Order of St. Luke International 2019: From an Anti-Cessationism past to a Fully Charismatic Future
Charismatic historian William De Arteaga introduces us to The Order of St. Luke, where it came from, how it has influenced charismatic leaders for generations, and reports on the most recent international convention held in Orlando, Florida.
The Order of St Luke was founded by The Rev. John Gayer Banks in the 1930’s, an Episcopal priest residing in California. His intention was to introduce healing prayer into the Episcopal and the mainline churches in the United States. By the 1950s the OSL became a leading and important anti-cessationist group proclaiming a prophetic message among the Protestant churches in North America: the Church’s healing ministry must be reclaimed. Ultimately, the OSL also became a solidly charismatic bastion, sharing in many areas of the world the message that the healing ministry reaches its fullness in conjunction with the gifts of the Spirit. The latter transition was not and easy one, as will be described below.
Dearmer’s labors in reestablishing healing prayer in the Church was partly in response to the vast inroads that Christian Science and the other Metaphysical cults were making during the 1900s in attracting orthodox Christians to their churches. The Rev. Dearmer rightly understood that the root problem was that the orthodox Christian churches no longer believed or practiced healing prayer – i.e. cessationism.[2]
Dearmer and two other Anglican churchmen banded together to remedy the situation. This was done through a new organization, The Guild of Health, which was attached to the Anglican Church. (Anglican love doing their ministry through “guilds,” it grounds the group to the Anglican Church and its Episcopal oversight and besides sounds genteel.) The guild spread throughout the UK, sponsoring and organizing lectures and “missions” of three day teachings ending in a church service and the laying on of hands at the altar rail.
John Ganer Banks was born in England but later emigrated to America to get his doctorate in religious studies, and went on to be ordained an Episcopal priest. He determined to do the same for the Episcopal Church in America as the Rev Dearmer did in the UK. From his base at St. Luke’s Church in San Diego, he and his wife Ethel began healing services at his parish, and did healing missions wherever he was invited. While he pastored the parish, Ethel administered the OSL and wrote most of its literature. She began a mimeographed journal of healing testimonies and book reviews. The mailing list for this two page newsletter steadily grew to reach every part of the nation. Within two years it morphed into a more sophisticated printed journal with the name “Sharing.” It continues to this day as the official journal of the OSL.
The OSL grew slowly but steadily in the decades from the 1930s. Some churches with OSL chapters established weekly or monthly healing services, other parishes did not have official chapters but continued healing services after hosting one of the Rev. Bank’s healing missions. This is routine stuff for most of us, but in the 1930s to 1950s these healing services was revolutionary and controversial in view of the lock that cessationism had on the thinking of orthodox Christians. Pastors who hosted them were sometimes snubbed and ridiculed by their colleagues as becoming cultic. Sharing magazine regularly posted on its last page the names of doctors, professors and other professionals in an attempt to show that it’s believe in healing prayer was truly respectable, and not something that only the “crazy” Pentecostals did. That had little effect.
After World War II (1945), progress came more quickly. For instance, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, which had a very active OSL chapter, became national centers of healing prayer and hosted a yearly healing summit and conference on Christian healing. These conferences attracted the leadership and members of the OSL and other (non-Pentecostal) Christian healing groups such as the Life Abundant ministry.
Of course, the Pentecostals were doing great healing work at the same time, but they were marginalized as “fanatics” and “heretics” during the pre-World War II period, as well as after. They did not much influence the mainline churches, or the OSL, until the Charismatic Renewal of the 1960s.
The OSL was inter-denominational from its inceptions, although it was majority Episcopal well until the 1970s, when Methodist and other mainline Christians increasingly added to its roles. Interestingly, the last three “wardens” of the national OSL have been non-Episcopalian or Anglican. (No, OSL members are not locked up. “Warden” in the UK has a broad meaning of someone in charge of a group.)
