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Spirit Freedom PowerChanges in Pentecostal Spirituality

Dr Angelo Ulisse Cettolin

Fresco pictured inside catacomb in Rome (CNS photo/Max Rossi)

Foreword

“It was Hellenism’s emphasis on unchanging rational forms… that imprisoned the ancient world in eternally repetitive cycles with no possibility of change. It took Jerusalem’s contrary view that creation’s goodness was necessarily about the real possibility of genuine growth that opened up the way… what Pentecostals have unwittingly anticipated and answered-perhaps through the leading of the Spirit?....[is] the needful primacy of the right brain with its emphasis on the personal, the particular, the implicit, with room for growth, and interconnection. Change in the world God created, is to be expected.” (Rikk Watts, Professor of NT)

Spirituality

“For Christians, “spirituality” is more than just a human quest or journey. It is an attraction to the things of the Spirit and the conscious living of a Christian way of life empowered by the Holy Spirit” (xxi).

Pentecostal Spirituality

“…particularly emphasizes God’s Spirit working in the process of sanctification and empowerment for ministry” (xxi).

Introduction“…my concern was

for Pentecostals to retain their radical edge, being faithful to their historic roots, and yet still develop a mature and relevant spirituality for this present day and age” (XX).

Early Pentecostalism“William J. Seymour preached in a time of racial

tension. A descendant of slaves, he had to listen to Parham’s lectures through an opened door sitting outside his Bible class” (19).

“…what was extraordinary about Seymour was his spirituality enabling him to endure persecution from Christians, non-Christians and white Pentecostals without becoming embittered” (19).

Distinctive Experience‘Speaking in tongues was to become the point of

demarcation between Pentecostalism and other previous revival movements that were also marked by various emotional phenomena, but none had enshrined such experiences in a biblical doctrine before’. (27)

Classical Pentecostal Spirituality“Spirit baptism is seen as a distinct experience

subsequent to conversion and followed by tongues speaking as the initial evidence.” (45)

Australian Pentecostalism‘It was primarily a middle class

movement…“deprivation theories” have proven inadequate to explain the origins and character of Pentecostalism in Australia’. (23)

Current Pentecostal SpiritualityExperience still

importantInfluence of

EvangelicalismTensions between

beliefs & practices

Research Insights“ The aim was to

discover whether the current practices of ..pastors indicated they were confining themselves to the classical written doctrinal position, or whether their emphasis was more on the experience of the working of the Holy Spirit and the exercise of the spiritual gifts.” (45-46)

National Survey of Pastors

Experiences & Practices

Private Devotional Life

Church Services Community Service Beliefs & AttitudesA Mixed Picture

Contemporary PentecostalsGrowthInfluence of Charismatic &

Neo-PentecostalsChanges in Style & StructureNew NetworksSocial Political involvementWorship MusicTension Charisma & Structure

Pentecostal Spiritual Practices are Changing

Less classical expressions of gifts in church

More mainline forms More community engagementMore Charismatic & Third Wave

approaches

Change is in the Air

Spirituality more institutionalized but not more routinized!

A classic movement has been revitalisedMore people are being reachedInstitutional tension with freedom in Spirit must be

toleratedTheological development of a truly Trinitarian

Pentecostal church structure and wider understanding & renewed emphasis on Spirit baptism

Constant Reform & Renewal‘….[the] spirituality remains Pentecostal but it is

delivered and styled in increasingly “contemporary clothes”. It is still oriented on EXPERIENCE with the Holy Spirit but is reflecting a more educated and affluent Western cultural context.’(113)

Finally…

“…it might just be that the essential spirituality of Pentecostalism—the dynamic experience [of] God’s power and freedom—has caught something of what it means to be his designers in a world characterized by change.”

Rikk Watts, Professor of New Testament Regent College 2016