What is the Holy Spirit saying to the Church?

What is the Holy Spirit saying to the Church?

Jamus Smith, who with his wife Helen, started the first prayer group in Scotland, reflects on the move of the Holy Spirit over the last 34 years and his personal experience of the prophetic word in guiding and directing the Renewal.

Jamus It all began for us through a friend of ours called Anne Schneider, who was Australian. She had been visiting her sister in Rome in 1973 and had been invited to a Charismatic prayer meeting at the Gregorian university. When she came home she was full of what she had seen – people speaking in tongues and being healed and wonderful praise. My wife, Helen and I were baptised in the spirit in our front room just listening to her talking about it.

We were so struck by what she said that we invited 50 of our friends and people from the parish to come to our house and we asked Anne to tell them about it too. Not every one was open but within a week we had 12 people keen to start a prayer group. After a couple of weeks, Anne herself, moved to Barra in the Western Isles and we were totally on our own grappling with it all. We had to learn from books by people like Ralph Martin, the Ranaghans and Cardinal Suenens. We were friends with Fr Mark Dilworth O.S.B. the national archivist for Scotland, who had been renewed in Pecos, so we discussed lots of things with him, and with Rev Jim Kincaid, a local Church of Scotland minister and his wife. Speaking in tongues came quite early. I remember being particularly struck by a minister who went to Jim Kincaid’s group telling how he was suddenly overcome by tongues while on a train and had to take refuge in the public lavatory until it died down. Thus it was a mixture of books and hearing other people’s experiences that helped us to learn how to use and recognise the gifts.

We also started getting prophetic words. Sometimes people would just get a word or a sentence and gradually we realised the Lord was seeking to guide us in this way. Sometimes we took notes and sometimes we didn’t, but there was always a sense of the spirit directing us. We wondered what to call ourselves and one night I woke up with the name Magnificat on my lips. Some of the group initially weren’t too keen on the name as they thought it was too marian but it has proved to be a very good name. At the end of each meeting of the prayer group we say the Magnficat and I feel over the years Our Lady has always been there protecting us amid the difficulties we have encountered over the years.

Exciting and painful

Those early days were both very exciting and painful, trying to get the balance between freedom in the spirit and order and we had a lot of personality difficulties, with different people thinking we should be doing different things. We met in several places including our house, but the numbers got too large and so we prayed that God would show us where to go. Then one of the group got a prophetic word that we should go to the centre of the church. We took this to mean the cathedral in Aberdeen, so we approached the priests and asked them for somewhere to meet there.

They gave us an old loft. It was full of cobwebs and we had to clean it up and strip the floor and paint it. Thus we ended up with our own “upper room”. I still remember the first prophetic word I received in a large gathering. This was at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. The urge became so strong that I felt I had to go to the stage even though I didn’t know what I was going to say. But by the time I reached the microphone I was able to speak loudly and strongly. I still remember the word today. It was calling people to be lamps on hilltops. “I shall light my lamps in the north. They will move across the land from east to west. A string of lamps will stretch to the south so that all will know that my light is shining in their hearts. You must not be afraid to climb the hilltops so that my light and my word will be in every heart.” This word was confirmed for me in the months that followed when virtually the same word was given by Jean Darnell, a Pentecostal ministering in the UK and by someone else at Jim Kincaid’s group a short time later.

For me prophecy is there to challenge the Church. It convicts and brings people to faith and makes things happen. Prophecy awakens the sense of the presence of God in the meeting and people recognise that God has spoken and conversion occurs. It is a catalyst for the beginnings of faith. It is like electricity in the air. It helped to keep us on fire with zeal for the gospel.

In the early days we had lots of words about moving out and starting prayer groups in the diocese and we went on a number of journeys quite a long way. Once I remember we undertook a round trip of 500 miles to speak to a small prayer group started by a priest friend of ours, Fr John Simon in Thurso, the very northern tip of Scotland. We started several groups in this way. At the time it seemed so simple. We just got in the car and went, not knowing what to expect. We went to various towns and did days of renewal and seminars. Some brought forth fruits and some didn’t.

At the same time we also got a lot of persecution. Some people would come along to the prayer meeting and not like it and then spread negative things about us. Some of the priests too thought we had gone crazy and there was quite a lot of antagonism and hostility, which thankfully has disappeared now. I personally felt like I had been pulled through two hedges backwards and my whole spiritual life had been turned upside down. We really didn’t know what had hit us and how to react when people asked us about it. How could we explain it? There was no rational explanation.

All through the 70s and early 80s the renewal seemed to be spreading and growing, but then somewhere in the 80s and 90s there suddenly didn’t seem to be many sparks and initiatives or people coming in and this wonderful force we experienced in the 70s and 80s seemed to die a little. The prayer groups that had started no longer attracted enough people to be viable, although some were increasing in number. In our own prayer group in the cathedral we dropped for a time to about 12-20 people. We found there was colossal opposition to the gifts of the spirit both inside and outside the group and it was like trying to keep the fire alive while buckets of cold water were being thrown on it.

