Key 73 Launch: Christmas Plus One

The recent Key 73 meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, was like opening a gift-wrapped record under the Christmas tree: most people had a good idea of what was in it but few knew how good it would be. For the first public presentation of the continental Key 73 program, the central committee invited a veritable who’s who of evangelical Protestantdom to sample the goods of others and to present their own. Bishops, presidents, elders, and assorted leaders—all representing a participating denomination or organization—followed on each other’s heels telling the nearly 200 gathered what their groups were doing to make Key a success.

“It’s beginning to jell now,” said Key 73 executive director Ted Raedeke. “It’s getting to the point now where denominations feel they can no longer ignore Key 73.” With nearly 150 groups already in, Raedeke’s remarks were underscored by the presence of Roman Catholic nuns and priests and two rabbis, all seeking information.

The emphasis at the St. Louis meeting was primarily on the dual first phase of the program: a “launch” television special and a two-week long noon call to prayer.

The TV special is slated for stations around the country on Saturday, January 6, with follow-up home Bible studies immediately after the program. Entitled “Faith in Action,” the thirty-minute documentary follows the experiences of nine new Christian families in both Canada and the United States. Phase One coordinator Ron Kerr, a United Methodist minister, said the program will emphasize the “breadth and scope” of Key 73. Church families are being urged meanwhile to organize “viewing parties,” inviting neighbors in to have coffee and refreshments, watch the program together, and then participate in Bible study.

Kicking off the entire Key 73 program will be the noon prayer calls. Conceived and coordinated by Prayer-a-gram founder Bob Yawberg of Fort Wayne, Indiana, the call will begin with opening ceremonies in four cities—Washington, Fort Wayne, Albuquerque, and Los Angeles—and be followed by daily prayer in homes, schools, offices, and churches each day at noon for the two-week period starting the day after Christmas. “We hope they’ll blow their horns in the streets, we hope churches will ring their bells, and we hope cities and towns will sound their sirens—to remind people to pray for Key 73,” he said.

Although each denomination and local group is free to participate in any way it chooses, the national organizations make suggestions available in congregational resource books. Raedeke said he also hoped participants would draw fresh ideas from the reports received at the St. Louis conclave.

In preparation for the year-long thrust, several denominations have already started evangelism seminars and training sessions for their clergy and laity. In Chicago, General Conference Mennonites were presented with the Key 73 goals and were trained to help local congregations meet the goals that leaders hope will take the church beyond Key 73. The conference’s Commission on Home Missions has signed a contract with Worldwide Evangelism-in-Depth to conduct similar training seminars across the country.

Already, Philadelphia churches have launched Key 73 in their area with ceremonies in the signing room of Independence Hall. Five leaders, representing the cooperating churches in Philadelphia, signed a statement of support of every effort “at every level of human experience to call our continent to Christ.”

In Canada, churches are gearing up after a late start. The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (largest Pentecostal body in the country) called all provincial evangelism directors to Toronto last month for a Key 73 planning session. Other churches and organizations are still in early planning stages.

The Christmas gift may be unwrapped now, but how good it is can’t be fully determined until after Christmas 1973.

Opposition ’73

Not everybody is happy about Key 73 and its avowed purpose of calling the North American continent to Christ. Jews and separation-minded fundamentalists alike are speaking out against the project.

Bob Jones University chancellor Bob Jones, Jr., says it is Satanic because theological liberals are involved along with the evangelicals. Sword of the Lord publisher John R. Rice doesn’t believe the gospel truth can be communicated under such circumstances. (Both Jones and Rice are separatists. This year Jones split with Rice because the latter has fellowship with the venerable Robert G. Lee who in turn has fellowship with the Southern Baptist Convention, an abomination to Jones.)

Evangelist Jack Wyrtzen, upon learning that the National Religious Broadcasters agency was cooperating with Key 73, resigned from the NRB Board of Directors because he did “not want to be associated in any way with this kind of compromise.”

Jewish leaders meanwhile are circulating an eleven-page memo outlining countermeasures against evangelism. They say Key 73 is offensive.

