In this post I speak primarily to my Pentecostal friends, but those who don’t count themselves as Pentecostals are still more than welcome to join the discussion!
Since posting my co-authored research on Canadian Pentecostalism, which suggests it is becoming more generically evangelical, I have had conversations with a few people about it. Some are pastors, some not. Some are in Canada, some not. But in each case, the question becomes, how can Pentecostals move from “generic evangelicalism”[1] to restoring historic Pentecostal spirituality?
Qualification 1: Not about a Denomination
I should clarify that, for my own part, my concern is not first and foremost with encouraging churches to be “more Pentecostal”—I don’t have a preoccupation with preserving denominational distinctives simply for the sake of being different from other denominations and as a means of feeling special as a denomination. In fact, I think Pentecostals share much of what it means to be “Pentecostal” with many other evangelical Christians.
So, my concern is not simply with being more “Pentecostal,” but with Pentecostal churches being faithful to biblical spirituality. And, it just so happens, I think that much of historic Pentecostal spirituality is biblical.
What is the Vision of “More Pentecostal”?
To lead a church through change, you have to start with vision. So in this post, I want to focus only on developing a vision.
This vision for change needs to answer at least the following questions:
- What should Pentecostal churches seek to restore to move beyond generic evangelicalism? (What does “better” look like?)
- How would those changes make a church stronger? (What difference would it make?)
To some extent, I think the changes that many Pentecostal churches have seen over the years are signs of maturity. I doubt, for example, that too many Pentecostals would want to go back to the days when pastors where pushing people down at the altar in an attempt to manufacture experiences of being “slain in the Spirit.”
At the same time, the gifts of tongues and interpretation, for example, are something that historically had an important place in Pentecostal settings. These are clearly biblical practices (1 Cor 12 and 14), and yet they are less common in many Pentecostal churches today than they were a few decades ago.
For me, one of the most integral parts of Pentecostal spirituality is encountering God. It is what I sometimes refer to as deep intimate experiences of the Spirit. Historically these kinds of moments often occurred during an altar call, at the close of a sermon, during the Sunday evening service.
Qualification 2: Not Just about Sunday
I understand that the spirituality of a Christian and a church concerns much more than just a Sunday service. Nevertheless, I focus here on Sunday worship services simply because these are, for many churches, the moments with the greatest possible discipleship impact.
For example, if a church never reads the Bible during its Sunday service (unlikely!), then the congregation members will not likely value reading the Bible in their own personal time. Likewise, if congregation members never hear speaking in tongues in church, then I imagine they are not likely to value praying in tongues as an enduring spiritual practice.
Invitation to Participate
Again, before we can even attempt to “fix” the problem, we first have to clarify what the problem is by figuring out what the ideal Pentecostal church service might look like.
So, I to invite you to participate in the conversation by commenting below. But, for now, please do not talk about strategy. Let’s save that for another post.
For now, let’s just paint a picture together. What do you feel is missing from Pentecostal churches? What do you think it should be like? In other words, what is the vision?
Leave a comment below by clicking here.
You might also be interested in these posts:
- What is a Pentecostal?: On PAOC Pentecostal Identity
- Spirit Baptism in Current Pentecostal Theology: Part 2 – Amos Yong
- PAOC Clergy on Tongues and Spirit Baptism: Changing Views
Andrew K. Gabriel, Ph.D., is the author of Simply Spirit-Filled: Experiencing God in the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit (forthcoming) as well as three academic books, including The Lord is the Spirit. He is a theology professor at Horizon College and Seminary and serves on the Theological Study Commission for the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. You can follow him on Facebook or on Twitter.Endnotes
[1] In short, I mean an emphasis on more broadly evangelical practices and beliefs rather than practices and beliefs that have been more traditionally emphasized within a denomination and often even distinctive to a denomination. In the original article, generic evangelicalism refers primarily to a transdenominational and transnational evangelical subculture (e.g., books, conferences, colleges).
I appreciate your acknowledgment that many of the changes that we see are a result of a maturing process. I feel that this is an important lens to use as we develop a vision for the future. As a pastor I see a tendency to “immaturity” among those who cling to the strict ideologies of what it means to be Pentecostal. There is a general resistance to change and to the incorporation of new/other doctrinal points of view or alteration in practices. This comes across as pride or self-righteousness and a fear of what would happen if they should let go of their ideals. Certainly as people of the “Spirit” we should be able to trust that the Church remains firmly within the leadership of Christ and that all is well and will be well.
