I've run across quite a few people lately who claim they have a private prayer language. I never really heard much of this until recently. Does anyone know of this being taught/practiced throughout church history?
Private prayer language
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Not throughout Church History but very much prevalent in the Calvary Chapel denomination. They use Romans 8:26 as a proof text but have never seen a Calvary Chapel person actually putting this into practice. Perhaps this was a way for Calvary Chapel preachers to keep the babbling nonsense away from their public meetings and since the motive for "Putting on a Public Display" has been done away with, they have pretty much lost any other motive? I mean what fun is there babbling like a baby if no one else is around to be "Impressed" with your "spirituality?"
Paul addresses the subject in 1 Corinthians 14. My understanding is it's basically tongues without interpretation. Since it's not meant to address a congregation, it's a "private prayer language". It's generally accepted in Calvary Chapel circles; our pastor has said he uses this or is gifted with it occasionally. Personally, I don't see any use in it. No one, including my pastor, has convinced me that it is of any use. Even though I've been involved with Calvary Chapel for over 20 years, I do not agree with everything they teach, this being one. I am tolerant of this position because the overall teaching on the matter is not to seek the gifts but to seek the Giver.
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As I've said, our pastor says he practices this "gift" in his private prayer life though I've never heard him reference Roman's 8:26 as his reasoning. In my time with CC, I've always heard this passage expounded as the Holy Spirit attending our prayers when we don't know how to pray. We can, by faith, rely on Him to supply what we ourselves are incapable of. I rely upon this principle daily. No she-rode-a-hondas have ever emerged from my lips. I simply rely on Him to present the desires of my spirit as prayers as only He can.
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That's a common interpretation of 1 Cor. 14:2: "For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit."
The thing is, though, that Paul isn't saying something positive here about speaking in tongues. He's saying prophecy is preferable because everyone can understand it without an interpreter and be built up. If you speak tongues without interpretation, keep quiet and leave it between yourself and God (v. 28). Paul's concern is that corporate worship needs to be intelligible as well as orderly.
I have hardly ever heard Calvary Chapel preachers speak of this. CC is of Pentecostal origin (Chuck Smith was a Foursquare Preacher) but quickly distanced themselves from the loony bin side of Charismania so I was guessing that relegating Tongues as a prayer language as a convenient way to put the matter in a safe space and out of the mainstream? Never really made sense to me and didn't really seem to be that much of a deal. Their main strength is expository preaching which has been a real blessing to me at times. I was really fed by preaching from the Calvary Satellite Network as I was struggling during my last couple years struggling with IFBx and literally "Starving" at the "Model IFB Church" where I was a member. I attended services off and on for a while at a Calvary Chapel right after my divorce.
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My wife and I considered going to a church affiliated with these people but never quite felt like we could support their doctrine. Just wasn't our "cuppa!"
So has anyone heard of this teaching prior to the 20th century?
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Not that I'm aware of Gordy. In all the books I've read from before the beginning of that time period, I never saw one mention of it anywhere!
Actually, being a former attendee of the Charismatic Movement in the 80's, that was one of their standard definitions of the use of tongues.
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Looking up "private prayer language" on the Google Ngram Viewer suggests it wasn't used in print until 1970-80. This doesn't necessarily mean the teaching wasn't present, just that speaking in tongues privately while praying wasn't called by that name.
There were proto-Pentecostal movements in the 19th century, like the Keswick Holiness movement, where such things could conceivably have been taught just as they are in modern Pentecostalism, but my exposure to Holiness literature is limited.
By contrast, Christians who spoke glossolalia in their gatherings were noticed as early as the 2nd century.
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I think it's a spin off of modern Pentecostalism, which began in 1906 with the Azusa Street Revivals. Tongues' per se was something novel, and according to some accounts, was manifest only after the performance of frenzied manners of worship. Once the movement spread over much of the continent and the novelty wore off, the phenomenon was engaged by its adherents with a more systematic theology in attempts to bring it into the pale of orthodoxy. The verbatim, "private prayer language" was born of that,
That's my impression anyway based on my engagement with the Pentecostalism in my region. My great grand parents, my grand parents, and my parents, were and are Pentecostal, and I've engaged folks from the earliest days of the movement.
