Does This Mean I’m a Pentecostal?
Have I shared this story before? If so, it bears repeating because it is one of my favorites from our time in Turkana. It goes something like this:
While chatting with Turkana church leaders about New Testament miracles, Kip mentioned Jesus and his early followers raising people from the dead. But that doesn’t seem to happen much anymore, he thought. Instead, he asked the leaders if they’d ever known someone who’d been raised from the dead. Of course! they replied, almost taking it for granted. One of the church leaders (who wasn’t present at this conversation) had visited the home of a woman who had just died. After praying over her, she returned to life. Several of those in the conversation confirmed the accuracy of the story. The church leaders had just assumed that, because it was happening in the early church, it would also be happening among them as well; and it was. While Kip & I considered ourselves quite open to the work of the Holy Spirit, we recognized that our Western worldview made us skeptical of this unexpected (to us) outcome.
This was the reality that we lived among with our Turkana neighbors. Throughout the churches in Turkana, people were dancing and exuberant in worship, with gatherings lasting for hours into the night. Prayers were bold. And the churches we worked among were involved in health care clinics and advocacy, building and supporting schools, planting and growing gardens, and installing reliable sources of clean water.
All of these are holistic characteristics of social engagement as explored in Donald Miller & Ted Yamamori’s Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement.[1] The authors suggest that those churches they surveyed, which they termed “Progressive Pentecostals,” were a growing diverse “movement of Christians who claim to be inspired by the Holy Spirit and the life of Jesus and who seek to holistically address the spiritual, physical, and social needs of people in their community”[2]
My challenge to the authors, though, is this: while the Turkana churches fit their characteristics of “Progressive Pentecostals,” they would not self-identify as Pentecostal, nor are they connected with any Pentecostal churches in the US. Likewise, some of the people and churches whom the authors surveyed would not consider themselves Pentecostal either. For instance, Florence (and Festus) Muindi, whom the authors interviewed and wrote on at length[3], is a former CMF missionary who worked on our team in Kenya. While she has since started her own organization, she would not consider herself a Pentecostal. And like the Turkana churches we worked with, she continues to maintain strong connections to the Western church and is not self-supported (contra the criteria of the authors: “exhibiting growth, having active social programs, and being self-supporting”[4]). Likewise, Nairobi Chapel is not considered a Pentecostal church either; although the authors do acknowledge that, they still decided to classify them in with their Progressive Pentecostals.[5] They are an 
active, growing church engaged holistically in Nairobi and beyond. They partner with CMF’s work with Mission of Hope (MOHI) in the slums of Nairobi and other areas of Kenya. And last year, when visiting with the senior pastor, Oscar Muriu, he shared with us that the church has a recent church plant in London and has plans to move to other British cities as well.
All of that is to say that what the authors are describing is so much bigger than just Pentecostal churches. One does not have to identify as a Pentecostal to be open to the work of the Spirit and joining in with that work, as more and more Evangelical, Mainline Protestant, Catholic and other churches are recognizing. The exciting reality is that the Spirit is on the move, changing lives, social structures, and communities. When churches—of any persuasion—recognize this, we live the reality of the mystery of the gospel (Ephesians 3:9-11).
[1] Donald E. Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori, Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007).
[2] Ibid., 212.
[3] Ibid., 39-42, etc.
[4] Ibid., 7.
[5] “Nairobi Chapel, which properly speaking is not a Pentecostal church but, on the other hand, is a vibrant, Spirit-filled congregation involved in important social ministries to the community.” p8
About the Author
Katy Drage Lines
In God’s good Kingdom, some minister like trees, long-standing, rooted in a community. They embody words of Wendell Berry, “stay years if you would know the genius of the place.” Others, however, are called to go. Katy is one of those pilgrims. A global nomad, Katy grew up as a fifth generation Colorado native, attended college & seminary and was ordained in Tennessee, married a guy from Pennsylvania, ministered for ten years in Kenya, worked as a children’s pastor in a small church in Kentucky, and served college students in a university library in Orange County, California. She recently moved to the heart of America, Indianapolis, and has joined the Englewood Christian Church community, serving with them as Pastor of Spiritual Formation. She & her husband Kip, have two delightful boys, a college junior and high school junior.8 responses to “Does This Mean I’m a Pentecostal?”