People turning again to God

The prayer group stayed small for about three years. Then we decided to start doing the Life in the Spirit seminars twice a year and this started bringing the people back, as a few people stayed from each seminar. Then the 9/11 tragedy also brought a lot of people to the prayer group and for a time we were getting over 50 people. We now get between 30-50 people and people are more open again to the spirit. I think people generally are getting concerned at what is happening in society around them and are beginning to turn again to God, as they worry about their children and the future. We now have families coming to our meetings with their children, which can sometimes be a bit disruptive, but we feel it is important to have them there. In the autumn of 2006 there seemed to be a lot of healings and spiritual things happening in the group which people were witnessing to and the meetings were very alive. But things seemed to have fallen away again. It seems that the Holy Spirit comes in waves and it is up to us to be simply faithful and available.

Do not be afraid

The Lord seems to give me the same prophetic words and pictures all the time. Maybe this is because this is the message he wants me to keep reminding people of. One of these is of a broken road of large stones which is very difficult to walk on. The image becomes alive as I begin to speak in prophecy. I see myself and others struggling along it with Jesus walking beside us. He helps us when we stumble and when we are tired and weak and speaks consoling words. He is never tired of telling us how much the Father and he and the Holy Spirit love us. Sometimes a pilgrim will venture down a side path but Jesus always gently coaxes the wayward to return.

Another prophecy that comes to me from time to time, in the form of a picture as I speak is a scene of devastation in which a city or large community has been destroyed by nuclear weapons or some overwhelming natural disaster. I see my wife, myself and others in the renewal travelling into the city to form a focal point for spiritual help. We are attacked but also consistently protected from the evil one and his minions. I feel God is saying through this “do not be afraid, go and do my work. I will guide you as to what you must do and what you must say.” I believe God is inviting more people to live by faith and the practice of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, particularly the gift of prophecy which awakens the soul. I believe we have not yet seen the full flowering of the charismatic gifts and the prophets must speak, and, as with Jesus, many physical healings must take place if the Word is to triumph.

drawing of a church Already I believe there are signs that things are changing. I have had prophetic words about churches being filled to capacity with many people clamouring for instruction. The Lord is telling us to prepare to evangelise, to teach and to catechise and to bring people into the fullness of faith. In my own city of Aberdeen there is now standing room only at the main mass in the cathedral on Sunday whereas three years ago it was a dwindling congregation. A new charismatic prayer group has also come into being during Lent this year in the northern part of the city. I believe the Holy Spirit is on the move!