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Aside from their "quasi-continuationist" stance (if you could even call it that), their doctrine seems pretty much "Baptistic." Most affirm eternal security of the believer although there are some (Like Raoul Reis) who are a little more Arminian and believe you can lose your salvation.
Where I strongly disagree is regarding their polity. They hold to a single senior pastor "Moses" model (and I think they even refer to it as such) and if I correctly understand, they do not have an active church membership aside from your continued attendance so I don't even think you could say they are "Congregational" rule. Seems like they would have to have some sort of board of administrators and some sort of organization in order to be recognized by the government as a legitimate 501c3 entity. Perhaps brother Caines could enlighten us regarding this?
But yeah, not my "Cuppa" either although I am happy to regard them as my brothers.
Yes, there is a board of sorts within most CCs. From what I have seen in practice within this area, larger or more well established churches within a region do provide some accountability. Our pastor has a board of two other elders within our congregation and is in close communication with the pastor of the Grangeville church. (70 miles from here) They provide accountability and guidance for each other. There are rather large churches in Tri Cities, Spokane, and Ontario OR who provide oversight and resources for us smaller congregations. I know the Tri Cities pastor was part of our board at one time, I'm not sure if he still is. There was a fellowship started in Moscow a few years ago by a young man who was very much under the guidance of his home church in Ontario. That work has since folded and the young man is now back on staff in Ontario. There was a huge church in Boise but sadly, the one who started that work fell. I'm not sure who oversaw his removal from ministry but he had to have had a board he was answerable to. So, while autonomous, no pastor is an island so to say.
Our churches in Lewiston and Grangeville are long established; (as in well before 2000.) Grangeville is pastored by a guy who came from Hesperia CA and our pastor was on staff for several years at Harvest in Riverside CA. To this day, our pastor still refers to Greg Laurie as "my pastor".
I see both strengths and weaknesses in these models as I do with more "mainline" models of leadership.
Shortly before he passed, Chuck Smith established the Calvary Chapel Association to provide continuity for the Calvary Chapel "brand". I've heard nothing of this organization from my pastor. I've heard of divisions and splits within the Association, most notable was the split between Chuck Smith and Mike Kestler of Twin Falls ID over the Calvary Satellite Network shortly before Chuck's passing. Frankly, it's hard to get information from leadership on these matters. The inference from leaders not directly involved seems to be, we need to be busy about the Lord's work and not caught up in personality conflicts.
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They are Baptistic in the aspects you mentioned, as well as inbeliever's baptism and congregational autonomy. And they appeal to those wmho seek real confirmation apart from tradition.
Pentecostals are especially vulnerable to cults such as Mormonism which claim to offer such.
My dad was one who was converted to the RLDS church, as it was known at the time (Community of Christ now), but returned to Pentecostalism.
Besides that, the CCM movement has it's roots in the Azusa Street Revivals, and the sensual worship styles thereof finding their way onto the Continent through the Mississippi Delta and the slave trade
FWIW:
I've been involved with CC since 2001. First, with the Pendleton congregation, now with Lewiston since 2002.
While I was in the Navy, I was involved with IFB churches. It was while I was in Pensacola listening to PCCs radio station that I became aware of John MacArthur. He had just taken over LABC and rechristened it The Master's College. I ended up in Norfolk/Virginia Beach and the assistant pastor there was a student of Johnny Mac's teaching. As my time in the Navy drew to a close, I had been making preparations to attend TMC with my pastor's blessing. I knew nothing over the split between IFBdom and Johnny Mac over the Lordship Salvation issue until a deacon in the church told me not to get caught up in that teaching. Confused, I went to the pastor and asked him about it. He simply asked, "Are you saved?" I said yes. "Is Jesus Lord?" Yes.. that was all I ever heard from him on the issue.