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Really enjoyed your story Katy. Thanks for sharing it. I concur that all of this is much bigger than just the Pentecostal church. I think what I appreciate most about Global Pentecostalism is that the authors have taken a clearly academic look at what the Holy Spirit is doing around the world, without taking the all too often espoused—these people are crazy—academic position. They have presented the positives and the challenges in a balanced way that is quite respectful to the tens of millions of people who call themselves Pentecostal and to the others of tens of millions who operate in the spirit but don’t necessarily identify with the Pentecostal church—not to mention the respectfulness they showed to the third Person of the Trinity. I agree, the Spirit is on the move!
Yes, Jim! The Holy Spirit has often been overlooked in our (non-Pentecostal) theologies. While we give lip service to the Trinity, our reality often looks more like a bi-nity(?)– the Father and Son– and we don’t quite know what to do with the Holy Spirit. She’s not quite as predictable as we’d like to imagine Jesus being. So recognizing and following the way of the Spirit truly is boundary-breaking and exciting… on the move with God.
Katy, I’ve never liked labels. What do you think – can we just say that we believe like the people in Turkana that the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and did mighty works and why should we think they’ve stopped?
Can we say that we identify with what happened at Pentecost and not give ourselves a label? What do you think? Maybe that makes us all Pentecostalists really?
Thank you Katy. I sure enjoy your stories.
Katy,
I enjoy your sharing of your journey. I agree with you that many of what they identified as Pentecostal fits many other Protestant churches M.O. If we believe in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, miracles, and speaking in tongues, we all have the characteristics of Pentecostals. Do you agree?
Yes Katy, I so agree: “All of that is to say that what the authors are describing is so much bigger than just Pentecostal churches. One does not have to identify as a Pentecostal to be open to the work of the Spirit and joining in with that work, as more and more Evangelical, Mainline Protestant, Catholic and other churches are recognizing. The exciting reality is that the Spirit is on the move, changing lives, social structures, and communities. When churches—of any persuasion—recognize this, we live the reality of the mystery of the gospel.” This is so beautifully written and everything I wanted to say but so eloquently stated by you. Thank you for putting words to my heart.
“All of that is to say that what the authors are describing is so much bigger than just Pentecostal churches.”
Thank you for pointing this out. While there are a good number of “Charismatic Southern Baptist” churches in the in U.S., they are the minority in our large denomination.
Yet, many of the IMB missionaries I work with in cultures where spirits are seen as very real and active (i.e. Africa, Asia, Latin America) the missionaries rely on God to “show up” in a variety of spiritual warfare encounters.
Deliverance of demon possessed persons, miraculous healings, and prophetic dreams are something that we may not be as comfortable with in the U.S., but these things are commonplace for IMB missionaries in Brazil, Thailand, D.R. Congo, etc.
The experiences of the Supernatural unfortunately weigh more on myth than fact for us in the Western tradition. While those around the world are experiences the “greater works will you do” as ministers of the gospel. I often wonder if we in America had Faith to believe that God would raise someone from the dead. I can only imagine what our hospitals and clinics would be like. I am grieved that we have allowed our “enlightenment” to limit our Faith and experience of God in the earth. Great post and reminder of God’s supernatural power in the earth!
Katy, I didn’t read your post, but to answer your question, yes – you are definitely a Pentecostal. 🙂
Just kidding, of course…. you bring up some good points, and while you didn’t say this explicitly, I think part of what is going on here is that many church traditions have for so long ‘forgotten’, minimized or misunderstood the Holy Spirit, that any church that engages with the Holy Spirit in a healthy way seems Pentecostal….
And while I think you highlight some shortcomings in the authors work, you also highlight some challenges for all of us ‘non-Pentecostals’ as well: Give the Holy Spirit a prominent enough role in our worship life and theology that engagement with her is no longer seen as solely the realm of Pentecostalism