Larry Christenson

Larry Christenson (1928—2017)

Country of Origin

United States

Countries/Regions of Ministry

United States

Traditions

Charismatic
Lutheran

Ministries

revivalist
pastor

In 1962, a panel of three professionals arrived in San Pedro, California to investigate what was happening at Trinity Lutheran Church. A psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, and theologian were interviewing the young pastor, Larry Christenson, and several dozen church members rumored to have gotten swept up in something very un-Lutheran: speaking in tongues. Hadn’t the great founder and Reformer himself, Martin Luther, frowned upon the Schwärmer (“enthusiasts”) of his day, who claimed to receive direct words from the Holy Spirit?

Christenson had graduated St. Olaf College in his native Minnesota before completing his graduate degree at Luther Theological Seminary in 1960. Along the way, he read Agnes Sanford’s book The Healing Light, which made him curious to explore a revival meeting at a nearby Foursquare church. The sermon that Thursday night had dealt with the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Christenson received the evangelist’s prayer at the end, but nothing seemed to happen.

However, early the next morning, he testified that he sat bolt upright in bed and felt an unknown tongue on his lips. He spoke out a sentence in tongues and then fell back asleep. The next night, Christenson returned to the Foursquare church, where he said: “a great sense of praise began to well up within me, and it spilled over my lips in a new tongue.” He found it to be a wonderful experience, “though not a particularly overwhelming one.”

In the following days, Christenson admitted doubt: Was this suitable for a Lutheran? Should he even remain a Lutheran minister? A subsequent conversation with Charismatic emissary David du Plessis persuaded him to stay. As Christenson conveyed his experience to his congregation, certain members began to receive the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues as well. When the visiting panel came, however, Trinity Lutheran proved not to be as eccentric as feared. Dr. Paul Qualben, the psychiatrist, reported a decade later:

We had two preconceptions when we went…. We expected to encounter people who were emotionally unstable, and we expected the phenomenon to be short-lived. We were wrong on both counts. The people we interviewed were a normal cross-section of a Lutheran congregation, and today, ten years later, the movement is still growing.

It continued to grow, partly due to the steadiness and credibility of Christenson. He was not flamboyant; he refrained from outlandish claims. He helped shepherd growing numbers of Lutherans across the nation who were eager for new spiritual life. Some of his fellow Charismatic pastors were excommunicated, but others maintained their ordination in their churches and joined Christenson in the work of mainline renewal. When the first International Lutheran Conference on the Holy Spirit convened in 1972, at the Minneapolis Civic Auditorium, more than 9,000 people attended. This led to the organization of Lutheran Charismatic Renewal Services. In 1977, when a large, multi-denominational gathering convened in Kansas City, Lutherans comprised the third-largest group of registrants. Christenson observed:

It [Spirit baptism] is a common experience that opens the way to unity...With that comes an adherence to Scripture as the final authority. I’ve never heard an argument about the Virgin Birth or the divinity of Christ at Charismatic conferences. We’re very keenly aware of theological differences, but we don’t see that as hindering places where we have agreement.

Because of Lutheranism's rigorous theological tradition, the Charismatic awakening stewarded by those like Christenson spawned many colloquia, study groups of academics, and committee reports. Christenson’s book The Charismatic Renewal Among Lutherans (1976) was followed the next year by Welcome, Holy Spirit: A Study of Charismatic Renewal in the Church, published by the Lutheran house, Augsburg, and edited by Christenson. Some forty scholars contributed. Such collaboration helped mitigate earlier skepticism expressed by the Missouri Synod in 1972 that “power and renewal are to be sought in the Word and sacraments, not in special signs and miracles.” By 1974, a parallel body, the Lutheran Church in America, declared in its report that “there is no cause for Lutheran pastors or people to suggest, either explicitly or implicitly, that one cannot be charismatic and remain a Lutheran in good standing.”

Larry Christenson avoided many theological battles by advancing what he called an “organic view” of the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Rather than echoing standard Pentecostal language about tongues being “the initial physical evidence” of the Spirit’s fullness, he wrote his own understanding of Acts 2 in Trinity magazine:

Does this mean that everyone who receives the Holy Spirit will speak in tongues—that if you have not spoken in tongues you have not really received the Holy Spirit? I do not believe you can make such a case from Scripture. However, I do believe that the book of Acts suggests to us a helpful pattern: 1) Receiving the Holy Spirit is a definite, clear-cut, instantaneous experience…. 2) A simple and God-appointed way for you objectively to manifest the gift of the Holy Spirit is to lift up your voice in faith, and speak out in a new tongue at the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

In 1983, after nearly a quarter-century at his California pastorate, Christenson and his wife, Nordis, returned to their Twin Cities roots so he could become the full-time director of the International Lutheran Renewal Center. He served in this leadership role for twelve years. His books continued to sell, especially the Gold Medallion-winning classic The Christian Family, which, in 1970, paved the way for marriage and parenting titles. Christenson’s Speaking in Tongues (1968) remains in print today as well. The Christian Research Institute called it “an excellent study on this gift: whether you agree or disagree, this book will answer many questions people are asking today.”

Thus, whether focusing on spiritual awakening or family relationships, Christenson was a pacesetter, source of wisdom, and counsel to many within the renewed Body of Christ.

Dean Merrill