The Spirit-empowered movement has spread across the globe through different cultural contexts and with remarkable speed and dynamism. While its emphases on the Charismatic gifts of the Spirit and experiential validation may often preclude its theological import in certain circles, the Spirit-empowered movement is marked by pivotal trends that deserve mention, notably in the role of women in leadership, social justice, prosperity, and mission. The trajectory of such trends and their effects upon church and society may reflect either innovation upon or replication of cultural influences; nevertheless, they carry significant theological implications for the Church at large. These particular issues — women in leadership, social justice, prosperity, and mission — represent important identity markers for many Pentecostal and Charismatic churches and movements around the world. Historically, these kinds of churches have championed women in leadership in mission, with, for example, women serving as some of the early Pentecostal missionaries from the Azusa Street Revival. Pentecostal churches are also known worldwide for their grassroots activism in ministering to both spiritual and physical needs.
After the ascension of Christ, the disciples gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem along with “the women and Mary the mother of Jesus” (Acts 1:14). Peter addressed the “brothers and sisters” (adelphoi, Acts 1:16) before they cast lots to choose Matthias as the disciple to replace Judas. The criteria for nomination was simple: the next disciple should be someone who had been with them the entire time of Jesus’s earthly ministry as well as been a witness of John’s baptism, of Christ’s resurrection, and his very recent ascension. This person could, in theory, indeed have been a woman. On the day of Pentecost, they — presumably the same “they” from Acts chapter 1, the disciples and the women — experienced the power of the Holy Spirit descending from heaven and filling the room, complete with tongues of fire and the understanding of different languages. Contrary to popular opinion, they were not drunk, but they were experiencing the fulfillment of the prophet Joel (2:28–29): “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.”
Although the narrative focuses mainly on the actions of the men, the presence of women in these important biblical accounts cannot be overlooked. Women were there at — or at least directly after — the ascension of Jesus and when Matthias became an apostle. They were there when the Holy Spirit rushed into the room, and they saw the tongues of fire fall from heaven. They experienced the speaking of tongues and hearing others speak in their own language. Most importantly, though, was the fact that they were affirmed by Peter’s recitation of Joel’s prophecy. The Spirit was poured out on all people, not just men and not just sons with prophecy, but also on daughters. The biblical narrative suggests that women have just as much access to the Holy Spirit and its accompanying spiritual power as do men. Indeed, this is one of the overarching themes of women in Pentecostal churches today: women are endowed with spiritual and ministerial authority, but not necessarily hierarchical leadership authority.[1]
One of the oft-quoted defining characteristics of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement is equality between men and women. Women have been ignitors of historic revivals (for example, Pandita Ramabai in India), sustainers of Spirit-centered movements (such as the Azusa Street Revival), and today continue to be empowered by their faith to work against societal norms throughout the world. The work of the Holy Spirit cuts across race, gender, and socio-economic status and serves as the great equalizer in providing access to Christian spiritual power. However, despite the great influence of Pentecostal women in their ministries and congregations, prominent women who help shape church leadership are often overlooked, and men are given credit for their labor. Furthermore, history has shown many examples of pioneer women founding movements that turn over to male leadership once the movements become formally institutionalized. Despite Pentecostal and Charismatic churches being known for more egalitarian practice and theology, this is in conjunction with Pentecostalism’s ability to adapt to its surrounding cultures. In doing so, it also adopts some of the wider society’s given gender norms, which might contradict with the movement’s core message: universal access to the power of the Holy Spirit, regardless of gender.
Female Pentecostal influence has expressed itself in a variety of ways throughout history and within the movement today, such as missionaries (especially single missionaries), as pastor’s wives (who often have more influence within congregations than their husbands), as evangelists (historically, often unnamed), and as everyday keepers of faith and tradition to pass down to generations. This section highlights some Pentecostal and Charismatic women who have founded movements and denominations, sparked revivals, and notably served as pastors’ wives.
