Charismatic Ambassadors: How the Charismatic Renewal Fueled the Rise of Covenant Communities

Abstract

The influence of Pentecostal worship in the Roman Catholic Church has most prominently been seen through the advent of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR). This movement began in 1967 and was a driving force in bringing dimensions of Pentecostal worship into the lives of many Christian faithful, both within the Catholic church as well as in the of lives Protestant, Orthodox, Evangelical, and Messianic Jewish Christians. The Word of God Community in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was the most influential community in the early formation of worship in the CCR. Their community life, music, and methods of leading times of worship were the headwaters out of which the worship of the CCR has flowed ever since.