Pneuma ’72

Can the far-flung charismatic movement, whose adherents range from Catholics to classic Pentecostalists, come up with a common theology of the Holy Spirit?

That was a major concern for exploration as nearly 200 conferees assembled last month in Oklahoma City for the second annual meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies (SPS). Participants included old-line Pentecostal scholars as well as Catholics, Orthodox, and mainstream Protestant charismatics, along with a number of non-Pentecostal evangelical observers. In order to subject the SPS to a critique from outsiders, speakers from the evangelical right and the ecumenical left were brought in.

While there was an apparent unity in the Spirit during discussions of the “Pneuma ’72” theme, there was an equally apparent confusion in understanding the Spirit’s work in any uniform way. Catholic scholar Donald Gelpi of Loyola University in New Orleans and Orthodox priest Athanasios Emmert of Huntington, West Virginia, evaluated the charismatic experience as a valid outworking of that which is inherent in the sacrament piety of both Catholic and Orthodox churches. But no serious effort was made to reconcile their views with evangelical, neo-Pentecostal, or old-line Pentecostal statements.

Theologian William G. MacDonald of Gordon College, an Assemblies of God minister, identified the movement as riding on an “experience-certified theology” that brings together the objectivity of the revealed Word and the visible manifestation of the Spirit’s presence in the believer’s life. Presbyterian J. Rodman Williams, formerly of Austin (Texas) Seminary and now president of Melodyland Schools of Anaheim in Southern California, proposed a Pentecostal restatement to speak to both sacramentalist and evangelical theologies while moving on to a more adequate expression of its own.

In the presence of this apparent inability to get it all together, non-Pentecostal theologian Clark Pinnock of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School made perhaps the most useful suggestions for bridging the gaps between the various theological models that seek to explain the charismatic experience. He rejected as both empirically and exegetically unsound the Warfield view that the gifts of the Spirit ceased after the apostolic age. He then tendered a twofold compromise: that tongues be considered an acceptable though not normative gift, and that the manifestation of the gifts—including glossolalia—be considered an actualization of or a witness to the fullness of the Spirit given in regeneration, rather than as a “second blessing.”

The compromise, requiring both tongues and non-tongues advocates to yield somewhat in their current thinking, attempts to harmonize that which is empirically real with traditional evangelical theology. It runs counter, however, to old-line Pentecostal belief that the indispensable initial sign of Spirit baptism is glossolalia. Beyond that, even Pinnock suggested nothing to bridge the gap with the sacramentalist charismatics.

Vinson Synan of Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Georgia, was elected president of the SPS, which claims about 200 members in thirty countries. He predicted that the SPS papers will be the basis of charismatic study in the churches throughout the next decade.

JOHN E. WAGNER

Charisma ’72

Probably the chief issue in the Scandinavian church scene these days is the phenomenal spread of the charismatic movement. In October, more than 10,000 persons took part in Charisma ’72, a five-day ecumenical event in Stockholm viewed by many church authorities as highly significant. The conference’s steering committee consisted of Church of Sweden (Lutheran), Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, Salvation Army, Congregational, Evangelical Lutheran Fatherland Foundation, and Catholic representatives. One of the organizers, Bishop Helge Fosseus, a former missionary in South Africa and Lutheran World Federation (LWF) mission leader, was interviewed by an LWF official:

Has the Church of Sweden been influenced to any great extent by the charismatic movement? Not everywhere, but in the larger cities and in the youth movement the influence is obvious. In Stockholm there are about 100 Jesus groups, and in many parishes prayer groups meet regularly. These groups are active in many ways, but do not follow any pattern. They do not pay much attention to confession and denomination. Members of the same group often come from different denominations. In the same way, dogmatic differences are ignored, the unity in the Spirit of God being the only criterion of the fellowship between members. The groups voice their missionary calling in an evangelistic approach to anybody within reach, and do not tend to split from their parishes but rather to help inspire new life.

