| Charism School
Kristina Cooper talks to Damian Stayne about the charism schools which Cor et Lumen Christi are running round the country and abroad
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He comments, “ I think people have felt that to make the Baptism in the Spirit accessible we have needed to tone down the use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but what I’m saying is that we need to tone them up. I don’t believe that anyone is put off the gifts when they are used in a mature way, such as the ministry of Sr Briege McKenna. I believe the charisms are dying because of a lack of training and people’s lack of expectation that God can use them and them not having any ministry outlet for this.” The community, he says, which was founded in the late 1980s, have always used and practiced the gifts of the Spirit and every day they pray the prayer of Acts 4.29 “And now Lord, take note of their threats, and enable your servants to speak your word with all boldness, as you stretch forth your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are done through the name ofyour holy servant Jesus.” They also regularly fast for the Spirit’s anointing. Three years ago, however, when they were called to help organise the healing service at the annual Celebrate conference, Damian felt called to pray at the beginning of the week for more faith, and for a greater manifestation of the Lord’s power at the healing service. It was at this conference that one lady, a Celebrate regular called Lynn Cortes, was healed and actually got out of her wheelchair and ran round the hall. Damian recalls, “ This confirmed for me that God was calling us to pray more and expect more from him. Since then I pray every day that the Lord would heal the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the lame, incurable diseases, inoperable conditions and even raise the dead.” “I believe this is urgent because people are going to the New Age and Occult for these things because they don’t see them in the Christian Church. People need to see that Jesus heals in the Church today.” A man with a mission, Damian ran the first of his charism schools at Highfield House, the community base in Chertsey in 1999. Over the last two years the community have run a further 15 schools, ranging from about 25 people to 300. They have visited Portugal, Poland and Kenya and in 2003 have several return visits planned. Damian and his wife and family have also received an invitation to go to the USA at the instigation of Sal Solo, the Christian musician, who now ministers there. Practically Based The charism school is very practically based says Damian and draws on his experience of the past 20 years as well as that of figures such as Francis McNutt and John Wimber. It can be run over a weekend or several days and is made up of several parts. The first part covers the theology of the charisms, going over the Church’s teaching, drawing on Vatican documents, papal teaching and comments by various Catholic theologians and Church leaders. Then there is a section on learning to minister in the Holy Spirit. Damian explains, “ This is simply learning to recognise the signs of the Holy Spirit working in people or situations and learning how to respond. We would then model how this works and do some prophetic ministry. People are then encouraged to actually practice using the charism we have been talking about. We have workshops on how to have a word of knowledge and a revelational prophecy. Then people will share with those in their small groups.” He reckons that 70%-100% of the people will receive something meaningful to them at this time. They also do sessions on praying for physical healing. He comments, “We would teach people how to receive words of knowledge on physical healing and the exact mechanics of it. Then once again we would try it out in our small groups and people would be encouraged to be open to any words of knowledge that the Lord may have for them. We would then put these up on the board and pray for people in small groups, following up on these words.” He reckons that in this way about 25% of the people attending the charism school receive a physical healing of some sort. Recently he says they seem to have been getting quite a lot of healings to do with sight and hearing. At one charism school they ran in Lewisham in 2002 one woman was healed who had been blind in one eye for 20 years. He comments, “She had only 6% sight in it and she had 94% of her sight restored.” In Poland too, at the second school they ran, 5 people had their eyes healed and 7 people with various degrees of deafness, including two who were very deaf were healed.” One woman, he remembers had lumps the size of golf balls on her neck. “They totally disappeared after prayer for healing done by two young people who had attended the charism school”. After each charism school there is an outreach where students can put into practice what they have learnt. Often when people are healed themselves they are interested to know more. Such is the case of John, says Damian, whose eyesight was healed during the healing ministry at the London Day of Renewal at Friends Meeting House. As a result he no longer needs to wear glasses. This led him to sign up for the charism school. Here he received a further healing of his diabetes condition, which so impressed his family that he convinced 18 of them to come to the New Dawn conference this summer, seven of whom had never been before. Although Cor Lumen don’t keep medical records of the healings Damian says they are quite strict about verifying that something has genuinely happened before allowing people to give testimony about it, as they are well aware that the emotion of the moment can make people sometimes believe that healings have occurred when they haven’t. Damian comments, “ Not everyone has a healing ministry as such, but everyone can and should pray for healing if they Lord opens a door for them. I believe as you make yourself faithful, God will gift you for what he wants you to do. These charism schools are just about helping people to walk with the Holy Spirit, and giving them confidence that God will use them if they are open. I believe that signs and wonders should be a normal part of Church life, as it was in the beginning of the Church, and we just want to do our little bit to help people in this.” Practicing Words of Knowledge People may think it strange to practice things such as words of knowledge and revelational prophecy, but Damian explains that although it can seem a bit artificial it is about providing a safe environment for people to learn to discern and recognise how God uses their imagination and thoughts to communicate things to them, when they are doing God’s work. Students, he says, are sometimes surprised to find that seemingly random thoughts and images in their mind, which they normally wouldn’t pay attention to, can actually be God’s communication to them. All they are doing, he says, is helping people to open up the channels of communication, but it is up to the Lord to act. Damian sees running the charism schools as very much part of the call of the community for the near future. In September a team ran a weekend charism school in Manchester for about 100 people and his vision is to run similar schools in all the major cities in the UK and wherever they might be invited. Some schools have been residential, but the majority are not. The schools are donation only, to ensure that people are not stopped from attending due to lack of finance, but as the community live by faith, their expenses need to be covered. Those who would be interested in attending a charism school or organising one is their area should contact Cor Lumen Christi, Highfield House, Cherstey, KT16 8BU Tel 01932 565747
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Concerned
at what he has seen as a diminishing use of the charisms within the
Catholic Charismatic Renewal in the West, Damian Stayne, the founder
of Cor et Lumen Christi, a small Roman Catholic lay community, has
launched a programme on how to grow in the charisms, which is proving
very popular and effective with all kinds of different groups both
in Britain and abroad. 
