I think that the biggest regret of my whole life is the “Toronto Blessing”. It started, for us, in May 1994 and we had an incredible time. There was a lot of laughter, a lot of power, a lot of people being “blessed” and a lot of weird stuff. No question in my mind that it was God.
But.
What did we do with it? Honestly, I look back and ask the question, “where is the fruit?” I know that, for some people, it was a truly life-changing time but in reality, none of those who came to Christ, in our church, stuck around and, if the truth be told, we just did more meetings.
That was all we did.
More meetings where we could “get blessed”.
More meetings where we could feel really good about ourselves.
More meetings.
I went to Toronto in Dec 1994 and I was there for a week. You have to understand that, at the time, the Toronto Airport Vineyard was literally the biggest tourist attraction in Toronto. You would think that given this amazing move of God taking place and people coming from all over the world to see it, it would have impacted the city.
We did not meet one person in the whole time we were there, who even had any idea of this thing taking place.
I remember walking out of the last meeting, where people were all over the floor and weeping and laughing, and looking back at a man in a wheelchair who sat there, looking slightly confused and sad, because he seemed like just an observer. I felt God say to me, “it is for people like this that I am doing this.”
I kept hearing the “River of God” from Revelation being taught. “This is the river of God that we are experiencing”. But no one seemed to mention that the punchline from that passage is that “The leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations“.
That’s the point.
The healing of the nations.
Not for the church to have a good ol’ knees up.
I’ll never forget hearing Jackie Pullinger (who lives and works with the poorest and the least and the addicts and the prostitutes in Hong Kong) at the “Doing the Stuff Conference” a few years back.
“We heard about the laughter”, She said. “We heard about the laughter and we waited. We heard about people going to the laughter and we waited for someone to bring the laughter to us. We thought that was what it was for. That the laughter would come to those in tears. But it never came.”
Honestly. I think we missed the point.
Well, I did, anyway.
If I ever had a chance to experience a powerful move of God like that again, I would want it to make a difference to those around me, to the city and to the world. I would want to see justice result and I would want to see the lonely being loved and the hungry being fed and the oppressed being set free.
Isn’t that what the Kingdom of God is about?
So, here we are. fourteen years on and we have been given another chance.
Please God, drive us out among the hurting.
Please God, let there be healings on the streets; in the hospitals; the schools; the old people’s homes; the factories; the shops; the coffee shops and the bars.
Please God, let there be people coming to you on the streets; in the hospitals; the schools; the old people’s homes; the factories; the shops; the coffee shops and the bars.
Please God, let justice result. Let the hungry be fed; the lonely be loved; the oppressed set free.
Please God, don’t let us be so self absorbed that we forget who it was that you came for; who it was that you spent time with; among whom you performed all the miracles.
Please God, don’t let us just do more meetings.
Please God, don’t let us waste it.
Please God.