Are there any factors that could explain the appearance of the charismatic movement? Some complain that the spiritual sources of the old established churches are running dry and that abstract theology and Christian patterns of behavior do not inspire the young generation of today. Others are of the opinion that secularization has produced young men and women who have completely lost contact with the church. When they hear the Gospel preached and, without any prejudice, experiment with Christianity, and find that it works—that God is a reality and that the Holy Spirit is not just an idea but a function that works—they get overjoyed and happy and receive the spiritual gifts just as they were received in the early Church. Worship is characterized by new joy and happy expression of their new experiences of spiritual realities.

What future influence on the Church of Sweden can be expected? In connection with the proposed revision of the relationship between church and state, the charismatic movement may find an opening to some influence. Whether this will have a lasting influence no one knows. But the young people who are brought into contact with the church through the charismatic groups indeed produce a necessary rejuvenation in the congregations. It can also be expected that forms of worship will have to be accommodated more to the spontaneous way of the young charismatic groups—at least to make room for more active participation of lay members.

Religion In Transit

Judge Andrew J. Doyle, a church-going Methodist, stirred Nashville, Tennessee, with tongue-in-cheek instructions to police that no one—including preachers—be exempted from obeying Sunday blue laws. It was an apparent attempt to show the impossibility of enforcing the laws, but Sabbath enthusiasts around the nation sent their congratulations. Several concerned souls pleaded with him not to persecute the churches.

Finishing touches are being applied to a thirty-story steeple tower, said to be the tallest church tower in America, at D. James Kennedy’s 2,500-member Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It is part of a $6 million complex.

The Washington Post has moved its “Saturday church page” to Friday to better accommodate Seventh-day Adventist, Jewish, and other sabbath groups.

The forty-two member Executive Council of the United Church of Christ placed a one-year limit on the activities and “employment commitments” of the denomination’s social-action agency in apparent rebuke for controversial actions taken without consulting the council.

“Christmas Is,” an animated television special produced by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, will be televised around the world this month. Last year 439 stations in various countries carried the program.

San Francisco registers 532 abortions for every 1,000 live births, triple the state rate, according to a University of California medical study. Three-fourths of the gynecologists and obstetricians surveyed said they favor abortion upon request by the patient and approval by the doctor, a stand affirmed by NCC president Cynthia Wedel last month.

The Vatican has warned potential givers to beware of a group raising funds for the Holy Land. It said Foundation of the Holy Land, Inc., collects money under false pretenses.

An Ontario Mennonite nursing home will not have to pay municipal taxes under a Supreme Court of Canada decision. As a result many other denominationally run homes are loosed from local tax rolls.

Canada’s largest evangelical church, Peoples Church, Toronto, begins color telecasting its morning service over one of the most influential stations in Canada next month. The program—produced by CFTO-TV staff with church equipment—will be syndicated throughout Canada and the United States, including sixty-two cable outlets. Last year the 3,000-member church raised more than $500,000 in support of its 410 missionaries. The TV expenses will be above that figure.

A week-long sit-in at the offices of New York City’s Council of Churches ended when the NCC agreed to set up a thirty-member task force on racism. Half the membership will be chosen by the demonstrators.

Internal Revenue Service officials have taken no action against a Rochester, New York, Catholic church that refuses to pay federal excise taxes on phone bills as a protest against the Viet Nam war. Meanwhile, phone service to the church continues.

Nuns and religious-order members in the United States are now eligible for Social Security benefits under a recently passed law.

Two moon rocks brought to earth by Apollo 16 are more than four billion years old, say Cal Tech scientists.

A “messianic figure” will soon appear

and “bring the people together under one God,” prophetess Jeane Dixon asserts in a recent book.

Gateway Films, a subsidiary of the American Baptist Convention, has released The Late Liz and continues to book The Cross and the Switchblade. Immediate goal: to square accounts of the bankrupt Dick Ross Associates, the original producer and distributor.

Personalia

Astronaut-turned-evangelist James B. Irwin in a visit to South Viet Nam gave president Nguyen Van Thieu a Bible and a Vietnamese flag that had been taken to the moon.

