Summary<\/u><\/p>\n
What happens when two Christian scholars decide to research growing churches in the developing world that are significantly engaged in social ministry? Answer: They discover that 85% of those churches are charismatic or progressive Pentecostals. What happens next? Answer: They write a book with their findings entitled Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement.<\/em><\/p>\n Donald Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori embarked in a four-year field study, traveling around the world to interview Christians in several\u00a0churches engaged in their communities through innovative social initiatives. They discovered that the progressive Pentecostal movement is characterized by a holistic view of the gospel, in which Christians are not only called to save souls, but also to be engaged in transforming their communities. This movement is fueled by a worship style that aims to bring emotions, intellect, and physical body together, it is built with a flat organizational structure centered around a charismatic leader, and it emphasizes the priesthood of all believers. According to their research, this progressive Pentecostal movement is showing promising signs of social transformation and it is thriving across the globe.<\/p>\n Reflection<\/u><\/p>\n Dr. Chuck Conniry once said that we can never engage with truth outside our own human experience. I agree. To assume that the way I experience Christianity is the only way in which Christianity could be experienced would be borderline na\u00efve realism. At the same time, we are shaped by what we experience, and my skepticism about the charismatic church was born out of those experiences.<\/p>\n Being a Christian skeptic means that even though I believe in the supernatural nature of Christianity, I do not always trust people\u2019s perceptions of their religious experiences. I have met people visiting our church that decide to join us because they felt the \u201cpresence of the Spirit\u201d in our midst while others do not come back because they were looking for a \u201cspirit-filled\u201d church. I am a believer when it comes to the study of the New Testament, but when it comes to believing people\u2019s accounts, I am a skeptic.<\/p>\n Consequently, reading Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement<\/em> was intriguing because it was written from the perspectives of two Christian skeptics with a tone that seemed balance and objective. It brought to memory many of my experiences with charismatic Christians that have shaped my skepticism throughout the years.<\/p>\n The earliest of those experiences was meeting a man who was given a list of unintelligent phrases to practice during the week to help him learn how to speak in tongues. I was reminded of a friend in Mexico that was distressed because she could not speak in tongues, and her church leaders assured her that her inability to speak in tongues was an indication that she was not indwelled by the Holy Spirit. After teaching her the book of Ephesians, she was at peace, and asked me to do the study with her entire family, which I did. I was reminded of a college classmate who was told by his leaders that he had the gift of prophecy, so he would stand up in the middle of the congregation and give words from God to the audience, only to confess later that he just made it all up. Eventually he left his church and decided to attend a church that could equip him with more Bible training. I was reminded of the woman who got married just because a prophet in her church gave her a prophecy. She was now sitting in my office trying to figure out how to have a marriage with a man she never wanted to marry in the first place. I was reminded of the woman who fell on her back after the preacher touched her forehead during the altar call. She was now sitting in one of my classes explaining that she faked the fall because she was fearful not to comply. I remembered\u00a0the pastor who claimed that\u00a0God had revealed to him that he was to divorce his wife and marry another woman from the congregation, which he eventually did. I\u00a0remembered\u00a0the woman who assured me that my sister was healed from her cold just because she had declared her healed in the name of Jesus, even though my sister remained sick for days after her visit. I remembered visiting a church where people were beating their chests in frantic prayer, kneeling down at the altar. The pastor proceeded to declare that we only needed the Holy Spirit and that studying in seminary was a waste of time.<\/p>\n After two decades of ministry in a non-charismatic context, I\u2019ve met many former charismatic Christians who were wounded, misled, or tired of an emotional Christian experience that was deficient in biblical training. I am a skeptic, not because I do not believe in the book of Corinthians, but because there is a lot of fake practices happening in the name of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n It concerns me when Christians feel that they are biblical because they speak in tongues while at the same time they ignore the regulating principles delineated by the Apostle Paul. It concerns me when Christians talk about the Holy Spirit coming or leaving as if He did not indwell us every single second of our redeemed life. It concerns me when Christians emphasize feeling over being, emotional experiences over character, personal revelation over biblical revelation, and emotion over knowledge.