Who is a "Charismatic"

Brenda Kouba

It is interesting that the question of what is (or who is) a "Charismatic" should come up on this network now - it is an issue that we are going to be discussing at an area leader's meeting very soon on Saturday. (July 1996)

Aside from the definition of charisma (gift), it is very difficult to describe, but let me share with you how I see it after 26 years in the Charismatic Renewal.

I was Baptized in the Spirit after reading Kevin and Dorothy Rahahan's book [1] because I asked, on February 14, 1970, as I knelt beside my bed, to "have more" of God in my life. I was raised in and was practicing the Catholic faith and I was active in my Church but now I wanted to be and do what they described in that very first book about a new Pentecost within the Catholic Church -- this Charismatic Renewal Movement. I believe that being "Charismatic" (as spoken of within the Charismatic Renewal Movement) is an attitude of heart and a way of living out my spirituality -- definable by outward expressions.

Attitude: I want my life to be directed, as much as is possible for me at any given moment, by the Holy Spirit -- for Him to be real in my life just as He was in Jesus' life. I want to be on fire with the same love and power that Jesus was. ("...If you love Me, you will do the things that I have done and even greater still.") I want to "...see what the Father sees, hear what the Father hears, and do what the Father is doing." Way of living:

I am supported -- Groups -- "... see how they love one another..." -- Group provides support, keeps me on the right way -- we evangelize those who come by our example.
I am discipled -- First of all I have to realize that there is "more" -- then I will want to live more fully in the Lord -- Life-in-the-Spirit Seminars, being Baptized in the Spirit, open the doors of possiblities -- then I am taught and given "tools" on how to live this Life
I grow -- Prayer in all its forms (worship, contemplative, liturgical) becomes alive and personal for me. Praying in Tongues becomes an absolute joy because I can pray constantly and pray when I don't know how. I move deeper and deeper into a personal relationship with Jesus and the Father and I want others to know the love and help of this wondrous Trinity. I begin to trust more and more and dare to "risk" the unusual gifts of the Spirit, moving in power, in order that the Lord's presence becomes real and alive to others and they experience the depth of His love.

Living in a constant manner of responding to the actions of the Holy Spirit and trusting, believing, and using the gifts of the Holy Spirit for others in order that they be drawn to a personal Jesus is the outward expression of the "Charismatic".

The Charismatic Renewal started as an evangelistic outreach and it still is. For that reason it will never reach its "end". It may change (we aren't always obedient in response to the Spirit!) but it should never die.

Everyone who has received the Holy Spirit in Baptism should be "Charismatic", but most people just don't know what that is or how to do it. We will always need to be more "fully alive". No matter where they go or what they do after an encounter with the people within the Charismatic Renewal Movement, most people's lives are changed.

It is important to understand that some people will only "pass through" the Movement -- it may be just a short encounter with a God that loves providing the courage to go on in their walk with the Lord. Some people will come into a group, stay, be fed, grow and move out into another direction (ministry) that the Lord was preparing them to do. Some people will come into a group and stay but never really seem to be involved -- they are being supported, protected, shielded (who knows where their lives may have gone without the help of the body) by the Lord for the time being. Others come, and like myself, are still involved. At the beginning of my involvement in the Charismatic Renewal, the Lord told me He was "planting me in the oasis of the Renewal -- this is your ministry, until further notice." Through many happenings in my life and many events within the Renewal, I am still here -- saddened at the decline in the United States, but still on fire.

Those of us in the Renewal for a long time (anything more than four years) need to guard against it being "ordinary", "old-stuff". There are always people who need to feel and know the personal love of the Lord, people who need to be protected thru the body, people who need to be healed, people who need to know that there can be "more" of Jesus in their lives, people who need to learn to truly worship the Lord,

people who need to live in the trust and power of the Spirit so that His gifts can build up the Church, people who need to be called to faith, and people who need to discover a real Father. The Charismatic Renewal needs to become the everyday life of the whole Church; and until that time comes, it cannot "die out" as a Movement.

I apologize for the length of my response -- trying to put the fire and love of the last 26 years into a few words is very difficult!! I hope this helps someone out there in internet land to understand a little better. There is no "right" answer, this is only what it means to me. Thanks for the opportunity to clarify it for myself.

Brenda Kouba - Omaha, Nebraska, USA

[1]"As The Spirit Leads Us", Paulist Press, 1971, edited by Kevin and Dorothy Ranaghan

BKOUBA@MAIL.UNMC.EDU