Robyn Lebron “Many clergy began to feel they had somehow missed the boat by failing to meet the spiritual needs of congregations who had grown used to a formal, spit-and-polish religion of the mind, not the emotional outburst of tongues-speaking Pentecostal power Many clergy felt left out They had prayed for so long that the church would be revived Now it was happening, either in spite of them or without them.” In time, most evangelicals came to accept the Charismatic movement and many of its practices It is no longer unusual to see charismatics of many faiths—Baptists, Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, as well as nondenominationalists—raising their hands and arms in prayer, and singing, dancing, and shouting in the Spirit They believe we are one of many congregations that represent the church of Jesus Christ They are not part of a denomination in the traditional sense There seems to be a consistent effort to have and value relationships with other pastors and Christian leaders in the community Although charismatic outpourings continued to spread through mainline churches, many denominational leaders left traditional churches to start independent churches Before long, these mushrooming churches came under the influence of Ǧ Ȁ teaching, propagated by independent charismatics Their main emphasis was faith teaching, divine healing, and financial prosperity Believers who consistently made a positive confession about their physical and spiritual situation and demonstrated great faith would receive abundant blessings from God Since the mid-1980s, the Charismatic movement has made some notable changes in its theology and emphases This process has been termed the and has been typified by the ministry of C Peter Wagner, theology There appears to be a great deal of evidence showing that, since 1975, these recent trends have been influenced heavily by the Latter Rain Movement of the 1950s within the Pentecostal churches—a movement that was officially declared heresy by the Assemblies of God at the time This can be explained by the desire of charismatic Christians to enter into fellowship with those within the church who have experienced similar Ǥ ~ 60 ~