When the Charismatic Renewal broke out in the 1960s there existed a large network of OSL chapters with regional boundaries, a national headquarters and elected leadership. One would imagine that the OSL would welcome the Renewal. But in fact just the opposite happened.[6]
At the Eight International Conference of the OSL (1963) held at St. Stephen’s, Morton Kelsey, Richard Winkler and others made a passionate presentation on the need for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and of tongues. Some of the delegates and participants had in fact received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit through various avenues, at Pentecostal camp meetings, or in the CFO camps which were already heavily charismatic. But many had not, and were offended by the implication that they were in some way “incomplete” Christians. One advocate even said that water baptism was incomplete without the subsequent Baptism of the Holy Spirit and tongues speaking – a serious exaggeration.
All of this created a great uproar and serious division. At the following business meeting to the convention an anti-charismatic policy was formulated and issued. Members were enjoined to:
proclaim, teach and practice only such things as are related to Spiritual Healing, sacramental acts, prayer, and Christian living, as set forth in the OSL Manual. They shall not by word or action use the OSL to exploit or promote their own particular philosophies, doctrines, and practices, including glossolalia (commonly called speaking in tongues and prophecy).[7]
This was followed later with a very critical attack on tongues by a practicing psychiatrist, Dr. Klaus Thomas, an OSL leader. He more of less said that everyone he saw speaking in tongues was mentally disturbed – an idea circulated often in the early Pentecostal era. The critical report was widely circulated among the OSL leadership.
All of this was a serious setback to the OSL, Spirit-filled members no longer felt at home in the OSL and left in droves. Subscriptions to Sharing went down substantially.
The charismatic advocates were tactless and their theology “first draft” and exaggerated, but the OSL leadership was also suffering from the “elder son” syndrome (Lk 15:28-30). They had been doing healing prayer and ministering countless miracles for decades without speaking in tongues or the conscious use of the other gifts of the Spirit. None of this wild Pentecostal stuff was requested or needed, thank you. It seemed as if the gifts of the Spirit would have no place in the OSL.
In the CFO, mentioned earlier, the progress of accepting gifts of the Spirit had begun almost a decade before the Charismatic Renewal and spread rapidly. With the interlocking membership of the CFO and OSL, a more positive and mature view of the gifts of the Spirit was bound to resurface
In any case, the Baptism of the Spirit steadily gained importance in the OSL. I recall attending a national OSL convention in Washington DC in the mid-1980. It was held at the National Cathedral. Barbara Schlemon, one of the pioneers of inner healing prayer and well known charismatic leader, gave the keynote address.[9] The music ministry played well known praise songs at the beginning of each session, and one could see perhaps one half of participants lifting their hands in praise, and some quietly speaking in tongues. No one I could see was disturbed or surprised by this.
Flip forward. Four years ago the warden of region three (South East US, my region) sent a circular email to the effect that all chapter leaders must be Baptized by the Holy Spirit and that they are to strongly encourage all chapter members to also be baptized in the Spirit. The OSL national leadership immediately ordered her to rescind the email. I was then serving as OSL Georgia chaplain, and backed the national office to the surprise of some of my OSL friends. I felt that some people were still coming into OSL chapters out of cessationist Baptist or Presbyterian congregations. Many of these persons held long standing antipathy to the Charismatic Movement, and especially to the Faith Movement associated with it. These persons would not join an organization that was pushing the gifts of the Spirit. Better for them to be welcomed as “recovering cessationists” and just observe the usefulness of the gifts of the Spirit in the healing ministry.
The OSL now serves two major functions. Its conferences, national, regional and international, it presents and tests out new speakers who often bring in original insights and ways of healing prayer. This is avant-garde. It also serves as a “rear-guard” to the healing movement and Charismatic Renewal, as in attracting those who have not yet tasted of the gifts of the Spirit in their lives. This latter function is important. There is actually an ongoing resurgence of cessationism led by the popular Christian radio Bible commentator John MacArthur.[10] An active and healthy healing ministry is the strongest witness against cessationism.
2019 International Conference:
So now let me report on the 2019 International conference of the OSL. The OSL International conferences are held every several years. The last one occurred in the Netherlands, and the next one will be in Australia.
The 2019 conference was held in Orlando, Florida, July 25-28, at the Hilton Buena Vista, a really great hotel that gave the group very reasonable rates. Being frugal (my friends sometimes use a less kind word) I arranged for a room mate and that saved me half the hotel bill.
