{"id":11063,"date":"2017-01-19T09:07:22","date_gmt":"2017-01-19T17:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=11063"},"modified":"2017-01-19T09:07:22","modified_gmt":"2017-01-19T17:07:22","slug":"a-global-expression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/a-global-expression\/","title":{"rendered":"A Global Expression"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Donald E. Lewis\u2019 and Richard Pierard\u2019s work, Global Evangelicalism: Theology, History, and Culture in Regional Perspective, <\/em>the authors attempt to define the vast ocean that is evangelicalism.\u00a0 While many may hear the term evangelical and immediately conjure up an American voting arm, Lewis and Pierard discuss how evangelicalism is growing movement around the world. While ninety percent of all evangelicals came from Europe and North America as early as the 1900s, this tribe of Christianity is swelling world-wide.\u00a0 Mark Noll, a contributor to the book, states:<\/p>\n

At the start of the Twenty-First century, evangelical Christianity constituted the second largest worldwide grouping of Christian believers.\u00a0 Only the Roman Catholic Church enjoys more adherents in today\u2019s world Christianity than evangelical churches.\u00a0 By comparison with other \u00a0\u00a0 world religions, evangelical Christians \u2013 taken only by themselves rather than as part of the world\u2019s two billion Christians \u2013 are more numerous than all Muslims and Hindus\u2026today, the total number of evangelicals in each of Africa, Latin America, and Asia exceeds the total in Europe and North America combined (Lewis and Pierard, p. 17: Mark Noll contributor). ”<\/p>\n

Our contributors to this work will go on to explain regional aspects of evangelicalism to offer a more defined perspective.<\/p>\n

REFLECTION<\/p>\n

While reading this book, it drives me back to last semester and reading Miller\u2019s and Yamamouri\u2019s work, Global Pentecostalism.\u00a0 <\/em>If what Pierard and Lewis point out about evangelicalism being concentrated on North America and Europe in the early 1900s is true, then what was the catalyst to this worldwide growth?\u00a0 This is where Miller and Yamamouri come into the picture.\u00a0 The beginning of the Pentecostal movement and the spread of evangelicalism go hand in hand.<\/p>\n

While the Pentecostal\/Charismatic movement as well as the Assemblies of God is often associated with ecstatic and emotional experiences, tongue talking, healing revivals and expressive prayer and worship, it was fundamentally birthed as a missionary movement. William J. Seymour was the Pastor of the Azusa Street Mission on 312 Azusa Street during the outbreak of the revival in which the Pentecostal movement was birthed.\u00a0 Despite humble beginnings in this rundown dilapidated church, the fire of God fell that would eventually lead to the formation of the Assemblies of God, Church of God in Christ and a host of other Pentecostal organizations.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 In summing up this powerful revival that shook the foundation of Christianity, Seymour stated:<\/p>\n

“We believe that God\u2019s design in raising up the Apostolic Faith Church in America was to evangelize over these lands.\u00a0 As proof hereof we have seen since 1906 that time of an extraordinary work of God extending throughout the United States and Territories, and throughout the whole world. [2]<\/a>”<\/p>\n

Seymour did not overstate his case.\u00a0 Almost immediately workers carried their experience with them and used this new power to proclaim the Gospel.[3]<\/a> Azusa Street Mission soon began to send missionaries around the world.\u00a0 Miller records that India, Sweden, Palestine, Angola, Liberia, China, and Japan all had Pentecostal missionaries by 1908.[4]<\/a> He goes on to state:<\/p>\n

“By 1916, only ten years after the beginning of the Los Angeles Azusa Street revival, western Pentecostal missionaries were found in at least forty-two nations outside North America and Europe.\u00a0 This was indeed a remarkable achievement, especially in view of the lack of central organization and coordination, the naivet\u00e9 of most of these missionaries, and the physical difficulties and opposition they encountered. [5]<\/a>”<\/p>\n

Deeply moved by the Spirit and an eschatological worldview that was undergirded by their Biblical interpretation provided the framework for these missional approaches. Early Pentecostals did not see the spread of the Great Commission as an option. Rather, the fire of God that burned within these pioneer\u2019s hearts gave them the confidence that they could change the World with the Gospel through the power of the Spirit. This is one of the single greatest factors of the spread of evangelicalism.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/p>\n

Both works, Global Evangelicalism and Global Pentecostalism, <\/em>should be read as a grouping.\u00a0 Both truly define the spread of Christianity.\u00a0 While evangelical\u2019s growth is certainly amazing, the term has fallen on hard times in America.\u00a0 Often associated with a political movement, evangelicalism is not taken seriously as a movement of Christians any longer but is simply seen as a lobbying group for conservative politicians.\u00a0 Christians in the States will have to work hard to re-frame what evangelicalism and we will probably have to separate from the highly charged politics of some wings of evangelicalism if we hope to see growth of the movement in our societies.\u00a0 That being said, evangelicalism is one of the greatest religious movements in human history.\u00a0 History shows that if focused in the right direction, then it can bring about transformation.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> \u00a0Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., \u201cLaunching a Global Movement: The Role in Azusa Street in Pentecostalism\u2019s Growth and Expansion,\u201d in Spirit and Power: The Growth and Global Impact of Global Pentecostalism, <\/em>eds. Donald E. Miller, Kimon H. Sargeant, and Richard Flory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 44.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> IBID.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Robeck, Jr., \u201cLaunching a Global Movement: The Role in Azusa Street in Pentecostalism\u2019s Growth and Expansion,\u201d54.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [4] Robeck, Jr., \u201cLaunching a Global Movement: The Role in Azusa Street in Pentecostalism\u2019s Growth and Expansion,\u201d 55.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [5] Allan H. Anderson, \u201cThe Emergence of Multidimensional Global Missionary Movement: Trends, Patterns and Expressions,\u201d in Spirit and Power: The Growth and Global Impact of Global Pentecostalism, <\/em>eds. Donald E. Miller, Kimon H. Sargeant, and Richard Flory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 25.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Donald E. Lewis\u2019 and Richard Pierard\u2019s work, Global Evangelicalism: Theology, History, and Culture in Regional Perspective, the authors attempt to define the vast ocean that is evangelicalism.\u00a0 While many may hear the term evangelical and immediately conjure up an American voting arm, Lewis and Pierard discuss how evangelicalism is growing movement around the world. […]<\/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":[621],"class_list":["post-11063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lewispierard","cohort-lgp6"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11063","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=11063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11063\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}