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It all began for us through a friend of ours called Anne Schneider, who was Australian. She had been visiting her sister in Rome in 1973 and had been invited to a Charismatic prayer meeting at the Gregorian university. When she came home she was full of what she had seen – people speaking in tongues and being healed and wonderful praise. My wife, Helen and I were baptised in the spirit in our front room just listening to her talking about it. We were so struck by what she said that we invited 50 of our friends and people from the parish to come to our house and we asked Anne to tell them about it too. Not every one was open but within a week we had 12 people keen to start a prayer group. After a couple of weeks, Anne herself, moved to Barra in the Western Isles and we were totally on our own grappling with it all. We had to learn from books by people like Ralph Martin, the Ranaghans and Cardinal Suenens. We were friends with Fr Mark Dilworth O.S.B. the national archivist for Scotland, who had been renewed in Pecos, so we discussed lots of things with him, and with Rev Jim Kincaid, a local Church of Scotland minister and his wife. Speaking in tongues came quite early. I remember being particularly struck by a minister who went to Jim Kincaid’s group telling how he was suddenly overcome by tongues while on a train and had to take refuge in the public lavatory until it died down. Thus it was a mixture of books and hearing other people’s experiences that helped us to learn how to use and recognise the gifts. We also started getting prophetic words. Sometimes people would just get a word or a sentence and gradually we realised the Lord was seeking to guide us in this way. Sometimes we took notes and sometimes we didn’t, but there was always a sense of the spirit directing us. We wondered what to call ourselves and one night I woke up with the name Magnificat on my lips. Some of the group initially weren’t too keen on the name as they thought it was too marian but it has proved to be a very good name. At the end of each meeting of the prayer group we say the Magnficat and I feel over the years Our Lady has always been there protecting us amid the difficulties we have encountered over the years. Exciting and painful Those early days were both very exciting and painful, trying to get the balance between freedom in the spirit and order and we had a lot of personality difficulties, with different people thinking we should be doing different things. We met in several places including our house, but the numbers got too large and so we prayed that God would show us where to go. Then one of the group got a prophetic word that we should go to the centre of the church. We took this to mean the cathedral in Aberdeen, so we approached the priests and asked them for somewhere to meet there. They gave us an old loft. It was full of cobwebs and we had to clean it up and strip the floor and paint it. Thus we ended up with our own “upper room”. I still remember the first prophetic word I received in a large gathering. This was at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. The urge became so strong that I felt I had to go to the stage even though I didn’t know what I was going to say. But by the time I reached the microphone I was able to speak loudly and strongly. I still remember the word today. It was calling people to be lamps on hilltops. “I shall light my lamps in the north. They will move across the land from east to west. A string of lamps will stretch to the south so that all will know that my light is shining in their hearts. You must not be afraid to climb the hilltops so that my light and my word will be in every heart.” This word was confirmed for me in the months that followed when virtually the same word was given by Jean Darnell, a Pentecostal ministering in the UK and by someone else at Jim Kincaid’s group a short time later. For me prophecy is there to challenge the Church. It convicts and brings people to faith and makes things happen. Prophecy awakens the sense of the presence of God in the meeting and people recognise that God has spoken and conversion occurs. It is a catalyst for the beginnings of faith. It is like electricity in the air. It helped to keep us on fire with zeal for the gospel. In the early days we had lots of words about moving out and starting prayer groups in the diocese and we went on a number of journeys quite a long way. Once I remember we undertook a round trip of 500 miles to speak to a small prayer group started by a priest friend of ours, Fr John Simon in Thurso, the very northern tip of Scotland. We started several groups in this way. At the time it seemed so simple. We just got in the car and went, not knowing what to expect. We went to various towns and did days of renewal and seminars. Some brought forth fruits and some didn’t. At the same time we also got a lot of persecution. Some people would come along to the prayer meeting and not like it and then spread negative things about us. Some of the priests too thought we had gone crazy and there was quite a lot of antagonism and hostility, which thankfully has disappeared now. I personally felt like I had been pulled through two hedges backwards and my whole spiritual life had been turned upside down. We really didn’t know what had hit us and how to react when people asked us about it. How could we explain it? There was no rational explanation. All through the 70s and early 80s the renewal seemed to be spreading and growing, but then somewhere in the 80s and 90s there suddenly didn’t seem to be many sparks and initiatives or people coming in and this wonderful force we experienced in the 70s and 80s seemed to die a little. The prayer groups that had started no longer attracted enough people to be viable, although some were increasing in number. In our own prayer group in the cathedral we dropped for a time to about 12-20 people. We found there was colossal opposition to the gifts of the spirit both inside and outside the group and it was like trying to keep the fire alive while buckets of cold water were being thrown on it. People turning again to God The prayer group stayed small for about three years. Then we decided to start doing the Life in the Spirit seminars twice a year and this started bringing the people back, as a few people stayed from each seminar. Then the 9/11 tragedy also brought a lot of people to the prayer group and for a time we were getting over 50 people. We now get between 30-50 people and people are more open again to the spirit. I think people generally are getting concerned at what is happening in society around them and are beginning to turn again to God, as they worry about their children and the future. We now have families coming to our meetings with their children, which can sometimes be a bit disruptive, but we feel it is important to have them there. In the autumn of 2006 there seemed to be a lot of healings and spiritual things happening in the group which people were witnessing to and the meetings were very alive. But things seemed to have fallen away again. It seems that the Holy Spirit comes in waves and it is up to us to be simply faithful and available. Do not be afraid The Lord seems to give me the same prophetic words and pictures all the time. Maybe this is because this is the message he wants me to keep reminding people of. One of these is of a broken road of large stones which is very difficult to walk on. The image becomes alive as I begin to speak in prophecy. I see myself and others struggling along it with Jesus walking beside us. He helps us when we stumble and when we are tired and weak and speaks consoling words. He is never tired of telling us how much the Father and he and the Holy Spirit love us. Sometimes a pilgrim will venture down a side path but Jesus always gently coaxes the wayward to return. Another prophecy that comes to me from time to time, in the form of a picture as I speak is a scene of devastation in which a city or large community has been destroyed by nuclear weapons or some overwhelming natural disaster. I see my wife, myself and others in the renewal travelling into the city to form a focal point for spiritual help. We are attacked but also consistently protected from the evil one and his minions. I feel God is saying through this “do not be afraid, go and do my work. I will guide you as to what you must do and what you must say.” I believe God is inviting more people to live by faith and the practice of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, particularly the gift of prophecy which awakens the soul. I believe we have not yet seen the full flowering of the charismatic gifts and the prophets must speak, and, as with Jesus, many physical healings must take place if the Word is to triumph. Already I believe there are signs that things are changing. I have had prophetic words about churches being filled to capacity with many people clamouring for instruction. The Lord is telling us to prepare to evangelise, to teach and to catechise and to bring people into the fullness of faith. In my own city of Aberdeen there is now standing room only at the main mass in the cathedral on Sunday whereas three years ago it was a dwindling congregation. A new charismatic prayer group has also come into being during Lent this year in the northern part of the city. I believe the Holy Spirit is on the move! << Top Home >>