Like many children of the ’60s, Arne and Marie Bergstrom rebelled against the expectations of their middle-class families. In 1970, halfway through their undergraduate studies at the evangelical Bethel College in St. Paul, Minn., they dropped out, got married, sold all their possessions and went to do God’s work. Their journey took them to Papua New Guinea, Sudan and the Philippines (where they adopted two girls; they had two sons as well). When they settled back in the U.S., Arne’s beat was disaster relief: He went to Rwanda, Kosovo and Turkey (after a massive earthquake), to refugee camps at the Iran-Afghanistan border. Marie became an award-winning fifth-grade teacher.
A couple of months ago, our church in Wheaton, Ill., had to bid the Bergstroms goodbye. They were moving again, close to Seattle, where Arne took a position at World Vision, the Christian relief and development agency. If you had seen them standing in front of the congregation, you could hardly have failed to recognize them as aging hippies–Marie’s long straight hair, Arne’s grizzled beard–and they are both runners, thin as rails.
The Bergstroms’ story is an inspiring tale of faith in action, but it is also a goad to rethink what we mean when we talk about “the ’60s” (which, of course, can’t really be contained within a 10-year span). Canonical accounts, from both the left and the right, have systematically ignored, played down and distorted the religious dimensions of that tumultuous time.
On the ‘bar church’ thread, I made reference to Arthur Blessitt, who had a dynamic ministry on Sunset Strip in Hollywood in the 60s, and who later made headlines by carrying a cross around the world. His ministry continues today.
Jesus People, U.S. A. also came into existance in California, and later moved to Chicago, where they continue to thrive in inner-city ministries.
Jews for Jesus had their beginnings (also in California, San Francisco) with the conversion of Moishe Rosen (by Arthur Blessitt, I think) in the ’60s. This ministry also continues today.
David Wilkerson continued his ministries to gangs in NYC, and broadened his ministry to drug addicted teens.
Remember Larry Norman, 2nd Chapter of Acts, Love Song, Barry McGuire, Phil Keaggy and “Jesus Music”? They all had their start in the 60’s.
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal started in the 1960’s with three priests praying for a move of God while in the chapel at Notre Dame University.
I’m sure there are many others that could be listed.
Peace, baby!
Jim Elliott
By the way, for those who suddenly got nostalgic for the “Jesus Music” movement and artists, you might want to check out the site [url=http://www.one-way.org/jesusmusic]A Decade of Jesus Music[/url] to find out ‘whatever happened to …. ?
I was a graduate student at Notre Dame in the 60s when the charismatic movement began there, and some of my friends and professors became involved in the movement. I also saw the tremendous impact that Vatican II had on the students, many of whom became lifelong advocates for social justice. I think the Holy Spirit was at work in both ways.
#1 – stop it, you’re making me feel old!
(a secret fan of 2nd Chapter of Acts)
The Jesus Movement of the early 1970s led to a large growth in campus Christian groups. It also forever changed evangelical attitudes towards contemporary music. No much scary lectures about how a rock beat could cause heart disease and lead to devil-worship.
It’s also worth remembering that John Guest started his ministry in Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania in the late 1960s.
If you want to really experience Christian music in the 1960’s and 1970’s, you’d do well to check out The Ancient Star Song or Heavenly Grooves.
Irenaes,
I have a “Last Days Ministries” tract written by David Wilkerson that is an historical oddit: Wilkerson denies it exists!
The title is “Confessions of a Rock ‘n’ Roll Hater” and details WHY he changed his mind about hating rock musical styles for use in Church (in the tract he says it is just a tool that can be used for God). He has since changed his mind again and now says it is totally inappropriate for use by Christians. It is no longer on the list at the [url=www.lastdaysministries.org]Last Days Ministries[/url] website.
(you know, I should have put the links in for each of the ministries I listed in post #1, since they are still active. Oh, well!)
Peace
Jim Elliott
Jim [#8]: Interesting. Keep that tract safe and scan it into a PDF! Let’s not lose this fragment of the past. And let’s remember it when tempted only to rant about this era.
