Bible Group Starts Talking Strange Tongues
THE 
AGE
Melbourne, Thursday, July 31, 1969
"And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues" - ACTS 2:4
Bible Group Starts Talking Strange Tongues
By MAX BEATTIE
Church of England members at Malmsbury - 60 miles from Melbourne on the Bendigo road - are suddenly speaking to God and each other "in strange tongues." The local Anglican vicar, the Rev. Ronald Wood, 34, is one of them. Mr. Wood told me last night that 60 people from his parish of St. John had "spoken in tongues". He did it himself, often. He said that much of the speaking in tongues took place among a Bible study group. About half were teenagers. Most of the group was under 35.
The latest incident, he said, was on Friday night at a Bible study group for young people. A bank clerk, aged about 20, spoke in a strange tongue for some minutes. Mr. Wood said he had no doubt that the young man was genuine. The Bishop of Bendigo (the Right Rev. R. E. Richards) has made a special statement on the Malmsbury religious phenomenon. Mr. Wood said that the people spoke spontaneously in languages which were usually incomprehensible to others. This gift had come to them after they had experienced "a baptism of the Holy Spirit."
At least once this year - in January - the "tongue" had been recognised as a German dialect. The speaker was an Australian school teacher aged about 30 who had never learnt German. A 17-year-old girl, who knew some German, had understood him. I understand there has been some trouble in the parish over the "tongues" phenomenon. Bishop Richards has known of the Malmsbury situation for some time.
"The Bishop and his helpers have been watching the Malmsbury tension for some time. They would have intervened if this had seemed desirable," a spokesman said yesterday. A recent issue of the official Anglican Newspaper ‘See' makes a guarded reference to Malmsbury, without naming the parish. The "tongues" phenomenon is not new to religious life. There has been an upsurge overseas this century. I understand it has cropped up in other recognised Anglican parishes in Victoria and NSW.
It has biblical "backing". St. Paul refers in the New Testament (Corinthians) to the practice of speaking to God in tongues which other men cannot understand. Talking of the Malmsbury affair, Bishop Richards said: "A few enthusiastic clergymen sometimes get this wrong." "The Church balances its teaching of the Holy Spirit - the Charisma - as part of the Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Sometimes people who have not heard what the church is saying get excited when they suddenly grasp the truth about the spirit - "God with us". They don't realise that this is what the Church has been saying all along. Then they are inclined to criticise the Church for neglecting to teach the whole Christian faith. What's happening in Malmsbury I hope will be a storm in a teacup and I trust truth, sympathy and understanding will prevail."
He would not comment on the validity of "speaking in tongues", but it is known that he and most other Anglican churchmen do not dismiss it out of hand. Yesterday Mr. Wood stressed that none of the people involved at Malmsbury had gone into a trance. "A person is in full control of his faculties all the time. If he wants to speak, he speaks," Mr. Wood said. No "emotionalism" would be allowed and none had yet appeared. He refused to name any of the other people.
He spoke to local people by telephone while I was in Malmsbury. "At this stage, they are not willing to publicise their personal experiences," he said. He spoke freely of his own experiences. When he spoke "in tongues" he could not understand himself, he said. Mr. Wood said that the practice became part of the normal spiritual life of a Christian. "It produces an uplifting and strengthening of a person's spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ," he said. Mr. Wood said that the Bible group did not concentrate on speaking "in tongues". "We 'major' on an overall balanced study of the Scriptures," he said.