Blessing the church (by Clifford Hill)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s over twenty years since I read the book ‘Blessing the church?' It’s written by four different people: Clifford Hill, Peter Fenwick, David Forbes and David Noakes. I acquired the book after meeting Clifford Hill briefly at our church, and the first time I read it I was very impressed. So I thought it was time for a reread.

The overall idea of the book is to give a general overview of the ‘charismatic movement’ over the course of the 20th century. It particularly looks at how it was presented and accepted in the UK, and it leads up to discussion of the ‘Toronto blessing’ which was controversial in the 1990s. 

This book was published in 1995 so it’s now thirty years out of date. But the history is well-written and interesting, as is the examination of the different streams of the charismatic movement. The authors are careful to compare everything with Scripture, looking at the work of the Holy Spirit through the book of Acts, and Paul’s advice and warnings in some of his letters. 

For this is not an anti-charismatic book at all, although it casts a lot of doubt on some of the apparent manifestations. The authors believed that the original Pentecostal movement in the early part of the 20th century was inspired by God and inhabited by the Holy Spirit. But, as with any denomination or group of believers, the initial excitement and fervour died down, and by a decade or so later some (though not all) were following routines and expectations that they had developed, without necessarily listening for God.

The first chapter is a general introduction, explaining the background to the book and giving a broad overview of what will be covered in the rest of the book. Clifford Hill wrote that, and he also wrote the second chapter. That looks at life in general in the UK in the latter half of the twentieth century. In the aftermath of the war there was a lot of rejoicing, and positive governmental moves to introduce - for instance - national health care. 

But by the 1960s there was a rebellious air; people wanted more freedom, to break out of tradition and expectations. Some of this was positive, but better birth control led to some people experimenting with ‘free love’, and some opted out of society altogether. Perhaps this is where the ‘me’ culture started, the feeling of being entitled rather than putting others first. 

Chapter three, written by Peter Fenwick, looks more specifically at the church in this period, and the start of the ‘Toronto blessing’. He notes that the work of the Holy Spirit may well include healing, prophecies and more; but that in Jesus’ time and in the early church, it wasn’t ever flamboyant. In many cases people who were healed were asked not to tell anyone else. 

The other two authors wrote one chapter each, taking a slightly different perspective each. Inevitably there’s a bit of overlap, but they express things in diverse ways, and it’s all drawn together by the two other chapters by Clifford Hill. He looks specifically at the role of prophecy - in Biblical times, it was intended to give warnings, and he’s very sceptical about general ‘God is blessing us’ prophecies. But more dangerous are specific ones which have been proven false.

Clifford Hill also wrote the final chapter which summarises the findings, and look at the future. He speculates about how the 20th century will be perceived by the church of the future. After quarter of the 21st century has passed, I don’t know how much people think about 20th century culture in the church at all, so books like this provide a valuable service, with background from people who were involved and - in my view - a well-balanced approach. 

I didn’t find this as excellent as I did when I read it the first time, but then I’m further removed from charismatic circles, and haven’t heard anything about the Toronto blessing or other dubious phenomena for - probably - twenty years. I still enjoyed rereading it, but twenty pages at a time was sufficient.  

Recommended for anyone who would like an overview of the charismatic movement - both positive and negative - during the 20th century. I don't know that I agreed with every word, and was a tad surprised at the many people quoted with negative commentary. But I thought it was still an interesting read. 

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