I do believe that the Pentecostal revival of the last century was a great work of God to reignite the passion and power of the church. This to me is evidenced in the fact that the primary force of evangelism in the world today is Pentecostal in nature. At the same time, I would doubt that God had in mind to create another permanent division within the church. Thus the idea that we as Pentecostals should remain distinct from other branches of the church is also an immature notion. The very constructs of “Evangelical”, “Orthodox”, “Catholic”, “Reformed” etc, are evidence of a lack of relational maturity. For certain there is but one Church and our maturity should bring us into deeper understanding and acceptance of one another. Thus any attempts to shore up our distinctive nature or separateness may be counterproductive.
To that end we may need to go backwards before we can go forwards. In the zeal of our early days there was much rejection of what was old or traditional and thus many Pentecostals are cut off from the great traditions of the Church. For instance our particular understanding of prayer has cut us off from some great liturgical traditions that would aid in our own transformation. Our obsessive need to be seen as being “led by the Spirit” may actually be restricting our effectiveness in discipleship. Clinging to practices such as “altar calls” as the primary means of encountering God may also be damaging; as Christians for centuries encountered God without such high pressure devices.
As I personally grow older and hopefully wiser; I see maturity as a broadening of my understanding and appreciation of what God and the world are about. In my own personal development I wish to experience more of what others may have experienced rather than repeating what I have done all my life. I want to embrace change and new ideas. So from that perspective; I would wish the same for my faith and Church. I have little fear that I could stumble away from truth as God’s grace is more than sufficient and the Spirit always leads us towards truth.
Michael Versluis
Parkway Church, Ottawa
Thanks for your thoughtful response, Michael.
I know what you mean about altar calls potentially being high pressure devices.
I hear your call to draw from the more historic Church traditions as a means of encountering God. Are there a few specific aspects that you have in mind?
I feel that the main thing here is that we not try so hard to be “Pentecostal”, rather lets be “The Church”. I think there are some historical and sociological reasons why we have isolated ourselves from the broader church traditions, but maybe we could take a look at some valuable practices. Here are a few examples that have been meaningful to me:
Prayer and Liturgy: In my experience as a lifelong Pentecostal liturgical forms of worship and prayer were rejected as being less spiritual. These practices were said to be lacking in the leading of the Holy Spirit. Prayers made up on the spot were preferred, even if they did sound the same from week to week and some of the prayer rooms sounded more like they were populated by the prophets of Baal rather than of Jehovah, with all of the loud and pleading prayers What developed in me was a belief that prayer was something we used to change circumstances. .
Now, I do believe that prayer serves this kind of function, but what I have found lacking to me was a sense that prayer is more about changing us then it is about God changing anything. The value of liturgical prayer is that it brings us face to face with ideas and concepts that are transformational for us. Even “The Lord’s Prayer” with phrases like “your Kingdom come…your will be done” gives us pause to surrender our ideals. The phrase in the long version of the Serenity Pray that says, “accepting this world as Jesus did and not as I would have it” has helped to bring tremendous peace and trust to me over the years. Many more prayers etc could be listed, but you can see what I mean; well thought out and crafted prayers can have a transformation affect.
Confession of Sin: As a child the phrase from James 5:16, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” received a lot of attention in sermons and admonitions to pray: but the first phrase of that verse, “Confess your faults one to another” seemed to be overlooked. While the confessional of the Catholic Church could be argued to be a sham, we may have used our aversion to these traditions to eliminate an important aspect of early church tradition. In fact I would argue that we have created an environment where “sinlessness” is assumed unless someone is caught in particular select sins. This of course leads to a level of hypocrisy and self righteousness. Our holiness tradition and focus on outward morality also seems to have enabled us to bypass any acknowledgment of our involvement in other personal and corporate sins. In my experience, the only sins that it is ok to confess have been sins of the past.
Contemplative practices: While I can see that our tradition of praying in tongues can have a similar affect on a person as some contemplative practices; in that, it allows us to disengage the control mechanisms of our own mind and imagination; I still wonder if we would do well to cultivate some of the more subtle and quiet practices associated with contemplative Christianity. Maybe this is just my personal preference at this stage in my life and my spiritual journey. I must confess that if I were free to choose and ideal service to worship in today, it probably would be one without much noise.
These are just some examples that I have had some practice with and have found helpful. I do not suggest that Pentecostals are wrong and others are right in how they practice faith; my thought is that we value and appreciate the whole church and its ideas and methods. Again, it comes in response to your question about how we retain our Pentecostal identity and not get swallowed up on the broader evangelical identity.
Thanks for sharing more of your perspective.
In my limited experience, I would say that we need to be more cautious with envisioning the church like it is a business organization, and rather have the vision to create a family gathering.
While I appreciate much of the insight and perspective of leadership experts who share so much good stuff that is beneficial, but I think that a church thrives when people are more than “congregation members” but they are a “church family”.
My answer to the question “What do you feel is missing from Pentecostal churches?” is simply, prayer
Thanks for your comment, Ruth. When you say “prayer,” what do you have in mind? Do you mean teaching on prayer? Prayer meetings? More time for prayer during a service? Congregation members praying for one another? Or perhaps something else?
