The Shepherding Movement

This is an engagin history of the Shepherding Movement, an influential and controversial expression of the charismatic renewal in the 1970's and 1980's. This neopentecostal movement, led by popular Bible teachers Ern Baxter, Don Basham, Bob Mumford, Derek Prince and Charles Simpson, became a house/cell church movement in the United States. The Shepherding Movement is an ecclesiological case study of an attempt at renewing church structures. It's emphasis on submission to a personal pastor, or 'shepherd' as the movement termed it, brought accusations of authoritarianism. The Shepherding Movement's story provides a unique perspective on the history of the charismatic renewal in the United States and its struggle to handle a controversy that forever changed the Renewal's ecumenical character. S. David Moore is Associate Professor at the Life Pacific College in San Dimas, California.