Charges lodged against Lutheran campus chaplain Gerald Pederson four years ago during unrest and violence at San Francisco State College were finally dropped a few weeks ago.

Methodist missionary official Harry O. Morton is the new general secretary of the twenty-year-old British Council of Churches; Archbishop Michael Ramsey of Canterbury will serve another five-year term as president.

Eastern Baptist Seminary professor Carl F. H. Henry, former editor of CHRISTIANITY TODAY, was reelected president of the Institute for Advanced Christian Studies. The IACS recently granted $10,000 to Wycliffe Bible Translators scholar Robert E. Longacre, who is preparing a “universal catalog of human thought implicit in the world’s languages.”

Pastor Kyung Chik Han of the 14,761-member Young Nak Presbyterian Church in Seoul, said to be the largest Presbyterian congregation in the world, has joined the World Vision staff as a minister-at-large. He and twenty-seven other refugees from North Korea started the Seoul church in 1945. It has helped to establish nearly 100 other churches since then.

Pittsburgh Seminary professor Markus Barth leaves this month for Basel University in Switzerland, where his famous father, the late Karl Barth, taught. He will fill the chair once held by New Testament scholar Oscar Cullmann.

The Cuban-born Anselmo Carral, 47, will move from his campus chaplaincy post in Panama to Guatemala, where he will replace Episcopal bishop William C. Frey. Frey was expelled from the country when he signed a petition addressed to the government. Carral, who will also direct Episcopal work in Honduras, was named at the recent meeting of Episcopal bishops in New Orleans after the Guatemalan church failed in eighteen ballots and twenty-one hours of deliberation to make a selection.

Former Tennessee state senator C. Brinkley Morton has decided to return to law practice after ten years as rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Memphis, the state’s largest Episcopal church.

After thirty-five years, Reformed Episcopal Seminary church-history professor Howard D. Higgins has retired from teaching but stays on the job as presiding bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church.

Herbert O. Muenstermann, a United Church of Christ minister, was named executive director of the board that runs the pioneering 1,100-bed Vellore Christian Medical College and Hospital in India.

World Scene

An unidentified group of “concerned U. S. missionaries in Chile” sent a twenty-page open letter to American churches commending the Chilean socialist government and calling for a U. S. hands-off policy. The missionaries say they are in a unique position to participate “in the struggle to create a new and just society.”

A Japanese Buddhist sect dedicated a huge new temple at the foot of Mount Fiji. The sect’s officials say it is the largest religious structure in the world.

A Lutheran World Federation survey shows that Lutheran churches around the world now have 73.5 million members.

The island of Patmos is now a national historical monument, by decree of the Greek government.

A church cold war is heating up in Israel. A mission of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia has filed a lawsuit to gain church property in Jaffa that has been controlled by the Moscow Patriarchate since 1948.

Mormons say they now have about 35,000 members in New Zealand—more than the Methodists.

The worsening rift between the Dutch Catholic hierarchy and the Vatican, though “serious,” will not lead to a break with Rome, insists the secretary to the Dutch Bishops Conference. The Dutch want more democracy, liturgical reform, and greater emphasis on the Bible.

More than 10,000 Catholics of North Vietnamese origin—the majority of them young people—demonstrated in Saigon against the draft peace agreement between U. S. presidential envoy Henry A. Kissinger and North Viet Nam.

Pastor Robert L. Wise and members of his Lakeside United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City spearheaded the first Lay Witness Mission to Mexico at the invitation of Mexican Methodist bishop Alejandro Ruiz. Mexican nationals are now spreading the Lay Witness movement in their land.

South Africa distributed more Bibles (551,104) than any country except the United States (720,791), show 1971 United Bible Societies figures. The government subsidizes the bulk of the cost of each Bible purchased by Bantu and other non-white children.

Missionaries, by finding markets for goods, setting up schools, and spreading a life-changing faith, are thereby helping to blunt attempts by Communists to woo primitive tribesmen in northern Thailand, says American Baptist missionary Paul W. Lewis.

Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here.