The Early Vision

 

 

Victorious Ministry Through Christ (VMTC) was founded through Mrs. Anne S White of Florida, one of the world’s first post-war charismatics, who alone in a shipboard cabin received the baptism of the Holy Spirit before there had been any contemporary teaching on it. The spiritual impact of this experience upon her was profound, and in due time led to her becoming a leading international evangelist through the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.

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Years before VMTC existed, Mrs. White began to realise as a result of her Christian experience that something seemed to be missing when ministering to hurting and troubled people. She found that too often people who received prayer about various matters would continue to come back to their clergy or trusted friends over and over again to deal with the same problems. Either true victory seldom came, or they easily lost the victory God had given them. A missing key was shown to Mrs. White in a dramatic encounter with God in 1948 when she was a young mother with little time for the things of God. That encounter, which was to lay the foundation for what would eventually become VMTC prayer ministry, is recalled by Mrs. White in her book Healing Adventure (1969):

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“For three long years our five-year-old son had suffered from dreadful asthmatic attacks, and even a change in climate had brought no relief. During the most severe times of congestion, he had to be given shots of adrenalin to relieve his laboured breathing. My heart sank as I heard our son’s pediatrician say, ‘There’s not much hope that he will outgrow this…We’ve tried all the wonder drugs. There’s really nothing more we can do medically.’…I could not bear such a verdict…Somehow I felt guilty.

“That night I read copies of Sharing Magazine that I had previously been too busy to read. As I put out the light, it seemed that my childhood faith (which I had lost at college) was restored, for I had just read of many recent healings to God’s glory. Strangely enough, most of them involved resentments and the need for forgiveness of this sin of the heart. At two in the morning, I awakened and went to see what I could do to relieve our son’s laboured breathing, but it was too early to give any medicine. Inwardly, as I groaned, ‘There’s nothing I can do,’ I sensed a still small voice within me saying, ‘Yes, there is. You can kneel down and pray.’ In amazement I heard (from) within me, ‘It is not My Will for an innocent child to suffer. It is your bitter resentment, and you must forgive this person,’ [a reference to her mother-in-law whom she resented living with]. By God’s grace, I was able to say, ‘I forgive her, Lord’—and to my great surprise I really meant it! The still small voice continued, ‘If you really have faith you will thank me before you see the results.’ And in that moment of amazing grace, I heard myself saying, ‘Thank you, Lord.’ Our son took one deep, quiet breath—and he has never had another asthmatic attack!”

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Thus began Anne S White’s healing adventure with God—seeking to know more of His will, to follow Him, and to practice more of the principles of prayer, which our Lord taught in His earthly ministry. This experience revolutionised Mrs. White’s attitude to God, her family, and those around her. In what became a lifelong immersion in divine healing until her death in January 2000, Mrs. White sought to be used to bring the redeeming love of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit into the lives of others, of those bruised by the sin of the world, of those filled with hate (as she once was), to those victims of their own self-pity what she described as ‘the bitter and the fearful.’ Mrs. White has left a precious legacy of her spiritual walk in a series of eight books published between 1969 and 1998, the last of which, Winning Victory, is the closest to an autobiography. Her books include teachings, testimonies, devotions, and prophecy, and all remain in print.

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International Foundations

 

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Mrs. White first realised the need for prayer ministry among the clergy, who too often had no one they felt they could turn to for confidential prayer. The need to train prayer ministers became paramount and initial training efforts concentrated on ministers and ministers’ wives. Not many years later, VMTC training was extended to the laity, whom today play a major part. Historically, VMTC national presidents and school directors have been ministers, but this too is changing as laypeople enter the ranks of both. Each ministering team has always included one man and one woman, as the Lord revealed the unique practical and spiritual dynamic in this combination.

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And so it was that late in 1970, the first pilot VMTC training school was held in Florida. The following year VMTC Florida was founded as a trans-denominational charity, with Mrs. White as president under the authority of a board of directors drawn from various local churches. Since that time, VMTC prayer ministry has spread internationally and is today active in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA, under corresponding national boards. In the Norwegian language, the ministry is known as Helhet gjennom Kristus(Wholeness Through Christ). VMTC Pakistan was also active for many years and is at present in recess. VMTC Great Britain was founded in 1974 and, while it no longer exists as such, its successors Wholeness Through Christ UK and Christian Prayer Ministries UK (CPM) are extremely active. All three ministries follow the same scriptural principles, and steps are now underway to draw VMTC International and CPM organisationally closer.