Vulcanhammer,
shoot, all I’d have to do is head to my record cabinets. I still have most of my vinyl “Jesus Music” albums I bought in the late ’70s. AND I still have a record player to play them on. I had to buy a needle recently, it cost more than the turntable did!
PS to #9: Consider e-mailing that PDF to the libraries of colleges like Calvin, Gordon, Grove City, and Wheaton.
Irenaeus,
I had considered faxing it to all the branches of “Teen Challenge”, especially the one I (very briefly) worked at 14 years ago. 🙁
😉
Beg pardon, but this entry is nonsense, and pious nonsense at that. The cultural history of the 60’s and 70’s is the function of the adolescent outbreak, the drugs, sex and rocknroll, and the establishment of the liberal doctrines of no standards as the standard. This effected all levels of society and continues to shape attitudes and beliefs. The bulk of the ills that beset us now culturally can be clearly traced back to the onset of perpetual adolescence and the childish egotism of instant gratification is not soon enough. If religion paid any role in this period – paid in the sense of having national significance – then it must have been an invisible influence in and invisible world. Remember Schori and Spong are children of this world. THEY are the real religious influence. LM
Ah, Larry Morse, how preconceptions can crowd out facts! This era was, like most eras, a mixed bag of good and bad. Ideologically based denials don’t change what it was. Nor do they change the fact that Spong was born in 1931, graduated from college in 1951, and ordained in 1955.
Although I was still in diapers when the 60s began, I am thankful beyond words for what came out of the Jesus Movement of the late 60s and early 70s; not only the music but my husband’s deliverance from drugs and his salvation. It is wrong to think that nothing good came out of this culture or time period. God seems to plant a faithful remnant or a fresh release of the Holy Spirit at the 11th hour.
The music that came from places like Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa meant a lot to me as a young Christian. I honestly believe that God used this music, in part, to bring me to Him. The home fellowship that was my main church at the time used to host concerts by artists such as Honeytree, Lamb, 2nd Chapter of Acts, Barry McGuire, Randy Matthews, and Keith Green. This music knit us together and reminded us that we didn’t have to give up our music preferences and enjoyment of a particular style of music in order to follow Christ.
Come on, Irenaeus, I am aware of of how old Spong is. He’s my age. What the point? My point is that he is a 60’s liberal. I don’t recall saying that the 60’s and 70’s were limited by age, but it was the Age of Adolescent Dionysiacs. And this is hardly a preconception. What and who were involved in the anti- VietNam outbreaks, and did these demonstrations alter American attitudes? How can you call this tectonic shift in American culture a preconception (implying a misunderstanding and misrepresentation of the facts)
ANd did the drug culture, earlier limited to the ghetto and the artists, in large part, not alter a way of life that has become now normalized. In California at this moment, it is common for a party to carry the unspoken invitation for all comers to bring their own marijuana with them and the host will supply stronger material. How do I know? Because I have many classmates who live in upscale Cal and they have told me the above is commonplace and accepted.
As to the standard of no standards, it was in the 60’s that the public schools began to fall into the “options” pattern that has done so much damage, and it was in the 60’s and 70’s that grade inflation altered academic integrity and responsibility in ways that are still everywhere and still shameful.
The evidence is everywhere, and if you think the “stereotype” of the 60’s and the Baby Boomers is a misconception, you are paying no attention to the evidence. LM
Put down the doobie…the 60s are over.
I’m as much a fan of the Wall Street Journal’s weekly Houses of Worship column as anybody, but there should have been a packaged posting with “Christians Were Part of the ’60s, Too” of the article right above it in the print issue, “Don’t Suffer the Little Children” (http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110010571).
Rousseau vs. Hobbes; a great definition of “tradition”; etc. A great humorous/serious read from a perspective similar to those of Bill Cosby and John Rosemond.
