Interview with John Arnott

by Kathi Smith
Spring 2017

Note from the Editor: John and Carol Arnott, well–known to the world as the pastors who hosted the Toronto Airport Church Blessing, were there on that momentous day in January, 1994 when the Holy Spirit descended with great power — and stayed! We extend our thanks to John and Carol for their commitment to teaching and spreading the good news that God still heals today through the power of the Holy Spirit. John and Carol will be our guest speakers for Ignite 2017, June 21–24 in Burlington, VT.

Q: The Biblical characters we read about had no idea what God would accomplish through them. When did you become aware that He was up to something big with you and your church?

A: We were shocked and surprised at the intensity and the power and presence of the Holy Spirit as He came upon people of our church during the revival. It was not uncommon for people to be out under the power of the Holy Spirit for one or two hours or more. They would get up changed and re–oriented towards a life focused on Christ and the things of God and the Bible. I remember asking Randy Clark, “Randy where is this going?” And he answered “John, I don’t know.” At that point we decided to keep the meetings going, not to shut it down, and as long as the Holy Spirit continued coming, we would continue. Attendance increased and increased, to where thousands were coming from all over the globe. So, it would have been part way through the year 1994 when we realized that God was up to something amazing.

Q: How long have you been in ministry, and how do you spend your time now?

A: Carol and I went into full–time ministry in 1981. We planted our first church in her hometown, Stratford, Ontario (Canada). I had three years of Bible school in the late 60’s, but didn’t go into full–time ministry until 1981.

Now, we are “ambassadors” for all God has done through the revival in Toronto. I’m the president of our church network, Partners in Harvest. Along with Carol, I am a founding pastor of our Toronto congregation, and we travel extensively speaking at meetings and conferences both with our own Partners in Harvest and Catch the Fire churches, as well as many other ministries in the larger body of Christ.

Q: What would you say is the greatest need in the church today?

A: Wow, that is a difficult question to summarize. I’m convinced that the church needs to become a safe place where people can come as they are and be loved, understanding of course that God loves them too much to leave them the way they are. They need to grow in Him by having their hearts and minds renewed. In summary, they need healing and inner healing for their shame, pain, fear, anger, hurt and lack of forgiveness. They need to grow strong in Him and learn to be over–comers. They need to become strong in the Word and in the Spirit, learning how to love — love God, love others, and love themselves, as Matthew 22:37 states.
So the greatest need is love.

Q: When were you first introduced to the power of the Holy Spirit and healing? What kind of changes did those bring to your life?

A: I grew up in a church where the talk of miracles exceeded what I saw demonstrated. But I heard that there was “more” than what I knew about Christianity through some Pentecostals. Learning about the baptism of the Holy Spirit was wonderful and life changing.

Then I was introduced to the ministry of Kathryn Kuhlman. I will never forget my first trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to see her at a ministry event. I was hoping that I would see at least one miracle, but instead there were hundreds of them. People I had spoken to and stood with in line were up at the front to testify as to how God’s warmth and presence had come upon them and their pain had disappeared and their bodies had been restored. It was nothing short of shocking. Not only did she introduce me to powerful miracles by the Holy Spirit, but also to a gentle loving approach to ministry. I loved the way she modeled ministry. We continued to attend her meetings as often as we could up until the time she died in 1977. Meanwhile, there were others: Bill Prankard from Ottawa, Benny Hinn from Toronto, Father Francis MacNutt from St. Louis and John Wimber from California. These folks all moved in miracles, yet had a gentle and loving approach to preaching and ministry. It was as though there was an attempt to bring peace instead of revving things up for more exuberance and emotional excitement.

Q: Do you have any testimonies about healing from your recent trip to Kenya?

A: Yes, I saw lots of healings during my two weeks in Kenya. We did a leaders’ school with about 150 attendees and we held meetings in the marketplace at night. Many were healed in the school. A paralyzed woman was healed in the marketplace.

My favorite story is from our visit to one of our Harvest Gardens in the northwest part of the country near Kakamega. The people were thrilled with their garden and with the measure of blessing it had afforded them. I asked if any of them was sick or in pain and they said, “Yes, our grandmother.”

