From birth until 23 years of age I considered myself \u201cUnited Pentecostal.\u201d\u00a0 My father pastored a fairly large church in our \u201cheadquarters\u201d location of St. Louis, Missouri.\u00a0 We did not own a television or go to movies and my female garb was restricted to skirts and dresses with no excesses such as makeup and jewelry allowed.\u00a0 I also had long hair as this was a special requirement for women.\u00a0 Although today I no longer participate in the United Pentecostal Church International(UPCI) I still find the Pentecostal movement intriguing and full of life-giving practices and attributes.\u00a0 Authors Miller and Yamamori, in their book \u201cGlobal Pentecostalism\u201d cover a variety of topics from history to stereotypes, from aspects of the movement to its course today.\u00a0 I found their observations true to my experience and sometimes humorous in their objective descriptions of my familiar past.\u00a0 In this writing I want to specifically discuss two of their claims and perhaps give a subjective voice to two of their questions.<\/p>\n
The first claim is regarding the structure of Pentecostalism. They state, \u201cThe problem with generalizing about Pentecostalism, however, is that it is such an unruly movement. Wherever it emerges, Pentecostalism tends to indigenize, absorbing the local culture in the way it worships, organizes itself, and relates to the local community. In searching for a metaphor to describe the growth of Pentecostalism, we were struck with the idea that the movement is more like a wild shrub than a tree with symmetrical branches.\u00a0 \u00a0(211)<\/p>\n
I want to juxtapose this claim with another one of their claims, that of stability within the movement.\u00a0 They explain, \u201c\u2026the attraction of Pentecostalism is obvious: it brings order, stability and hope\u2026To their credit Pentecostal churches function like surrogate extended families.\u201d (23)<\/p>\n
I do agree with the authors.\u00a0 The Pentecostal movement is free flowing and without formal leadership for the most part.\u00a0 This flexibility has allowed it to grow like an unruly shrub in places where staunch structure would not flourish; and this is one reason for its rapid spread.\u00a0 Although it may look unruly from the outside, on the inside there is a very tight knit community.\u00a0 In the UPCI followers call one another \u201cbrother\u201d and \u201csister\u201d and this reinforces the \u201csurrogate\u201d family structure.\u00a0 Although the exclusivity of this type of structure can eventually strangle its own life, when it reaches outside of itself its growth can be exponential.<\/p>\n
The authors also claim a relationship between Pentecostalism and animism.\u00a0 They explain, \u201cAnother explanation for Pentecostal growth is that for people from traditional cultures where shamanism is frequently practiced, it resonates culturally, because Pentecostals also believe in the spirit world. Indeed, one can find many functional parallels between Pentecostalism and animism; for example, in both kinds of practice demons are cast out, people are healed, and individuals are spirit possessed.\u201d (24-25)<\/p>\n
This is a fascinating claim.\u00a0 There is a strong emphasis on the spirit world although Pentecostals typically address this world in the terms of good and evil, not as spirits within nature.\u00a0 Mostly, the spirit world is defined by terms such as the Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit, demons, ministering angels, the Devil, and God.\u00a0 I definitely will be thinking more on the relationship between Pentecostalism and animism.<\/p>\n
Finally, I want to briefly address two of their questions.\u00a0 The authors explain that the engine of Pentecostalism is worship and the heart of Pentecostalism is music.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t agree more.\u00a0 The UPCI definitely has its own magical brand of music.\u00a0 After attending a lively service in Chile where people danced and worshiped to the music, the authors ask these two questions: \u201cIs this psychological compensation? Or is it full-bodied ecstasy, something to which all might aspire?\u201d(23)<\/p>\n
To their first question I would just say, \u201cPerhaps.\u201d\u00a0 To their second question I would say, \u201cYes.\u201d\u00a0 From my personal experience it is a form of ecstasy which is difficult to explain.\u00a0 It is more like an out of body experience with every cell filled with joy.\u00a0 The after effects can feel like a high or a happy buzz without the headache.\u00a0 Some of my most vivid experiences of this type were when in my early teens I would come home from school, walk to the church and spend time praying alone in the prayer room.\u00a0 I think human beings have aspired to this type of spiritual ecstasy for centuries.\u00a0 Once it is a learned practice, it is an easy and beautiful place to return.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Have you had any ecstatic spiritual experiences?\u00a0 What are some of the details from these?<\/p>\n
What are the benefits and the challenges\u00a0of a spiritual movement being like a wild shrub?<\/p>\n
\n
Miller, Donald E., and Tetsunao Yamamori. Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement<\/em>. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From birth until 23 years of age I considered myself \u201cUnited Pentecostal.\u201d\u00a0 My father pastored a fairly large church in our \u201cheadquarters\u201d location of St. Louis, Missouri.\u00a0 We did not own a television or go to movies and my female garb was restricted to skirts and dresses with no excesses such as makeup and jewelry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"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":[257,2,265,255,260],"class_list":["post-665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dmiller","tag-dminlgp","tag-ecstatic-experience","tag-miller","tag-pentecostalism","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1997,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665\/revisions\/1997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}