The first thing that should be said about the conference is that it could have been easily mistaken by an outsider as some sort of Pentecostal meeting, maybe Assemblies of God. The praise music was Pentecostal like, the audience and constantly raised there hands in prayer, praise, or when participating in a general prayer.
Well, in truth there was a giveaway that it was not an Assemblies of God meeting. The audience was largely “gray haired”, or like me, of little hair. Actually, the OSL has set recruiting “young’ens” as a high priority. Last year they elected a young pastor to be on the OSL board and give us ideas on attracting the next generation.
The conference began with prayer and the usual administrative announcements, and these included yours truly presenting a pastel picture done by Mrs. Agnes Sanford to the OSL headquarters. She taught often at OSL from the 1950s to the 1970s and much beloved. It was one of three pictures given to me last year by her granddaughter Diane Sanford.
The keynote speaker was Judith MacNutt, present head of Christian Healing Ministries in Jacksonville, Florida. Her husband, Francis MacNutt was the dean of charismatic healing ministers and writers. His multiple works influenced deeply the Charismatic Renewal.[11] Francis is now retired from active ministry, and Judith now heads the CHM.[12] In Mrs. MacNutt’s first address, she related her coming in into the Charismatic Movement, decades ago in Jerusalem. She was led to it through a gaggle of American Pentecostal tourists. The testimony was moving as was the ministry time after.
The next evening her topic was generational healing. That is, the sins and curses that are attached to our family lines and must be broken by the blood of Jesus. She told the story of one of her early counseling cases. A mother came in because her six year old would repeatedly play “suicide” by putting a toy gun to his head and say “I’m going to shoot myself.” On inquiry, it turned out that for four generation the fathers had killed themselves with the same handgun. The gun was disposed of, and Judith led a deliverance prayer against the afflicting generational spirit of suicide. The mother reported months later that the child never again played that distressing game.
The session did not end with just teaching. A family tree form was passed out which included a check list of repeated generational afflictions and sins, as in recurrent cancers, alcoholism, suicide, broken marriages, etc. We were instructed to invite the Holy Spirit to reveal to us his or her family generational sins or possible curses resulting from such things as participation in the occult.
The next morning began with a Holy Communion service at 7:00 in which the OSL participants brought their filled out forms and placed them on the altar. They would later be burned as symbol of the renunciation of those sins, addictions and demonic entanglements that afflicted our families. It was all very impressive, and no doubt spiritually effective.
Let me add a personal note. I had long repented of my youthful involvement in the occult, and as far as I am aware, none of my ancestors had participated in it. So that was not an issue for me. Neither was alcoholism or other addictions or diseases repeated in my family tree. But the Holy Spirit prompted to repent on behalf of my family for the spirit of pride and affectation. My paternal grandfather was Jorge Arteaga. He was a classical musician and composer in Puerto Rico, and well recognized. When he died most of the family moved to New York City (1920s). The family, headed by my aunt, who had a high hubris quotient, decided to rename themselves the “de Arteaga” to reflect nobility. After all, we played and appreciated classical music, contrary to the vulgar folks around us. This of course is the sin of improper identity and pride and affectation. I put that down as the family sin. I felt a relief at the communion service.[13]
The next session by Judith MacNutt stressed the importance of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit in ministry. It ended by an altar call for those not yet baptized in the Spirit. This was reinforced by the Rev. Sharon Lewis, and Episcopal priest, who told of how the Holy Spirit helped her through a difficult injury recently, and again ended with an encouragement to receive the Holy Spirit and prayers to that effect.
Space does not allow describing all the other plenary sessions nor the eight workshops offered in between. They were all great, except one which was not – that happens. Again, on a personal note, I was much moved by the workshop by The Rev John Rice, who stressed the spiritual discipline of blessing your enemies, a wonderful teaching.
The Saturday night plenary session again featured Judith MacNutt as well as the Rev. Russ Parker, who also has a distinguished healing ministry. It end with a large healing service in which different “stations” were designated for healing prayer of various sorts, physical healing, inner healing, deliverance, etc. Again very powerful and inspiring event in which I received, as many others, a physical healing. Sunday, the last day, ended with a last session by Sharon Lewis and a Holy Communion service.
