Lausanne World Pulse – The Rise and Rise of Pentecostalism
By Steve Addison
4. Rapid mobilization. From its inception Pentecostalism was a missionary movement. Hundreds came from around the world to Azusa Street and returned home with the “baptism.” Ordinary people were sent out as missionaries from Azusa Street to China, India, Japan, Egypt, Liberia, Angola and South Africa. Evangelism leading to church planting was the central feature of their mission activity. Within six months thirty-eight missionaries had been sent. Within two years twenty-five different nations had been reached. Missionaries planted indigenous churches. Leadership roles were not restricted to those who have been trained in Western-oriented academic institutions. Gifted nationals, empowered by the Spirit, quickly became missionaries themselves.
5. Adaptive methods. Almost instantly Pentecostalism became Russian in Russia, Chilean in Chile, African in Africa. Pentecostalism’s freedom in the Spirit created grassroots movements that are at home in almost any context. American Pentecostalism historian Grant Wacker says that Pentecostalism flourished because it held together two competing drives: primitivism, a return to the first century where the Holy Spirit reigned, and pragmatism, a freedom to do whatever is necessary to achieve the movement’s aims.
This creative tension enabled the movement to combine a clear and universal core mission with great flexibility. Pentecostalism is conservative in its theology yet radical in methodology. It lives in the creative tension between the supernatural and the pragmatic.
From its humble beginnings at Azusa Street, Pentecostalism has become a global movement of massive proportions. The lessons are clear for the whole Church. Success eventually tames most movements as they choose to protect their gains rather than continue to risk, innovate and renew for the sake of a cause beyond themselves. In this new century, Pentecostalism must now face the challenge of its own success.
Resources
Jenkins, Philip. 2002. The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. New York: Oxford University Press, 8.
McClung, Grant. 2006. “Pentecostals: The Sequel: What will it take for this world phenomenon to stay vibrant for another 100 years?” Christianity Today. www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/004/7.30.html
Cox, Harvey. 1996. Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-First Century. London: Cassell, 81.
Anderson, Allan. 2005. “Towards a Pentecostal Missiology for the Majority World.” Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 8:1, 29-47. www.apts.edu/ajps/05-1/05-1-AAnderson.pdf
Gerlach, Luther and Virginia Hine. 1970. People, Power, Change Movements of Social Transformation. Indianapolis, Indiana: Bobbs-Merrill.
Wacker, Grant. 1995. “Searching for Eden with a Satellite Dish: Primitivism, Pragmatism and the Pentecostal Character” in The Primitive Church in the Modern World. ed. Richard T. Hughes. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 139-166.
|
Steve Addison serves as director of Church Resource Ministries Australia. He distills the characteristics of dynamic movements and makes them available to leaders committed to the multiplication of healthy churches around the world. His blog on church planting movements can be found at www.steveaddison.net. |