Transcript The Globalization of Pentecostalism “A Religion Made to Travel” Byron D. Klaus Part III 11/6/2015

The Globalization of Pentecostalism
“A Religion Made to Travel”
Byron D. Klaus
Part III
11/6/2015
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Historical roots that shape North
American Pentecostal roots and
missionary efforts
Wesleyan/Holiness root A focus on sanctification and the belief that
God could intersect our lives with a Spirit
empowerment to live a holy life.
A supernatural intrusion in our lives to take
charge.
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Keswick root –
A focus on the second coming of Christ in revelation
to an urgency for evangelism. This urgency
required a higher life/deeper life. This “Baptism”
thrust people into a life of commitment to world
evangelism with accompanying signs and miracles.
Millenarian root –
The imminent return of Christ as the only solution to
the world’s dilemma. The message is to radically
reorder earthly priorities. A power reality that
creates a people radically committed to the
redemptive cause of Christ.
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Restoration/Primitivist root –
What is needed is a radical return to the simplicity of
the Book of Acts.
A separate from the world dynamic exists. Antiorganization attitudes.
This is the final chapter of harvest before the Lord
returns.
Multi-cultural root –
Participating in a new community that rejects
culture’s assumptions about human relationships.
Azusa St. is where the “color-line was washed away
in the Blood.”
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The winds converge into an initial rationale
1. Baptism of the Spirit as an empowerment for service (Acts
1:8)
2. A keen hope in the soon return of Christ (1 Thess. 4:16)
3. Christ’s command to evangelize the world (Mt. 28:19-20)
J. Roswell Flower –
“Over and over messages were given in the Spirit that the time
would not be long and what was done must be done
quickly.”
“The Pentecostal commission is to witness, witness,
WITNESS!”
General Council – Fall 1914 –
Commitment to the “greatest evangelism the world has ever
seen.”
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Revealing words of pioneers
Alice Luce –
“When we go forth to preach the Full Gospel, are we
going to expect an experience like that of
denomination and missionaries or shall we look for
signs to follow?”
William Durham –
“Organization will kill the work, because no religious
awakening has ever been able to retain its spiritual
life and power after man has organized it and
gotten it under control.”
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Roots. . .Necessary or Ready for Pruning?
Urgency about evangelism.
An affirmation of the immediacy of the
miraculous (a radical strategy.)
A suspicion about complex structures
A propensity toward strategies with quick
impact.
An unwillingness to evaluate long-term
implications of strategies and structures.
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“Pentecostalism is not an aberration. . .
What began as a despised and ridiculed sect is quickly
becoming both the preferred religion of the urban
poor and the powerful bearer of a radically
alternative vision of what the human world might
one day become.”
Harvey Cox
Will the past be a true indicator of our future?
This is no time for triumphalism.
It is a time for humility and the recapturing of our
central core.
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An attempt at finding the core of
Pentecostalism
Every human being struggles to find a sense of
destiny and significance.
Pentecostalism represents a spiritual
restoration of significance and purpose to
masses of people.
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Restoration of basic (primal) speech
In a world that can make people think as if
their “voice” does not matter or where
contrived rhetoric has emptied language of
any meaning.
Pentecostals participate in a language of the
heart that is understood in heaven, and no
particular tragedy can restrain. (Rom.12:1-2)
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Restoration of basic (primal) piety
Our relationship with God cannot be contained
in left-brained activity alone, but is to be
encountered face to face.
We believe and expect God to act in immenent
and concrete ways. (Mark 16:15-18)
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Restoration of a basic (primal) hope
An affirmation that the world we see is not all
there is and can be.
An orientation toward the future that persists
despite the failure of certain events to occur.
A sense of destiny that affirms in concrete
action that we are connected in history to
the God who is the Alpha & Omega.
(Mt. 24:14 and II Thes. 4:13-18)
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To make a long story short
Our words – “deepest attempts at
communication” are heard by Someone
who understands.
Our address is known by God.
Our destiny is linked to the CreatorRedeemer God
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The bottom line is still
The Baptism of the Spirit connected to
empowerment for world evangelization.
A sense of destiny as part of the effort that plants
signposts of God’s redemptive purposes.
Obedience to Christ’s command to make disciples
of all nations
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Globalization of Pentecostalism:
A Religion Made To Travel
Murray Dempster, Byron D. Klaus,
Doug Petersen
www.regnumbooks.com
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