Lausanne World Pulse – People of Persuasion: Evangelism and the Pentecostal/Charismatic Revival
By Grant McClung
Biblical/Theological Foundations for Evangelism
Pentecostals see their evangelistic outreach as more than the mere extension of a religious movement or recruitment to a particular ideology or experience. From the outset of the modern Pentecostal/Charismatic movement there was a sense of divine destiny, the participation with God in a new work for the last days, an involvement in the purposes of God for the world.
Pentecostals see redemption as the central purpose of God in Scripture and evangelism as the comprehensive method for fulfilling that purpose. They have been aggressively obedient to the Great Commission passages in the Gospels. Acts 1:8 could be claimed as the golden text for their style of evangelism: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”
The connection of the “power” to the evangelistic task is quite clear: only the coming of the power of the Holy Spirit to those who are witnesses for Christ makes the work of evangelism possible. The “power” passages of Acts 1:8 and 2:1-4, as well as the “enduement” passage of Luke 24:49 are central to Pentecostal preaching and teaching on evangelism.
Therefore, evangelism (not other spiritual gifts or manifestations) should be seen as the primary result of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the operation of spiritual gifts. Evangelism occupies the central place in the growth of Pentecostal/Charismatic churches. Other supernatural manifestations revolve around it.
Motivation for Evangelism
A sense of participation in what is central to the nature and heart of God motivates Pentecostals toward evangelism. Emerging from this central desire of God for evangelism come additional facets of the Pentecostal/Charismatic motivation for reaching the unconverted:
First, Pentecostals have understood one of the primary steps of obedience in Christian discipleship to be an obedience to evangelize. Evangelism is not an end within itself once a person is reached and led to a personal belief in Christ. Immediately this new convert is urged to testify to others and to begin “preaching.” He or she is “saved to serve.”
In early Pentecostalism in particular, we find many accounts of people who started preaching within a few days of their conversion. Various studies of Majority World Pentecostalism indicate that personal witnessing and street evangelism by the newly converted have been the central marks of its outstanding expansion.
Second, it is clear in the theology of Pentecostal/Charismatic evangelism that humankind is lost, under the judgment of eternal punishment, unless they are reached with the good news of the gospel. The doctrinal confessions of all major Pentecostal organizations reflect their belief in “eternal life for the righteous and eternal punishment for the wicked.”
Third, Christ’s return in imminent and it is the end of all things. There is an “eschatological urgency” inherent in the evangelistic theology and practice of Pentecostals.
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