<\/p>\n The authors captured my concerns well in their concluding paragraph, \u201cReligion is a rather earthy phenomenon that is mixed up with escapism, cultural baggage, and fraud. This observation is not new; it is what the prophets of the Hebrew scriptures and all of the great religious traditions have denounced.<\/em>\u201d (224) As a result of this religious reality, some Christians embrace cessationism. In my case, however, I consider myself a hopeful skeptic, knowing that God is at work and that the evidence for cessationism seems to be more experiential rather than biblical. Who am I to say that my Christian experience should be universal?<\/p>\n That\u2019s why the second part of the concluding paragraph was also helpful for me, \u201cBut there is another side to Pentecostalism that marches to a different drummer, and it is this dimension of the movement\u2014those who are leading heroic and self-sacrificial lives that has intrigued us throughout this study<\/em>.\u201d (224) A woman who has only dated faithless men would be wrong in concluding that all men are untrustworthy. In the same way, I know that my limited exposure to a Charismatic Christianity characterized by fraud does not mean that all Charismatic churches are the same. This is where I found the book highly insightful.<\/p>\n It was insightful to learn about the four types of Pentecostal churches (classical, indigenous, independent, and charismatic renewal) and the four different emphases that exist among this movement (legalistic and otherworldly, Prosperity Gospel, holistic gospel, and routinized Pentecostalism). I am familiar with the legalistic and otherworldly emphasis, because even though I did not grow up in the Pentecostal Church, I was also exposed to a gospel that emphasized saving souls but not social engagement. That worldview changed throughout the years, especially during the last ten years of my pastoral ministry. I started paying closer attention to the book of James as well as attending the Christian Alliance for Orphans. I\u00a0was compelled to start seeking partnerships with initiatives that were engaged in standing for the cause of the orphan, widow and the displaced. Today, Ethnos Bible Church is a key player in the ministry of Foster Kids Charity and Love Is Ministry, even though we are only scratching the surface.<\/p>\n I was inspired by the many stories of Christians who are making an impact through a variety of innovative ministries. In light of our trip to Hong Kong, it was of particular interest to read the accounts about the ministry led\u00a0by Jackie Pullinger. The book reminded me of the danger of \u201cprofessionalizing\u201d ministry and the importance of developing a church where everybody is encouraged to use their God-given gifts for community impact. The authors observe, \u201cParticipation breeds ownership.<\/em>\u201d (187).<\/p>\n The book is also helpful in providing a detailed description of what holistic ministry looks like in different contexts across the globe. The authors point out, \u201cthe terms holistic ministry and integral ministry have evolved in response to the idea that evangelism should never be divorced from meeting the needs of the whole individual. In fact, in places such as Singapore, the mantra we heard repeatedly is that Christians should serve the community \u2018with no strings attached<\/em>.\u2019\u201d (59) This is the same message I have been hearing from different voices across denominational boundaries, including Steve Chalke, Founder of Oasis Global. This view resonates with me because I also believe that we are saved for a new life by the power of the Holy Spirit, characterized by service and holiness, where people are encouraged to use their gifts for the edification of the body and approach their financial life as a tool for the expansion of God\u2019s kingdom. At Ethnos Bible Church we emphasize this worldview with our own mantra \u201cLove God; Serve with Devotion.\u201d Even though slogans can be helpful in capturing a ministry vision, the book warns me that \u201cthe work of doing social ministry is not easy<\/em>\u201d(221) and must be done in the strength of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n I am glad that the authors did this research and were willing to follow the data wherever it led them. They acknowledged, \u201cto our astonishment, nearly 85 percent of the churches that were nominated were Pentecostal or charismatic. In retrospect, this is not surprising. In fact, the thesis of this book is that some of the most innovative social programs in the world are being initiated by fast-growing Pentecostal churches. But at the time, were captive to our own theological worldviews.<\/em>\u201d (6) These words are a good reminder of the importance of having theological humility. I too have to be careful not to become captive to my own theological worldview and be willing to learn from the broader Body of Christ. After all, that is precisely why I am pursuing this DMin at George Fox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Summary What happens when two Christian scholars decide to research growing churches in the developing world that are significantly engaged in social ministry? Answer: They discover that 85% of those churches are charismatic or progressive Pentecostals. What happens next? Answer: They write a book with their findings entitled Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[689,716,688,702],"class_list":["post-10681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ethnos-bible-church","tag-miller-and-yamamori","tag-pablo-morales","tag-pastor-pablo-morales","cohort-lgp6"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10681\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}