Note how often Holy Communion was integrated into the sessions. This reflects both the origins of the OSL as an Anglican-Episcopal group and its present membership which includes many Lutherans and Methodists. All of these denomination have a high regard for the spiritual effectiveness of the sacrament. So it might be added that the OSL as a whole distinguishes itself from other Pentecostal and charismatic denominations and churches as being sacramental and Pentecostal at the same time.
If you are a member of one of the “lightly” sacramental churches, for instances many non-denominational churches, you might want to drop in to the next national or regional OSL convention to see how Pentecostalism and sacramental worship can unite in an intimate way.
Let me also suggest that the OSL may be useful to some of you if you are a solitary Pentecostal or closet charismatic in a nice traditional church and you don’t want to leave it for reasons of fellowship or family. Start an OSL group. Tell the pastor it is to encourage healing prayer. (Don’t mention the Pentecostal aspect). Begin practicing healing, and as the members respond encourage they to read the literature on healing. The Holy Spirit will take over from then. The membership application cost $35 and with that you get an excellent workbook on Jesus’ miracles plus other books on healing worth more than $35.
Pneuma Review readers are Spirit-filled so that none of what transpired in the OSL international conference is earth shattering news. Rather, it is a confirmation that the Holy Spirit is proceeding to transform all sections of his church. Just recently a Face Book friend informed me that even the Southern Baptists are recognizing the gifts of the Spirit, especially in regards to their missionaries. This contradicts a decades old policy to the contrary.
See you at the next national OSL conference. It promises to be as good as the international conference, since the major speakers and workshop presenters mostly come from the USA.
PR
Notes
[1] Most Christians in the USA today assume that socialism is inherently Marxist and anti-Christian, sometimes in a disguised way. There was a time when Christians tried to form a non-violent form of socialism, as in the Christian Social Union.
[2] Percy Dearmer produced a masterpiece on the subject of healing prayer, showing that healing continued throughout all of the Church Age (anti-cessationism). The first edition of Body and Soul: An Inquiry into the Effect of Religion Upon Health (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1929) published in 1909.
[3] I cover the CFO as well as the OSL in my recent work, Agnes Sanford and Her Companions: The Assault on Cessationism and the Coming of the Charismatic Renewal (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2015).
[4] A classic of Christian devotion. first published c. 1710, reprinted countless time and available as paperback or as a free web download.
[5] In my work, Agnes Sanford and Her Companions, I show the importance of both the CFO and the OSL in bringing healing prayer to some mainline churches well before the Charismatic Renewal of the 1960s.
[6] This section relies on the excellent documentation and research of James T. Connelly, in his dissertation, “Neo-Pentecostalism: The Charismatic Revival in the Mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches in the United States, 1960-1971,” (University of Chicago, 1977). It is a pity that this was never converted into a book.
[7] Ibid., 144.
[8] There were several free lending libraries of these tapes, perhaps the most influential was one called “The Lord’s Own Tape Ministry.”
[9] See for instance her excellent work, Barbara Leahy Shlemon, Healing the Hidden Self (Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 1982).
[10] John MacArthur, Strange Fire (Nashville: Nelson, 2013). Note the bevy of excellent and well documented rebuttals to MacArthur in: Robert Graves, ed. Strangers to Fire (Woodstock: Foundation for Pentecostal Studies, 2014). My critique of MacArthur is included in this volume. It can also be found in Pneuma Review.
[11] His classic book is Healing (Notre Dame: Ave Maria: 1974). His book, Deliverance From Evil Spirits (Grand Rapids: Chosen Books, 1994) is also a classic on exorcism.
[12] See my appreciation of the MacNutts’ ministry: “Introducing Francis and Judith MacNutt,” Pneuma Review, Posted Sept 21, 2007. /introducing-francis-and-judith-macnutt/
[13] I really can’t undo this silliness and sinful affectation even in my own life. My books are all under the name “De Arteaga” and some have been translated into Spanish and one into Hungarian.