The daughter of a Salvation Army mother and a Methodist father, Aimee Semple McPherson was imprinted with a “Wesleyan view of sanctification, the Calvinist distinction between the visible and invisible Church, the Lutheran view of civil government, and the Puritan goal of being a ‘city set upon a hill.’”[2] McPherson, often called “Sister Aimee,” returned from a mission in China in 1910 as a widow and a single mother of a newborn baby girl. After a visit to Los Angeles in 1917 and several years of cross-country evangelism, she began a healing ministry in 1921 and founded the Angelus Temple in Los Angeles in 1923. The Temple became the largest church congregation at the start of the 20th century, was valued at $1.5 million, and held services in five languages. Sister Aimee pioneered radio ministries and was a media sensation herself. She imbued the Pentecostal movement with a personality that championed healing, the power of the Holy Spirit, and a theology that combined Arminianism and Calvinism. Her focus on the work of the Holy Spirit was in contrast to the fire-and-brimstone preaching of prominent male evangelists. She placed an emphasis on the Spirit in relationship to God’s love, not “bombastic, untactful preaching.”[3]
While the growth of the organization dovetailed with that of the Pentecostal movement as a whole — especially in its outreach to the poor — it faced criticism as an evangelical institution that became led mostly by white middle-class men, a far cry from the example set by Sister Aimee. Despite its early commitment to female ministers, the denomination grew rapidly while male leaders filled the ranks of the quickly institutionalizing movement. After her death in 1944, Aimee’s son, Rolf McPherson, took over as president of the denomination for 44 years. There have been no female presidents of the Foursquare Church since Sister Aimee, yet the denomination — with 5 million members in 2010 —is proud of its history of strong female leadership and innovation. The four squares represent the four scriptural roles of Jesus as Savior, Baptizer with the Holy Spirit, Healer, and soon-coming King.[4]
For 12 years, Christie Doh Tetteh served as the personal secretary to Pentecostal and Charismatic Archbishop Benson Idahosa — known as the “father of Pentecostalism” in Nigeria. She began a small fellowship in her home in 1993 that has grown into the very large and influential Solid Rock Chapel International, marked by healing and prayer ministries. She retains a deep femininity and motherly style in her leadership, and she is one of the few women in Ghana with such influential spiritual and ministerial leadership independent of men. Her religious authority is innovative in the way she is both the general overseer and head of her church while not operating as a “stand-in male”.[5] Her experience points to a gender-neutral shift within the Charismatic movement in Ghana as well as a departure from earlier models of women’s religious leadership in the country.[6]
Jashil Choi (1915–1989) became a Christian at a tent revival meeting in 1927 led by a popular Holiness preacher. After escaping Japanese-occupied North Korea for the South, Choi attended the Assemblies of God Bible School in Seoul and started a small congregation in her house. She heavily emphasized prayer and fasting as the foundation to Christian life. Her small congregation was later taken over by her son-in-law, David Yonggi Cho, which by the 1980s had become the largest church in the world. Even though Cho frequently refers to Jashil Choi as his spiritual mentor and mother, her influence on the founding of Yoido Full Gospel Church is often overlooked. Choi also founded a prayer center near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that is associated with Yoido Full Gospel Church.[7] While Choi did not have nearly the influence or recognition of Cho during her life, she defied odds and pioneered innovations in Charismatic Korean Christianity in a conservative, male-oriented society.
Pillar of Fire International was founded in Denver, Colorado, by Alma White (1862–1946) in 1901, the first female bishop of an American denomination. Originally called the Pentecostal Union, it changed names to differentiate itself from the Pentecostal movement in 1915. It was Methodist in doctrine but distanced itself from that tradition as well, believing it to be corrupt, although the church retained a focus on holiness in the Wesleyan tradition. Members were called “holy rollers” and “holy jumpers” because of their frenzy in worship. Under White’s leadership from the 1920s to the 1940s, the Pillar of Fire church developed a close partnership with the Ku Klux Klan, and White unashamedly attacked racial and religious minorities in her ministry and writings. Her son led the church after her death, and the branches in the United States fell from 52 to 6 (the number of branches today). The church today focuses its work in three main areas: radio, education, and missions.[8]
Christina Nku, born circa 1894, founded St. John’s Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa after being baptized in the Apostolic Faith Mission in 1924. She received many vivid revelations from God, in particular, a dream during a serious illness in which God told her she would not die. Although women had always held prominent positions of spiritual leadership and healing in South Africa, her mystical visions and personal healing helped legitimize her call to leadership in a male-oriented religious society. She received a vision of a church with 12 doors and founded this church in 1939, called the “Temple.” Her iconic healing rituals and use of blessed water was considered radical and led to a rift between her church and white-led Pentecostal denominations. She also established schools and programs for youth and adults. However, after a long-standing power struggle between Nku and a man named Petros John Masango, he was lawfully elected bishop, after which he broke ties with the Nku family and established himself as the founder of the church, as prophesied by Nku. More conflict ensued and now the original church founded by Christina Nku is divided into three larger factions along with other smaller factions.[9]
Margaret Wanjiru worked as a house cleaner, hawker, and other odd jobs before she became a sales and marketing executive and eventually a politician in Kenya. After her conversion to Christianity, she founded Jesus is Alive Ministries (JIAM), in which she serves as bishop. JIAM has 20,000 members and has a popular television program titled The Glory is Here. Her ministry focuses on freedom from demonic powers as well as physical prosperity. Public scrutiny of her personal life and family relationships in 2007–2008 did not taint her ministry; instead, she emerged as a strong female leader, overcoming a deliberate attempt to tarnish her reputation and spiritual power. Bishop Wanjiru remains both a spiritually and politically respectable force in Kenya.