I left Virginia for California and soon discovered many differences between the IFB teachings and the TMC crowd. Instead of attending Grace Community which was the "in" thing to do, I attended a smaller Baptist church nearby that manyTMC faculty members attended. Long story short, I ended up attending the college career then singles group where I was further discipled for several years. By the time I left California in 2000, I was pretty far removed from my IFB roots. I moved to Pendleton OR where any church that carried the Baptist moniker was at best, on life support. About the only church that seemed to be active was a branch off a Free Methodist Church. After nearly a year with them, I figured out I was no longer able to continue with them because of their handling of the Word. I began to long to get back to my IFB roots when I stumbled on to Calvary Chapel. They were warm but did seem a bit odd. However, it didn’t take long to warm up to the expository teaching. I soon discovered that doctrinally, they were closer to my IFB roots than even the church I attended for several years in California. When I moved to Lewiston in 2002, there was no question in my mind where I was going to attend. I've been with CC ever since.
Like BR, I now consider myself more fundamentalist than I ever was. God has been faithful to keep me close to Him. While I'm not in 100% agreement with everything that comes from CC, while CC of the Lews-Clark Valley is viable, I don't see myself going to another church, mainly because of the expositiory teaching style.
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Thanks for the clarification bro! From what you are saying, it seems more like an "Eldership Rule" with everyone aside from the senior pastor hidden in plain sight? My last Church in the "Socal" was an eldership rule where the senior teaching elder just referred to himself as "One of the Elders in the Church" and like Calvary Chapel, there was no "Voting Membership" but your continued attendance implied membership and it was up to you to make yourselves accountable to the leadership of the Church. I really learned a lot from this congregation and am thankful for the time I spent there.
When I was still in the Navy stationed down in San Diego, one of my secret pleasures was listen to KWVE in San Clemente but the station really didn't come in too well unless you were close to the coast and I was living in the La Mesa are close to my Church. I'd often take late night drives along the coast through Leucadia, Carlsbad, and up through Oceanside in my Nissan Hardbody jamming out to the "Maranatha Praise Band" and listening to "Pastor Chuck" and "Pastor Greg" while enjoying that cool coastal air! Good times!
I was member of a Harvest Bible Chapel (James MacDonald affiliate) for a couple of years and they sort of reminded me of how Calvary Chapel operates except that people were actually members. They were Eldership Rule with a couple of Elders from the main Church in the Chicago are overseeing the Houston Church plant. It was a "Satellite" of James MacDonald's Church in Chicago. Not that I had any issues with MacDonald's preaching (he was a moderate Calvinist) but I wasn't really comfortable with such an arrangement although I really liked the pastor and leadership of the Church and became actively involved until my wife asked for a divorce.
Have you ever gotten to meet Marji's (Pastor's Wife) husband who is a Calvary Chapel pastor in the Oregon Rogue Valley? Would love to meet them some day!
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Wow. There's a name from the past...
No, I didn't. The Rogue Valley is the opposite corner of Oregon from where I was. I know they came out of Jon Courson's church. Margi was quite disillusioned by Jon's leadership style. While he had some sound teaching, I was still a bit leery of him. The way he "cleaned house" with Margi's husband and other staff members kind of confirmed my leeriness of him.
I cannot remember his name but both him and Marji struck me as the real deal. Last I remember of them, they were dealing with their daughter's passing from cancer. I hope and pray they are still serving the Lord wherever they are. Wasn't his name Mark? I think it was. You have caused many memories to come flooding back!
Just checked out Marji's FB profile and you are a friend. Looks like they are doing well! I'm thinking Mark is either retired now or getting ready to do so? Definitely one of my faves from the old FFF!
Are they still in SW Oregon? I just checked a bunch of church websites in the area and didn't find any that listed Mark as being pastor or on staff.