Revival Stories

The 1994 Toronto Blessing: Global Blessing


In January 1994, the Toronto Airport Vineyard Church experienced the outpouring of God-sent revival, what is now known as the Toronto Blessing or the Father’s Blessing. It began on the evening Randy Clark spoke as a guest of Pastor John Arnott. What was planned to last a few days ended up with God taking over and profoundly touching lives almost daily for far longer.

As it became clear that God was moving powerfully, Randy Clark ended up extending his preaching beyond the initial couple of days to staying over 6 weeks in Toronto. And when Randy finally left to go home, John and Carol continued to hold these meetings 6 days a week, every week, for more than a dozen years. These meetings always reserved times for worship, testimony, preaching, and Gospel invitations. It was also very important to pray for attenders to be touched by God. This resulted in countless physical healings and also restorations at a deep emotional level. And the very presence of God was amazing whenever they gathered. Abundant joy and times of refreshing seemed to be the hallmark gift given by God to the attenders. Pastor John Arnott and his wife themselves were rejuvenated more than ever, and the overall celebratory tone of the Spirit’s moving impacted potently more than a few Christian leaders. Significant future leaders like Heidi Baker in Mozambique, Eleanor Mumford of London, and Steve Hill of Brownsville all were transformed by a fresh life-giving encounter with Father God’s love.

However, the Toronto Blessing included more than its fair share of criticisms and naysayers. Amidst all the joyful laughter and fresh touch from God, there were things happening that did cause some Christians on the outside to be concerned. Although many past revivals also saw such phenomena like falling down, shaking as if zapped by electricity, or speaking in tongues, such behavior in modern-day America made some people very uncomfortable. The spontaneous and contagious laughter bothered many who were not used to such levity in church. Uncommon miracles, such as over 300 visitors apparently receiving gold or silver fillings instantaneously in their mouths, definitely stretched some believers as to the limits of what God would do. Yet, through all this, vastly more people hungered for more of God and made the trek to Toronto to see for themselves.

By the end of 1994, the small Toronto church had grown to over 1000 members. Over 900 guests also had made a decision to trust in Christ in that time. Demons were surfaced and cast out of visitors, setting the humans free. People’s faith was restored and invigorated, leading to increased boldness for Jesus. In the first year, over 4000 pastors and ministry leaders had journeyed to this awakening from countries around the world. But what made this revival especially astounding was how revival fire would jump back to the home churches of its visitors. More than 3000 churches had been impacted by October of 1994. By 1995, more than 11,000 churches had been ignited worldwide. Church unity was strengthened as people cared less and less about denominational differences and focused on their Savior. Moral behavior and relational peace improved greatly in the revival areas. Even the number of those joining in intercessory prayer globally quadrupled. And, finally, the intensity of people’s love for God, as they experienced the Father’s tender and joy-filled love, was unprecedented and long-lasting in many many lives.

QUESTIONS TO DISCUSS:

  1. If you could ask God to bring one thing into your Sunday church services, what would it be?How would you describe the effect God’s presence had upon those at the Toronto Blessing? What do you think is exceedingly awesome? What seems kind of weird to you?
  2. How important is comfort to your spiritual growth? In reflecting on the life of Christ, would you say Jesus surprised more people with his words and behavior or simply stayed in line with the status quo? Why do you think he did shocking things? Are you willing to be uncomfortable in order to experience God more intimately? Why or why not?
  3. If a little church like the one in Toronto can be used by God to make an epic impact upon thousands of faith communities globally, what do you think He could do through you and your church? How do you think you would fit into God’s puzzle and plan to revive the fire in the heart of the church and save the lost?
blog comments powered by Disqus