By Lloyd Mackey

A SPIRITUAL REVIVAL – characterized by signs and wonders, as well as social concern – seems to be occurring in northern Vancouver Island.

Following up on revival rumours, BCCN contacted George Ewald, senior pastor at Port Hardy Christian Fellowship. Ewald confirmed that these phenomena were occurring in Port Hardy, as well as in nearby Port McNeill and Port Alice.

But he was hesitant to garner too much publicity about the happenings in what he termed the “top third” of the Island. He was also reluctant to compare those events to phenomena such as the ‘Toronto Blessing’ of the mid-90s, or the 2008 ‘Lakeland Revival.’  

Ewald affirmed that “social justice” is an important part of what his congregation, a Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada affiliate, is all about. And that aspect of what is happening in his small city of 4,500 actually pre-dated the revival, which broke out last year.

The ‘social justice’ story began when the church moved from a deteriorating traditional worship building it had occupied for some years, after purchasing a building which once housed a 51-room hotel and a strip bar.

Known as Thunderbird Inn, the hotel, in Ewald’s estimation was actually more suitable to the kind of ministry the church had in mind. “The placement of the walls, the barriers and other design aspects worked well for us,” he recalled.

Today, the facility provides housing for pregnant teens, single mothers and seniors who otherwise might be out on the streets. And it allows the service arm of the church to support these people while they are adjusting to major changes in their lives.

When the revival broke out, the church began to get queries from people from throughout western Canada, and even in Europe and Israel, wondering what was happening.

The queries had been unexpected, said Ewald, but some of the rooms in the inn not being used for social justice purposes have become available to visitors who wanted to check out the revival.

Such spiritual renewals do attract widespread attention; and there are a number of networks that help spread the information, and even provide some travel information. Some critics of such movements dub the networks “revival tourism.”

But to Ewald, this has been what he calls a “grass roots thing” that has grown naturally and, in some ways, unexpectedly.

He has heard “story after story of healing.” Young people, he said, are “gaining a deeper understanding of God,” and  “new boldness” to share their faith. Others have experienced “loss of long time bitterness and anger.”

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The beginnings of the life-changing behaviour, he maintained, occur during revival services – when people collapse to the floor in worship, prayer or apparent meditation. That phenomenon, in these kinds of revivals, is what has become informally known as “carpet time.”

An evangelist/revivalist family from Alabama, Mike and Denise Echterling and daughter Michelle, have been leading many of the revival services this past fall, staying in Port Hardy quite a bit longer than they had expected.

Two other churches are now partners in this renewal movement: Oceanview, a Pentecostal church in Port Alice; and a Full Gospel congregation in Port McNeill. A group known as the Island Revival Alliance is also working on adding churches further south into the network. Victoria Miracle Centre, a congregation meeting in a former United Church building in the the capital city’s Fernwood district, has sent people to observe what is happening.

Ewald said the Pentecostal Assemblies are monitoring what is happening, and providing accountability to the North Island leaders connected with the revival.

Ewald was not always quite at the place he is now. The son of a Pentecostal minister, he grew up in Peterborough. He arrived in Port Hardy 20 years ago, not very close to God or the church. One evening, when he dropped into the rock bar at the Thunderbird for a drink, he thought: “What a great place this would be for a church.” Little did he suspect what that bar would eventually turn into.

His wife Karen, who is strongly supportive of the revival activity, was a bit skeptical about the place becoming a church Ewald recalled, observing: “It was so dark.” But today, it is “full of light,” he said, as a church should be.

It will hold up to 400 in a pinch, providing room for growth for the current congregation of over 200.

One thing Ewald hopes to avoid is what he called the “attitude” problem that often develops in revival churches.

“Not every pastor will be comfortable with what is happening here,” he said, recognizing that this unease is natural.

But he said he believes both the old hotel and the things that are happening inside are communicating the things God wants the congregation to be involved in.

And hopefully, Port Hardy will continue to benefit from both the spiritual and social activities taking place there.

January 2011