Come on, Larry, you know when ever Satan gains a foot-hold, as he did in the 60’s, God has an equal and opposite reaction to continue to crush the serpent’s head and in that era that was the double whammy of the Jesus People movement on the streets (which led to the non-denominational church movement) and the Charismatic movement among the mainstream churches.
To deny this is to deny reality.
Follow the links to the music movements above (which continue to resonate in our churches today) as well as:
[url=http://www.arthurblessitt.com/hisplace.html]His Place[/url] coffee house ministry on Sunset Strip (part of the on-going ministry of [url=http://www.arthurblessitt.com/]Arthur Blessitt[/url] — good name for a minister!)
During the 1960’s Arthur Blessitt had a Jesus coffee house called “His Place” on Sunset Strip in Hollywood, California…
Arthur Blessitt preached at the First Annual West Palm Beach International Music and Arts Festival in 1969. Appearing at this concert were rock groups such as The Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Grand Funk Railroad, Pacific Gas & Electric, Johnny Winters, Sweetwater, and many others.
[url=http://www.jpusa.org/life.html]Jesus People, USA[/url]:
Jesus People USA never started out to be a Christian community; our roots were in the early Jesus movement of the late sixties and the early seventies. When Jesus called, many of us were social rejects in search of something worth living for. You might say community living simply evolved as the practical expression of Christianity in our everyday lives, the working out of agape love.
[url=http://www.lastdaysministries.org/keith/history.html]Last Days Ministries[/url]:
[i](Which was formed in 1977, but had it’s roots much earlier, when Keith and Melody Green met the Lord through street ministries.)[/i]
As soon as Keith opened his heart to Jesus, he and Melody opened their home. Anyone with a need, or who wanted to kick drugs, or get off the street, was welcome. Of course, they always heard plently about Jesus. {he} was also discipling the 70 believers who had come to be part of Last Days Ministries—the ministry he and Melody expanded from the outreach that began in their home. But he learned, in the midst of it all, the importance of pausing simply to behold the glory of God and to enjoy His presence.
[url=http://www.jewsforjesus.org/about/history]Jews for Jesus[/url]:
Actually, “Jews for Jesus” began as a slogan. In the late 1960s a moving of the Holy Spirit brought thousands of cause-oriented young people to faith in Jesus, many of whom were Jewish. As for our organization, Moishe Rosen officially founded Jews for Jesus in September of 1973.
[url=http://www.communityofcelebration.com/]Community of Celebration[/url]:
You may be surprised—we’re a religious order in the Episcopal Church established in the Anglican Church in England and Scotland. Our roots stretch back to the mid-1960’s in Houston’s inner-city Church of the Redeemer, and today the Community’s home is in Aliquippa (near Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, with members living in England.
[i](All quotes above except those in parenthesis and italics — like this one — are from the websites.)[/i]
So you see, it’s impossible ([b]IMPOSSIBLE[/b]) to dismiss the importance on the ministry of the Church that God brought into existence in the 60s and 70s on the streets of America.
Peace
Jim Elliott
I remember seeing the first “baby onboard” egg-shaped sign in the rear of a Volvo wagon 25 years ago, after having already been a parent for a decade and having been in the Class of ’63 in college. I still haven’t figured out what the big deal was about with the “baby onboard” crowd and the group who came through college after we left. Their kids seemed less disciplined and the parents seemed to have multiple ideas about how to raise them. I think we were the last of the traditionalists. I do remember Hal Lindsay [ then with Campus Crusade at UCLA ] cornering me in a piano practice room in Schoenberg Hall’s basement and trying to get me to commence a “personal” relationship with Christ, after giving me his testimony about being a whoring riverboat pilot on the Mississippi;having translated the entire New Testament from the original Greek at Dallas Theological Seminary. I told him ” Thank you, I’m an Episcopalian “. His was a hard sell. Little did I realize that later I would spend 14 years in a Foursquare Church because the Episcopal Church I’d remembered as a child was beginning to fall apart around me. So, in a way, Hal and the Foursquares, helped save my spiritual bacon.