Framlinghamian 2023-2024 Single page - web 144dpi - Flipbook - Page 297
SOF | NOTICES
In his autobiography, ‘Living at the
congregation. Pytches became one of
Edge’ (2002), he recalled: ‘It’s quite a
Wimber’s chief promoters in England. His
shock to suddenly wake up in bed with a
book ‘Come, Holy Spirit: Learning how
Charismatic! I had been so opposed to all
to minister in power’ (1985) repackaged
this for so long, and a loyal Bible-loving,
Wimber’s teaching for a wider audience.
card-carrying evangelical all my life.’
It was translated into Spanish, German,
Swedish, Finnish, Arabic, Chinese and
Korean.
In 1970, aged just 39, Pytches was
consecrated bishop for the su昀昀ragan
see of Valparaíso. Three years later,
Next, Wimber introduced Pytches in
Archbishop Michael Ramsey, as
1988 to the so-called ‘Kansas City
Metropolitan of the Southern Cone,
Prophets’, a group who claimed dramatic
promoted Pytches to be Bishop of Chile,
encounters with God and special
Bolivia and Peru, a vast diocese covering
prophetic knowledge. Pytches visited
1.2 million square miles, 24 times the size
them in Missouri, prior to their bursting
of England.
upon the scene in England, and wrote
up the story as ‘Some Said It Thundered’
It was a period of rapid church growth but
(1990). Wimber also encouraged Pytches
deep political crisis, as Chile descended
to expand his teaching ministry and
into paramilitary violence and civil unrest.
contributed £3000 to the Kingdom
During this time, the Pytches family feared
Power Trust, which distributed charismatic
for their lives. The Marxist government
cassette tapes. In 1989, it launched New
of Salvador Allende was toppled in
Wine, a charismatic jamboree which soon
September 1973 in a coup by General
grew into a massive annual event and
Augusto Pinochet, placing the churches
gave birth to a vibrant renewal network.
in an invidious position. The politics were
New Wine was pioneered by Pytches until
di昀케cult to navigate, and Pytches found
2001 and continues to attract thousands
himself criticised on all sides.
of people each year across numerous
denominations.
In 1977, Pytches swapped the poverty of
Chile for the leafy lanes of Hertfordshire,
Another of Pytches’ lifelong passions
as Vicar of St Andrew’s, Chorleywood.
was church planting. He advocated the
There, he sought to embed lessons from
formation of charismatic congregations
South American Anglicanism into the
across parish boundaries, linking
Church of England. One of Pytches’s
congregations outside parish structures, to
friends and fellow Chilean church-
the chagrin of Archbishop George Carey.
planter, Eddie Gibbs, introduced him to
It was a forerunner of fresh expressions of
John Wimber, the Vineyard evangelist
English Anglicanism.
and former rock musician. Wimber’s 昀椀rst
visit to Chorleywood resulted in ‘holy
Pytches retired from St Andrew’s,
chaos’ and was transformative for the
Chorleywood in 1996, but continued his
295
