Jesus Movement

Background

In the 1960s, a counterculture (a youth culture that set itself against mainstream culture) that rejected the values of established society spread across the United States. The movement began when some of the young hippies at the center of that counterculture encountered evangelical pastors and youth ministers and converted to Christianity. Participants generally kept elements of the hippie lifestyle, such as long hair and casual dress, while practicing their faith, and many lived together in communal settings. Theologically, the movement is regarded as having leaned toward fundamentalism and Pentecostalism.

Development

• 1967: The Living Room, a mission outreach to hippies, opened in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• 1968: Chuck Smith, pastor of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California, met the hippie evangelist Lonnie Frisbee. Smith had led the church since 1965 and had previously belonged to the Foursquare denomination founded by Aimee Semple McPherson. Together with John Higgins, they opened the House of Miracles, the first communal house in Orange County.
• 1969: Staff members of Campus Crusade for Christ founded the Christian World Liberation Front (CWLF) in Berkeley. Higgins moved to Oregon and started the Shiloh community. That same year, a group led by David Berg began using the name "Children of God."
• 1970: In Southern California alone, more than 100 churches, coffeehouses, and communal houses considered themselves part of the movement. Centers also emerged in other American cities, including Atlanta, Milwaukee, and suburban Chicago.
• June 21, 1971: Time magazine ran a cover story on "The Jesus Revolution."
• June 12–17, 1972: Campus Crusade for Christ held Explo '72, a youth evangelism conference, in Dallas, Texas. Although most participants did not belong directly to the movement, the conference is regarded as the event that best embodied the Jesus Movement. Police and media estimated that 120,000 to 180,000 people attended the music rally held on the final day. The "One Way" sign, an index finger raised toward the sky to signify that Jesus is the only way, became a symbol of the movement.
• Early 1970s: A group that broke away in Milwaukee settled in Chicago and formed the community Jesus People USA.
• Late 1970s: In 1976 the organization that had sponsored the Living Room ministry closed. In 1979 the Hollywood Free Paper, the movement's newspaper, ceased publication, and in 1980 the Shiloh community disbanded.

Outcomes and Influence

The movement's most lasting influence was in music. The "Jesus music" that emerged from the movement became the root of today's CCM (contemporary Christian music), and Calvary Chapel led that development through Maranatha! Music. Calvary Chapel became known for expository preaching that teaches through the Bible verse by verse and for informal worship, and it later grew into a worldwide association of independent churches. Lonnie Frisbee is regarded as an important figure in the history not only of Calvary Chapel but also of the Vineyard Movement.

Assessment

Those who view the movement favorably regard it as a spiritual revival that brought countless young people into the church. Greg Laurie, a pastor who was converted during that period, has noted that historians called the movement "the last Great Awakening," placing it alongside the Great Awakenings. The film Jesus Revolution, based on his book, was released in 2023 and was made available in South Korea on Netflix.

The movement also drew criticism. Some leaders of established churches at the time questioned whether these young people were "true Christians" because of their hippie appearance and aggressive methods of evangelism. Among the groups that emerged from the movement, the Children of God generated major controversy. Jesus People USA also became controversial because of allegations of authoritarian leadership and abuse.

Views also differ on when the movement ended. Some studies hold that it had effectively disappeared by the end of the 1970s, while others maintain that its peak continued into the early 1980s and that it lost momentum in the 1990s.