I spent an hour late yesterday interviewing Josiah Idowu-Fearon, the Anglican Archbishop of Kaduna state in Nigeria. He's in Dallas for the next few days preaching and teaching. We talked about all kinds of things, in particular the Anglican split over homosexuality (which he rightly says is not really about homosexuality, but the authority of Scripture) and the relationship between Islam and Christianity. Abp Josiah is a Koranic scholar, and leads the Anglican church in a Muslim-majority region where there have been many violent and deadly attacks on Christians by Muslims. Yet he is hopeful. I'll be posting that interview here once it appears in print in the Dallas Morning News.
What I wanted to say now, though, was how surprising and interesting I found his answer when I asked him about the explosive growth of Pentecostalism in the Global South, and the challenge it poses to the more established Christian churches. He responded that yes, Pentecostalism is growing like wildfire, but there's less to it than you might think. He said that in many cases, people are drawn to the emotional experience, and can tell you exactly when they gave their life to Jesus -- but can't tell you a single thing about Christian doctrine. He said they're finding in Nigeria that lots of the neo-charismatics have no discipline at all -- that they're living exactly as they had before, but now with a Christian gloss. The substance of the faith hasn't penetrated and changed their behavior.
He also said that Pentecostalism is a response to the poverty of the Third World. He said it grieves him to see so much of the appeal self-anointed Pentecostal evangelists having to do with promising people if they just donate money, they will be blessed with riches in this world. The archbishop said that's a powerful message to give to desperately poor people, but it's contrary to the Gospel.
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"... finding in Nigeria that lots of the neo-charismatics have no discipline at all -- that they're living exactly as they had before, but now with a Christian gloss"...
so the basic Christian Salvation Myth is just not working well as a powerful transforming message...
while the promise of worldly riches seems to be the more powerful message...
actually sounds a lot like here in America...
Myths often are persuasive enough to change lives...
and some Myths have great spiritual value...
but money can distract from spiritual living...
something that Pentecostal evangelists may not fully grasp...
faith hope love joy peace to all...
The same things have been said about Pentecostalism everywhere, including the US. It is merely the whining of those worrying about losing their congregations to a better competitor.
The same things have been said about Pentecostalism everywhere, including the US. It is merely the whining of those worrying about losing their congregations to a better competitor.
It may be undue laying fault with Pentecostalism as the problem described as shallowness observed in area's like Nigeria, and for that matter in America. Certainly teaching babes to chant Jabez prayer for wealth is not proven if following all scripture of the Bible. Nor is a single denomination pointed out in the Bible as where false teachers and prophet are warned will appear within the church and world.
I'll use as example of predominantly Evangelical with some other Christian groups that were significant in enabling the election in 1995 of a man claiming Catholic faith named Alberto Figumori, who later as President effectively called more accuratly a dictator in Peru had some of these same Evangelicals thrown in prison. I might say a similar situation happened also in America.
There is only one church, and it is man as when asking for a King that has today divided Christs church. According to prophecy of end times and last days, it will again be man who brings forward their god as ruler of this earth. Then let the remnant of the church serve God and his will, and let man do as prophecy foretells they will, exposing evil instead of becoming a part.
Dr. Josiah Fearon has been in Dallas since 9/21 and will be here until 10/4. If you would like to hear streamed audio of all his talks so far, you may visit www.incarnation.org. There are still plenty of opportunities to hear this gifted and brilliant teacher before he leaves Dallas. He is the worldwide Anglican Communion's leading expert on Christian-Islamic relations and he is a very good speaker.
The Anglican archbishop's comments about Pentecostalism are valid as one person's point of view, though they come across about like the manager of a competing department store chain telling you why Wal-Mart's stuff is no good. Certainly they do not describe the African Pentecostals whom I know, one of whom converted from Anglicanism in Zimbabwe and then brought his whole extended family in after him because of what he perceived as the more biblical Christianity practiced by pentecostals.
Perhaps to balance the Anglican archbishop's point of view it would be worth considering the work of a couple of non-pentecostal researchers who have no vested interest for or against pentecostalism. Donald E. Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori are the authors of "Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement," University of California Press, Berkeley, 2007. They spent more than four years gathering more than 300 interviews from 20 countries. Importantly, it's worth noting that they didn't set out to write about pentecostals — it's just that certain pentecostal churches made up a disproportionate share of what they were looking for, growing churches in the developing world that are involved in significant social ministry.
Miller and Yamamori define a group they call "Progressive Pentecostals," whom they describe as "Christians who claim to be inspired by the Holy Spirit and the life of Jesus and seek to holistically address the spiritual, physical, and social needs of people in their community. Typically they are distinguished by their warm and expressive worship, their focus on lay-oriented ministry, their compassionate service to others, and their attention, both as individuals and as a worshiping community, to what they perceive to be the leading of the Holy Spirit."
Highly recommended reading for anyone who would like a differing point of view on what's driving pentecostalism.
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