I think the modern Pentecostal church is caught up in the leadership movement. Follow me. Follow my vision. My calling. My position. My gifting – instead of it being our calling, our position (in Christ) Our Giftings. While its true many churches follow lip service of every member service – its more often to do with getting everyone to get on board with the program of the church. (Don’t get me started on the prosperity message.)”
At the Pentecostal church I fellowship at (Australia) we have weekly communion. A different congregation member leads the devotion each week. A time of praise and worship, and openness to prophecy is given after-woods. The prophecy often takes place with someone speaking in tongues, and interpretation given. And at the end of the service a time of praying for people is a given. We have a monthly congregational lunch after the service at the church, where everyone is invited to bring a plate.
I believe many Pentecostals are embarrassed by the gifts of the Spirit. Embarrassed by the primitive rawness of the Spirit.
You have a good point regarding the influence of the “leadership movement,”and yet I can’t help but think that is more an issue of how leadership plays out than leadership itself. So, for example, wouldn’t it take leadership (even if not just one person) to change a church to focus on the gifts and calling of the whole group?
Sadly, your comment regarding embarrassment is probably fair in many cases.
What really is missing from pentecostal Church is Holiness. The so called mordanism/ post mordanism has no regard to Godly patterns of worship and therefore those who embrass such defile their worship of the Creator and are unaware that they have chosen their own way. Rom. 10:1-4. New ways of evangelism in an effort to draw people to fill the house of worship i.e entertaining troupe, and the like have watered down the Holiness with which Pentecostalism came with.
I came to the Pentecostal church from a Catholic heritage. I saw how a ritualistic and religious practice of faith in the Catholic church did not produce, in my experience, a people committed to a life of serving Jesus. But rather commitment to a commitment, a life sentence of “born Catholic, die Catholic” was the saying. What I loved about the Pentecostal experience was the corporate freedom in worship, the self-discipline of daily Bible reading and being told not to just follow what the Pastor said but to actually think for myself. I was told, “read the Word to be sure it what is being taught is inline with Scripture.” The other thing that impressed me about my vibrant church was that the gifts were alive, and the Spirit was moving in the services. What I especially miss in church today, that was present in our church 30 years ago, was the manifestations of demonic spirits that would be cast out right there in the service. And occasionally, taken to a side room for further ministry. Today I think we still have people in our churches struggling with demonic oppression but no one talks about it, and nothing changes. I am often surprised how many people I talk to who are not church going people, and perhaps have not entertained becoming a Christian but are very open to a discussion of spirits, ghosts and demonic spirits without even flinching. Are we missing something in our Churches that would address this need, even if it would bring some criticism and embarrassment?
Thanks for sharing your story and perspective, Annemarrie.
Great quote I saw today, that would apply nicely to this dialogue….Forbes Quote of the Day…”Dream big and be disruptive. If you are doing the same thing as everyone else, you’ve already failed” Kendra Scott, Designer and Entrepreneur
What is missing from our Pentecostal churches? There have been some good comments so far. I agree that we have matured and we are building better relationships with other denominations.
I wonder sometimes if we have let the “excesses of some or the fake” make us too wary of the gifts of the spirit. Often it is the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are missing. Also, do we sometimes take time to wait on the Lord as a congregation as well as in our private prayer times?
I do not believe we need altar calls every service but we need to be sensitive to the direction of the Holy Spirit. In maturing, we have better understood that God moves by His Spirit and wonderful things have happened during altar calls but God also does wonderful things in people’s lives while they are going about their daily lives.
Thanks for your input.
What missing? Pentecostal Power! Acts ch. 2 experience: i.e. Day of Pentecost, when the Spirit fell upon those gathered in the Upper Room; cloven tongues, as of fire sat upon them (congregants)… people responded, speaking in ‘other tongues’ as the Spirit gave utterance. ISN’T THIS THE HALLMARK OF OUR FELLOWSHIP? (or should be)
I came out of a traditional church, got saved in a Pentecostal church nearly 50 yrs. ago. It was a supernatural encounter with the living God. He has remained faithful; sadly I feel I’m not the Christian I was a few years ago. Thank the Lord I experienced the infilling shortly after I came to know the Lord… it is what makes my relationship with Him real, and unwavering. HOWEVER, today we rarely witness this experience in our church. It’s probably mentioned once a year, if then. The gifts are very controlled… How can one respond spontaneously to the moving of the Spirit, when expected to first share it privately with the pastor to see if it fits with his message? I don’t like what I’m seeing in the churches (in general) today.
I’m sorry if this does not sound ‘kind’ but many people feel the same way. What can we do (besides pray about it)?
Where is the Pentecostal denomination headed? We need a return to our founding roots…