In 1976 the first youth prayer groups became aware that their identity arose from the Word of God, seeked as lifestyle with the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
In 1980, Bishop Fr. Jorge Novak, welcomed the Movement in the diocese of Quilmes (prov. Buenos Aires, Argentina) and in 1982 he gave the first canonical approval to the Movement and his statutes (ad experimentum).
The inspiration of a short Course of Evangelization, received by the founder of the Movement, Fr. Ricardo Mártensen, was a decisive grace for the groups. The Cursillo I, carried out in January 1976, sealed the identity and founded the spirituality of the Word of God as a lifestyle. This led to the awareness of its identity as The Movement of the Word of God.
The Cursillo acted as a bridge between the original charism received in those groups and the newness of The Movement of the Word of God, as a movement of evangelical renewal in the Church.
Our identity was ecclesiastically confirmed later on, with the definitive canonical approval of the Statutes, received on August 11 1988.
"By their nature, charisms are communicative, and give rise to that 'spiritual affinity between persons' (cf. Christifideles Laici, 24) and that friendship in Christ which is the origin of 'movements'. The passage from the original charism to the movement happens through the mysterious attraction that the founder holds for all those who become involved in his spiritual experience" (John Paul II, address on Pentecost Eve, 05/30/98).