{"id":10700,"date":"2016-12-01T14:35:27","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T22:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=10700"},"modified":"2016-12-01T14:35:27","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T22:35:27","slug":"the-unknown-face-of-christianity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-unknown-face-of-christianity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unknown Face of Christianity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pentecostals\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Pentecostal movement has been growing radically around the world, and many seemed surprise that this may be the new face of Christianity. For those of us who are in that tribe, it does not come as a shock.\u00a0 Donald Miller\u2019s book, Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement, <\/em>highlights what many of us have seen firsthand around the world.\u00a0 Pentecostalism is shaping many societies outside of the Western church.\u00a0 By 2025, Miller cites that one out of every three Christians will be Pentecostal (p.18).\u00a0 The Pentecostal movement is growing so rapidly in the global south, Africa and Asia that according to Phillip Jenkins book, The Next Christendom,<\/em> \u201cBy 2050 only about one-fifth of the world\u2019s 3.2 billion Christians will be non-Hispanic whites.<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s outstanding research identifies a new form of Pentecostalism and labels them \u201cProgressive Pentecostals.\u201d\u00a0 In previous generations, Miller rightly asserts, that the majority of the twentieth century Pentecostals were highly focused on the imminent return of Jesus.\u00a0 The Pentecostal church was largely focused on converting souls rather than providing for better societies.\u00a0 Miller states that \u201cPentecostals no longer see the world as a place from which to escape \u2013 the sectarian view \u2013 but instead as a place to make better (p. 30).\u201d<\/p>\n

A great example of this is the Assembly of God church in Calcutta.\u00a0 In a city wrecked with poverty, there is a 173-bed hospital and 16,800 students being educated (p.74). \u00a0Speaking from my experience in Calcutta and my relationship to this ministry, Mark (1923-1989) and Huldah Buntain truly helped pioneer the efforts of a social gospel in Calcutta.\u00a0 Arriving in Calcutta by boat in 1954, they preached the Gospel to a hurting people.\u00a0 It was in an old church building that a local beggar told Mark, \u201cPreacher, feed our bellies and then try to tell us that there is a God who loves us (Quote from Huldah Buntain).\u00a0 The ministry that is displayed in Calcutta and other parts of the world was resisted at first by the Assemblies of God, but pioneers like Mark and Huldah saw the need for social engagement that is categorized in Miller\u2019s book (You can see more of the Buntain story by clicking here).<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reflection<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s work touches on my dissertation research, and I think can have significant impact on the Western church if stewarded well.\u00a0 While millions of Millennials have drifted away from the church in the West as presented by writers such as James Emory White, Gabe Lyons, David Kinnaman and many others, the one question that many church thinkers are pondering is how to attract that generation back to the church? I propose that the answer lies within Miller\u2019s book.\u00a0 If the Pentecostal church in the west can refocus to the missional purpose of the Charismatic gifts, then it could quite possibly create an awakening within the heart of the Millennials.\u00a0 After all, social engagement, economic justice, and healing our societies tend to attract many within that generation.\u00a0 Miller explains, \u201cMany recognize that the religious belief and practice (of Pentecostals) have the potential to tap into the most profound desires for human meaning \u2013 which for some people may involve service to others, the pursuit of social justice, and the possibility of unconditional love (p.36).\u201d<\/p>\n

Pentecostalism is reshaping the Christian world, and many in the world are starting to take notice.\u00a0 As recently as this week, the Economist<\/em> magazine published an article entitled, \u201c Ecstasy and Exodus: Charismatic Christianity Thrives Among People on the Move (economist.com<\/a>).\u201d\u00a0 At the close of the article, author Ireland Letterkenny states, \u201cBut wherever people are on the move, and are culturally receptive to Christianity in some form, charismatic religion will surely follow.\u201d\u00a0 The face of Christianity is changing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pentecostal movement has been growing radically around the world, and many seemed surprise that this may be the new face of Christianity. For those of us who are in that tribe, it does not come as a shock.\u00a0 Donald Miller\u2019s book, Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement, highlights what many of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"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":[531,263],"class_list":["post-10700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-milleryamamori","tag-global-pentecostalism","cohort-lgp6"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10700","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\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}