as God poured out His Spirit on the church that in our experience it was the New Wine Magazine (Ern Baxter, Charles Simpson, Bob Mumford, Don Basham and Derek Prince) and of course Restoration Magazine that was key. For those who don't know - Restoration Magazine was started by Bryn Jones and Harvestime Publications but was unique in that for some years it united other apostles and prophets in the United Kingdom such as Bryn, Keri Jones, Terry Virgo, Tony Morton, Arthur Wallis and my senior pastor Dr Stanley Jebb.
There are 106 magazines on the CD that will keep me busy reading for a while. I have already printed off some articles that caught my attention already - here's a few;
1. Report from the Lakes Bible Week 1975 - from Restoration Magazine - September/October 1975.2. Report from the Dales Bible Week 1977 - from Restoration Magazine - September/October 1977.
3. "Taking the Nations" by Ern Baxter - from Restoration Magazine - November/December 1977.
4. "How to Interpret the Scriptures" by Stanley Jebb - from Restoration Magazine - November/December 1979.
5. "Growing Churches - Clarendon Church Hove" (now Church of Christ the King in Brighton) - from Restoration Magazine - July/August 1981.
6. "The Best is Yet to Come" by Arthur Wallis - from Restoration Magazine - March/April 1983.
And there are just a few! I am sure there will many Pentecostal/Charismatic quotes (I have already posted one amazing quote from Larry Tomczak) to come from these amazing articles. But already I am finding they are feeding my ache for a new flood of renewal and revival from God. The 1970's and 80's were indeed a unique and amazing time and an extrordinary blessing and demonstration of the grace of God. Do I wish that I had been born a little earlier? Sometimes. I'd have loved to have followed Ern Baxter's ministry in person.
But I do believe without a shadow of doubt that the best is yet to come!
8 comments:
One thing you have never mentioned is Fulness magazine.
After the Covenant Love message of Ern's in Capel Bible Week, the greatest of ironies referred to in video 3 here:http://080808onnowto.blogspot.com/2009/12/jesus-wants-his-church-back.html
was the split famously referred to as R1 and R2.
It is important to note, than when left-brain predominant Christians cannot keep it together GOD WILL PRESERVE for Himself a whole picture of His counsel, even if the elements won't speak to each other.
So I think R1 was Bryn's crowd who tended to be expansionist...and actually the evangelistic urge will always be that...it's how they are built and R2 which were saying OK...so we say that we have "got it". Shouldn't what we have "got" be more visible? And were keen to press deeper into the life of God and how it works in daily life. Also Vital. Their vision went beyond meetings and salvation to a desire to reform everything - how we live love learn have fun...all in God!
As I've said before....we have recently been discovering the keys we never knew before and that is what is going to make BOTH sets of magazines now applicable as a continuing template...because both visions were accurate...just different sides of the ENORMOUS PiCTURE of where we are heading.
Fulness was designed by Mick Inkpen and Nick Butterworth and featured what came to be "Pioneer" ministries.
Interesting - I don't think I've heard or certainly read Fulness magazine.
New Covenant Church in Dunstable under Stanley Jebb was certainly R1 in terms of restorationist definition (while we were restorationist). The ties were always with Ern Baxter, Bryn Jones and Terry Virgo in theology.
I don't recall "expansion" ever being high on the Dunstable agenda however. I know we planted a church in Luton at some point (Mark Heath may remind me of the date/details) but I think the focus was far more on building our church.
That's until things started going sour of course.
by expansion....I just mean getting more and more saved....never a bad thing. Later on it became expansionist in a more sinister sense.
Proof: the ear chewing that Bryn Jones gave Ian Mc Culloch just because he was submitting to (what I feel was) the next stage which came from outside USA and UK....which was how you run Church in the Presence of God, with input from Jorge Pradas and Ed Miller.
About 10 to 15 years later it was the time for Claudio Friedzon to bring the same stuff through all the Bible Weeks.Who will forget how he kept saying "Fluya, in Argentinian sounds more like flooshja" and means it , the Presence of the Holy Spirit, is flowing!
Although I'm no longer involved in any R1 or R2 church (or indeed, in a church of any kind), I was a regular recipient of Fulness mag at the time. Not sure when that time was, but certainly in the late 70s, maybe into the early 80s. Regular contributors were John Noble and Nick Butterworth from Romford (Colliers Row), the latter did all the illustrations, Graham Perrins, others whose names now escape me. Also George Tarleton before his final departure from all things 'New Church'. I was at the very last meeting at Westminster Central Hall at which he spoke.
You should also look out for copies of Prophecy Magazine, jointly edited by Graham Perrings and John MacLauchlin around the same time, which contained some *really* cutting-edge (basically, off-the-wall IMO) theology.
If I can help with any anecdotal evidence, get back to me.
David
I've got a full set of Proclaim, try contacting Captal church cardiff (formerly springwood) talk to Mark perrins if there are any left. Fulness was WAY ahead of anything around and drew broadly from people who are now 'Pioneer' but much more widely as well. I've got a broken set of Fulness but someone somewhere should have a full set. The articles would be very suitable even today.
I have a blog which occasioally looks at relevant issues here it is http://www.jtsblogspot.blogspot.co.uk/
Ah yes....it was Proclaim, not Prophecy. Thanks for that. Prophecy Magazine was Clifford Hill.
Key players in Proclaim were Perrins and Maclaughlin, with the wonderfully-names Wayne Drain (only in America) - now Pastor Wayne Drain (he was 'prophet' at the time). All of that seems to have been excised from Wayne's website biography. I believe he was also associated with John Wimber for a while as well....later on, of course.
Presumably Mark Perrins is related to Graham. The Holy Spirit's apparent preference for children/relatives of existing ministers in the New Churches, along with that for a public school eduction in the C of E, is always a source of amusement.....:)
Hi Dan Bowen,
Great blog. I'm currently trying to fill out the wikipedia page for Arthur Wallis and wondered if you could supply me with the article from the Restoration magazine by Wallis entitled 'Women in the Plan of God'.
Would this be possible?
Many thanks,
I've got a copy of Fulness 29 in PDF which I can send you if you like as an example, featuring some wonderfully 70s hairstyles and retailing at the princely sum of 60p.
At one time I had full sets of both Fulness and Proclaim (truly wacky viewed in retrospect), all now sadly victims of the ravages of time.
I do have a good deal of anecdotal memory if anyone wants to tap into it
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