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This essay explores the unity and diversity of global charismatic ministries emerging from the 1990s Toronto Blessing revival, including John and Carol Arnott’s Catch the Fire Ministries (Toronto, Canada), Randy Clark’s Global Awakening (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, USA), and Heidi and Rolland Baker’s Iris Ministries (Pemba, Mozambique). Such practices as bodily healing, verbal evangelism, care for the poor, Bible teaching, exuberant worship, “soaking prayer,” and inner healing are held in common, while each group has some area of functional specialization. The post-Toronto movements thus do not present an archetypal, Weberian “routinization of charisma” or a global dissemination of a single, homogenized approach to Christian ministry. A common element among the groups is an insistence on an individual, inner spiritual renewal that must precede any outer work of service. Effective ministry derives from “intimacy with God.” In their diversity, vitality, and adaptability, these post-Toronto movements offer hope for reviving the worldwide charismatic renewal.
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