Allowing the heart to "Fan into Flame" is how some leaders characterized the actions of more than 2,500 charismatic United Methodists attending a recent four-day Aldersgate conference in Nashville on the working of the Holy Spirit. Participants from across the United States, Russia, and the Philippines attended Aldersgate 1996, the 18th conference on the Holy Spirit.
The conferences are the annual gatherings of people involved in Aldersgate Renewal Ministries, the working name of the United Methodist Renewal Services Fellowship Inc., a network of those who pray and work together for the denomination's spiritual renewal through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Aldersgate conferences include lively worship, hugging, praying, singing, dancing, and exclamations of praise to God. They provide workshops to equip believers for witnessing and teaching.
The fellowship, headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, is an affiliate
of the Board of Discipleship through the Upper Room Program Section. The
board does not support the organization financially, it is financed through
donations from its network of supporters.
The fellowship "is not adversarial and it moves in the grace of God
by the power of the Holy Spirit to bring about renewal in the church,"
said the Rev. Richard M. Burns, a general evangelist for Aldersgate Renewal
Ministries, and a founding member of the Aldersgate movement.
Although the Aldersgate ministry and conferences are United Methodist
in origin and follow Wesleyan tradition, the worship services are reminiscent
of a Pentecostal revival meeting. Participants are uninhibited in their
celebration of the Holy Spirit. They pray for healing, and are open to
all of the spiritual gifts, including speaking in tongues.
More than 150 United Methodist churches have embraced the charismatic
style of worship, but the Aldersgate message has not caught on in the
church at large.
"This conference is the best kept secret in Methodism ... and the best thing happening in the United Methodist Church," said Gary Moore, executive director of Aldersgate Renewal Ministries.
Moore said the high attendance indicates the spiritual hunger in the church. "People are looking for something that has life and vitality."
"Aldersgate encourages a genuine encounter with God without going outside the denomination," he said. It helps fill the spiritual void for people by offering worship that is full of life and points to a commitment to Jesus, he added. In contrast, some traditional UM worship services focus on "the right liturgy" and people are "not provided opportunity to make their relationship right with God."
The movement is not opposed to liturgy, he continued, but "it tries to revitalize the worship experience with the expectation of God's real presence and anticipation of the ministry of the Holy Spirit within the worship service."
Joseph Awotwi, a member of Resurrection UM Church in Durham, North Carolina, is happy that people here "are not inhibited as they are in a typical worship service in the United Methodist Church." He said "many people in churches would cheer their favorite football team with enthusiasm and be uninhibited, so why not be uninhibited and cheer for God?"
Published in the November/December 1996 issue of Good News magazine. Adapted from United Methodist News Service.