 Charismatic patriarch Dennis Bennett, Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson, and 27 other key leaders from the Catholic, Protestant, and Independent sectors of the Charismatic Renewal gathered in August 1975 to address the most significant controversy of the burgeoning neo-pentecostal movement. In a small, dimly lit, basement conference room in Minneapolis the men met to try to settle a growing furor over the teachings on “Shepherding and Discipleship.” The dispute threatened to completely divide the Renewal that had been distinguished by its ecumenical character. The “summit meeting” that came to be known as the “shoot-out at the Curtis Hotel” made little progress in quieting the storm. Tempers flared, charges went back and forth and most left the meeting in frustration. The media soon picked up on the controversy and headlines only heightened the tensions that focused on the teachings of the “Shepherding Movement.” The movement, also known as the Discipleship movement, was an influential and controversial expression of the Charismatic Renewal in the United States that emerged as a distinct, nondenominational movement in 1974. The movement developed in response to the increasing independence among many Charismatic Christians who were leaving their denominational churches and joining independent churches and prayer groups. The movement taught that every believer needed to submit to a “shepherd” or pastoral leader. This relationship was seen as essential for developing spiritual maturity and required a definite commitment to a pastor. The movement also taught that all pastors and leaders needed to be personally submitted to another leader to foster accountability. These emphases were seen by critics as an attempt to create a kind of “takeover” of the independent Charismatics, creating a pyramid-like chain of command with Shepherding leaders at the top; a charge which the movement’s leaders always denied. The movement grew out of the association in October 1970 of four popular Charismatic Bible teachers: Don Basham, Bob Mumford, Derek Prince, and Charles Simpson. Canadian Pentecostal Ern Baxter joined the four in 1974. The five Bible Teachers were involved with New Wine Magazine, which at one time was the most widely circulated Charismatic publication in the U.S. The five were regulars at national and international teaching conferences that became so typical of the neo-pentecostal explosion of the 1960s and 1970s. All the men were also a part of the “cassette tape revolution” that was another feature of the Renewal that saw a proliferation of teaching tapes by noted Charismatic leaders. Three annual “Men’s Shepherds” conferences in 1973–75 helped catalyze that emerging movement that developed into a network of churches under the leadership of the five teachers. The churches in this network were nontraditionally structured with an emphasis on small cell groups or house churches. Lay shepherds led these cell groups. The five teachers’ popularity and New Wine Magazine’s broad influence in the Charismatic Renewal gave rise to heated controversy in 1975–76 over the movement’s teaching on authority and submission, and translocal pastoral care. While the controversy never entirely abated, it did quiet down by 1980 and the Shepherding movement grew and consolidated until it peaked in 1982 with 100,000 adherents and 500 associated churches. Internal struggles and external pressures eventually caused the movement’s dissolution in 1986 that coincided with the cessation of the publication of New Wine Magazine. Today a smaller movement continues, called the Covenant movement, for the most part associated with the leadership of Charles Simpson. —David Moore After 1977 the movement began to wane as the charismatic renewal movements organized their own programs to train and disciple their followers. By 1983, Derek Prince had detached himself from the other leaders. With the folding of New Wine magazine in 1986, the movement practically came to an end. A symbolic closure to the controversy came in 1989 when Bob Mumford issued a public apology for his role in spreading the movement.4 ■ |
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