Toronto Blessing

The Toronto Blessing is a term coined by the British press to describe the revival and resulting phenomena that began in January 1994 at Toronto Airport Vineyard Christian Fellowship, now known as Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (TACF), a neocharismatic evangelical Christian church located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Participants in the conferences and meetings sponsored by TACF have reported healings, incidents of personal transformation and a greater awareness of God's love. It has also been referred to as "The Father's Blessing", "The Anointing", "The Awakening", "The River", "The Fire".

At TACF Revival services, worshippers have exhibited unusual behaviours that they attribute to an encounter with God and the “fire of the Holy Spirit”. The most common described behaviours include hysterical laughter (or “holy laughter”), physical spasms or jerks, falling to the floor under the Holy Spirit's power (aka “slain in the Spirit”) and speaking in tongues. Other less common behaviours include manifestations that resembled roaring like lions and barking like dogs.[1] At one time the TACF website described it thus: “The Toronto Blessing is a transferable anointing. In its most visible form it overcomes worshippers with outbreaks of laughter, weeping, groaning, shaking, falling, 'drunkenness,' and even behaviours that have been described as a 'cross between a jungle and a farmyard.'"

TACF pastors John and Carol Arnott were initially inspired by the revival in Argentina. As a result of their spiritual hunger for revival in Canada, they invited Randy Clark of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, to minister at TACF in January 1994. Randy Clark had been greatly impacted by the ministry of Rodney Howard-Browne, a South African preacher, founder of the Rodney Howard-Browne Evangelistic Association in Louisville, Kentucky, author of The Touch of God, and the earliest known proponent of the “holy laughter” revival phenomenon in modern times.

The Blessing has proved immensely popular and in recent years, many Christian travellers have come to the TACF to experience it for themselves. Some estimates are as high as 300,000 visitors. The experience is usually deeply affecting and people are often said to leave the services with a renewed zeal for their faith and an overwhelming desire to spread the message. Some visiting pastors have been so affected by the experience that they have taken the message back to their own flocks, sometimes radically transforming the way that services are conducted in their own churches. Areas that have become known for Toronto Blessing revivals worldwide include Pensacola, Florida, in the United States and Bath in England.

The peak of Toronto Blessing prominence in the Christian community occurred in the mid to late 1990s. Since that time it has faded from public view, although the proponents of Discernment Ministries would suggest that these kinds of events are simply part of a wider theological cycle that has existed continually throughout modern era Pentecostalism / Charismatism.

Studies at the University of Virginia have pointed out that "the beliefs of... the Toronto Blessing are aligned exactly with those of the Latter Rain revival", which indicates that the phenomenon is not unique, but part of an ongoing and cyclical pattern.[2]

In more recent times, the Golden Sword Prophecy from TACF has been spreading amongst Charismatic churches.


Debates

The Toronto Blessing has sparked a major debate throughout Christian Churches, with some saying that it is unbiblical, and therefore against what God has told Christians through scripture. [citation needed]

For instance: fits of uncontrolable laughter during a Bible reading are seen as mocking God's word, with the 'spiritual gifts' of the blessing actually being a deceptive ploy by Satan. [citation needed]

The same scenario is also apparent when members of the congregation are seen to behave like animals. Some see this as the Devil mocking human beings, and lowering them to animals. [citation needed]

The practice is hotly debated on the Internet and in Christian journals and programs with the detractors expressing fear that Satan has been given free rein to run unchecked through formerly Christian communities. The fact that it can seemingly overtake a whole congregation when the "fit" is on them, spreading almost virally from one person to the next adds urgency to their fears. Some leaders even liken the coming of the Toronto Blessing to a spiritual war, with the Devil gaining ever greater numbers of deceived swooning soldiers by the day. [citation needed]

Believers object just as strongly that it is a revival or renewal of God’s true church, where the Holy Spirit manifests in a way that is directly tangible to the participant. They maintain that it is the coming of a new era, where the new leaders will be raised to prominence and people will be drawn to connect to an experience that is truly Godly. God is ready to be present and alive in the world again, they claim, and the true believers are the ones who can feel his presence among them.

Believers also point out the 'fruit' of what are deemed encounters with God and the presence that to many is very tangible at the meetings hosted worldwide by people and groups connected with the Toronto Blessing. Many people come away from the meetings and encounters with a new zeal for their faith and for life in general, as well as a renewed heart to see their faith spread in the world. Many also report physical, emotional, and psychological healings occurring at a very high rate, leaving the people empowered, uplifted, and better connected with God. They cite this as proof that it is a good and Godly movement. It is worth noting, however, that this behavior was never exhibited in the first century Church, nor was it ever condoned by any recognized Church.

It is also pointed out that the Toronto Blessing was never about the 'manifestations' - the laughter, the barking, and the other assorted physical signs - and that it was the non Charismatic church that has missed this point. Many maintain that from the very start, the Toronto Blessing was and continues to be about having made manifest the love of God for and through his church, as spoken of in the Bible in verses concerning Great Commandment, Romans 8, and 1 Corinthians 13. Believers in the Blessing point out that this is the real thing behind the outpouring, something that is missed by those critical of the move.

Neutral observers point out that this type of phenomenon is not at all new. Nor is the resistance to the movement by the average churchgoer who may be unfamiliar with religious experiences.

It should be noted that similar phenomenon such as being "slain in the Spirit", "swooning", "spasms and jerks", "speaking in tongues", and others have been reported during almost every major "revival", "renewal", or "awakening" of the past 200 years throughout the world and has given birth to many modern Christian church denominations including the Quaker, Baptist, Methodist, and Assemblies of God denominations.

Practitioners of Chi Kung (Qi Gong) report the same manifestations during their practice as Toronto Blessing participants. In 18th century Russia, a similar phemomenon occurred as well, and it was soundly condemned by the Church as a heresy.