They brought her to me. She had been in great pain for two years from multiple back injuries. As we prayed together, the level of pain first went to 50%, and then it was gone completely. The smile on that old woman’s face and her expression of peace were worth the whole trip!

Q: If you could give a piece of advice to every prayer minister in the world, what would it be?

A: Don’t ever stop praying for people! God is moving more and more in North America and around the world. And we are learning more about how to be more effective in ministry. I think that sincerely caring and loving the people you pray for is very important. Also, if your prayer is not answered or is only partially answered, we need to ask what could be hindering an answer. It could be unbelief; it could be anger or shame; but very often there is a block in the area of unforgiveness towards someone who has hurt them or sinned against them in some way. From John Wimber we learned to always get a progress report: How are you doing? Is there any change, good or bad? Is the pain less, worse or the same? And from Francis MacNutt we learned to keep praying until the healing is complete. That was very helpful indeed, compared to a quick prayer expecting all or nothing in a couple of seconds. More people are healed if we pray more.

Q: If you were to give a piece of advice to someone struggling with anxiety and fear, what would it be?

A: Anxiety and fear issues are very often related to generational issues or early childhood hurts and wounds. I would suggest some basic inner healing and deliverance sessions with a trained counselor (Editor’s note: or a trained prayer minister at CHM), to be healed and set free from those issues. This is something we recommend to everyone, from our top leadership team all the way down to all of our church members. Life has beaten people up pretty badly. We need to bring that into the light, forgive the abusers and perpetrators, and then choose the way of freedom through healing in Jesus Christ.

Q: If you were to encourage someone who has prayed for years and years for a physical healing and hasn’t received it, what would you say?

A: I don’t really know what to say to them except, to persevere and keep going. That’s what I do; I keep on receiving prayer for myself. I believe that it is totally the will of God to heal me, and that his time is now, in the present. So I act upon that, whether it’s a cold, or a seriously painful knee. I long for the days when God will trust us with more power and authority so that no disease will stand before us. Meanwhile, we give it more time and perseverance in prayer.

Q: Who were your mentors and what are some of the things that you remember them teaching you with regard to the Holy Spirit and healing?

A: I learned a lot from Kathryn Kuhlman, watching her and listening to her teaching. I learned a lot from Benny Hinn, who I was close to years ago. He has an amazing anointing and really loves Jesus. I learned a lot from John Wimber, who encouraged us that everyone can do this (John 14:12). I learned from Claudia Friesen in Argentina, who prayed for us to receive an anointing. As I mentioned earlier, I was really helped by Francis MacNutt. I remember attending a meeting that he led for a group of Lutherans in Orlando, Florida. He followed up on people who claimed healing from the night before, only to find that a number of them had lost their healing. I had never seen that before and found it very helpful. He also continued to pray for people over a protracted period of time to see their healing completed. This was so helpful in the learning process. There were others, like Jack Winter who taught us about the Father’s love, Mark Virkler who taught us how to hear God’s voice, and John Sandford, who taught us about healing life’s hurts. This list is not exhaustive. We keep learning.

Q: What do you encounter most frequently as a block to healing?

A: I often find that there are issues of the heart that can hinder or block the healing God wants to bring. Perhaps the most common in my experience is unforgiveness. For example, if the person has received a partial healing, perhaps 30% to 40% better after prayer, but continued prayer doesn’t seem to be moving it on from there, I will ask if there was anyone to blame for their sickness or injury — themselves or another? People will say, “Well yes, it was my fault, I should’ve known better.” I then lead them in a prayer to forgive themselves (or others) and boom — the miracle often happens. I teach that miracles happen through grace rather than at a justice level. If we remove the legal right of the enemy to block the anointing, then miracles can flow.

Q: What are the areas of breakthrough you are seeing now that you weren’t seeing before?

A: I think the biggest one is the multiplication of ministers and laborers. The wider body of Christ is receiving the message that healing is for every Christian, to do the miracles that Jesus did — and that this is not just for the professional clergy.

I love that our message and training includes encouragement that every Christian can be a little anointed one, anointed to do the miracles that Jesus did. This is having a profound and effective global impact.

John and Carol Arnott are founding pastors and presidents of Catch the Fire and overseers of Partners in Harvest Network of Churches, they will be speaking at our Ignite 2017 conference in Vermont.