Sônia Hernandes received a call to Christian ministry at a youth camp. She and her husband (Estevam Hernandes) founded Ogre ja Renascer em Christo, an Independent Apostolic church in 1986, which claims over two million members in Brazil and around the world. Bishop Sônia is the fifth wealthiest pastor in the country, and Ogre ja Renascer em Christo is one of the wealthiest Independent Apostolic churches in Brazil. Bishop Sônia is also a television, radio host, and choral musician. In 2009, she and her husband served five months in an American prison for smuggling cash into the United States [10] This led to significant controversy surrounding her and her husband’s leadership, with many suspecting fraud and money laundering under the guise of religion, even as the church continues to grow.
Kong Duen Yee (1923–1966) was born in Beijing, China, and was a prominent actress in Hong Kong. She became a Christian at a Pentecostal revival in 1963 and led many revival meetings throughout Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia and established the Christian Charismatic Evangelistic Team, which became the New Testament Church in Hong Kong. Her theology included speaking in tongues as evidence of salvation. Yee was succeeded by her daughter, Ruth Chang, but Chang renounced the extremities of her mother’s Pentecostal theology and moved to California, USA, to become an Assemblies of God pastor. Yee’s New Testament Church was turned over to Elijah Hong (b. 1927), who changed the name to the Taiwan Apostles Faith Church, where he is considered the modern-day Elijah and his followers modern-day Israelites.[11]
Founded by Bishop Ida Robinson, who testified of a prophetic vision from God to make a genuine and distinctive church in Philadelphia, the Mount Sinai Holy Church of America splintered off from the United Holy Church of America in 1924. After conversion as a teen through a Church of God street meeting in Pensacola, Florida, Ida Robinson became a seasoned preacher, having conducted numerous prayer services in private homes. She also believed God to say that he would use her as an instrument to bring godly women to serve side by side with men in the church, having full clergy rights as their male counterparts. Thus, with the news that the United Holy Church would not “publicly” ordain women, Robinson started out with a charter for a new church under the name “Mount Sinai Holy Church of America, Inc.” with her first board of elders staffed mostly by women. Despite its independent nature, the church identified itself as part of the historic Christian witness, open to engage with other churches, especially those of the Holiness/Pentecostal vein. Robinson was a dynamic preacher, alternating between teaching, preaching, and singing at intervals of two to three hours. Her role was effective and poignant in terms of her “mothering” role over her congregation, a nurturing quality of pastoral leadership that serves as an alternative to the top-down, Western male patriarchal mode. The church continues to be a predominately black denomination, with a presence in 14 states and six countries.[12] It is the only organization founded by an African American woman who has held consistent female leadership from its founding and still emphasizes gender equality.
Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati (1858–1922) was born into a Brahmin family and converted to Christianity while in England. A brilliant scholar, she earned the titles of “Pandita” and “Sarasvati” as a Sanskrit scholar by the University of Calcutta — the first woman to be awarded such distinction. She founded the Mukti (“liberation”) Mission in Kedgaon for orphans and widows in the late 1890s, which still operates today to provide housing and education for women and children in need. Her organization’s charismatic spirituality and the powerful 1905 Mukti Revival influenced many Indian women to become Christians and pursue lives dedicated to spreading Christianity. Ramabai’s ministry was met with criticism from men, but she persisted and endlessly advocated for women. She is known for her role in not only sparking an influential Pentecostal revival but defending women’s rights and supporting the development of truly indigenous Indian churches through the power of the Spirit. The Episcopal church honors Ramabai with a feast day on April 5 and the Church of England on April 30.
Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams and his then-wife “Mama” Francisca Duncan-Williams founded Action Chapel International in Accra, Ghana, in 1979. Nicholas is credited with founding the charismatic movement in Ghana, while Francisca organized women’s activities in the church and founded the Pastors, Wives, and Women in Ministry Association. In many Independent Charismatic churches, pastor’s wives tend to have a dual-leadership role alongside the head male pastor. Many wives become archbishops and pastors alongside their husbands to lead large congregations. Francisca’s role highlighted the male-female dual-headship of the church, yet, behind the initial front of equality between the Duncan-Williams duo was also a quasi-political role of women only as wives of influential pastors, which then perpetuates conservative cultural gender norms. Francisca’s spiritual leadership was only in relation to her husband. After their public divorce in 2001 (and again in 2007),[13] Nicholas continued to be extremely influential while Francisca lost much of her power in the church.
Archbishop Margaret Idahosa was born into a royal family in Edo State, Nigeria, and entered ministry in 1983. She took over the Church of God Mission International in Benin City, Nigeria, after her husband, Archbishop Benson Idahosa, passed away, making her the first African female archbishop. While her husband was instrumental in the spread of Pentecostalism in the region, she has become one of the most prominent female Pentecostal figures in Africa, becoming an archbishop in her own right in 2009. Her church has several weekly services, a private university (of which she serves as chancellor, the first female in Africa to do so), and overseas Christian schools and hospitals, all while serving as an international influence for Christian women leaders. Unlike Francisca Duncan-Williams, Margaret Idahosa became a prominent leader[14] upon her husband’s death after moving out of the pastor’s wife role.
One of the most common misconceptions related to Spirit-empowered Christians is that they are so focused on the spiritual life that they care little for what is going on around them on earth. This perception is supported by several key features of Pentecostal life, including dualism (saving souls), eschatology (doomsday scenarios), the sacred vs. secular divide, and the prosperity gospel. However, research by Donald Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori illustrates quite the opposite.[15] Miller and Yamamori traveled to 20 countries in four years to visit many different Pentecostal churches and ministries. They found robust engagement of these churches with many different kinds of social issues: emergency services (response to earthquakes and floods), medical assistance (including medical response to disasters, preventive care, drug rehabilitation programs, psychological services, and establishing health and dental clinics), educational programs (especially schools and day care), economic development (including job training, housing development, urban development programs, youth programs, and microenterprise loans), mercy ministries (such as homeless shelters, food banks, clothing services, and services to the elderly), counseling services (assisting cases of addiction, pregnancy, divorce, depression, or prison ministries), policy change (with focus on monitoring elections, opposing corruption, or advocating a living wage), and services in the arts (with training in music, drama, and dance).[16] It appears that Pentecostals often utilize a positive message of hope and apply this to various development challenges. Miller and Yamamori uncovered substantial contributions in health care, AIDS education, housing for orphanages and addiction rehabilitation programs in key areas of the world. They provided accounts of ministry to vulnerable children from diverse countries — Kenya, India, Egypt, South Africa, and Argentina. In the end, Miller and Yamamori gave this phenomenon the moniker “Progressive Pentecostalism.”[17]
The majority of members in Pentecostal churches in Latin America belong to the poor and the marginalized of society. Thus, they often immerse themselves in the lives of the believers, taking care of their physical needs and spiritual needs. Miller calls this the “holistic approach,” stating that “it is impossible to divorce moral and spiritual needs from physical and economic needs.”[18] Yet, Pentecostals view liberation from poverty as a spiritual affair in which every social action to alleviate their immediate present reality must be embedded in prayer and guidance of the Spirit. Although they are aware of circumstances of the poor, they ultimately teach the poor to turn to the scriptures as a source for inspiration, power, and hope through the Holy Spirit as they face the daily struggles of life.
In Africa, Dena Freeman and Martin Lindhardt have explored the development impacts of Pentecostalism. In Pentecostalism and Development, Freeman, by taking Gamo region in Ethiopia as a case study, compares development non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Pentecostal denominations in their social transformation approaches, and argues that, “… in contemporary Ethiopia, particularly in rural communities in the South and the West, Pentecostal churches and development NGOs are the new agents of social transformation.”[19] Likewise, the founder of the Brazilian Pentecostal denomination Brazil for Christ, Manoel de Mello, typified the change in approach by claiming, “The gospel cannot be proclaimed fully without denouncing injustices committed by the powerful.”[20]
In his study on Yonggi Cho’s church in South Korea, Allan Anderson concludes that Cho’s ministry began among the urban poor of Seoul, where Cho himself had been raised. The gospel had to be contextualized among people who were uninterested in a message about other-worldly salvation amidst their personal struggles for physical survival. Thus, for Cho, “the message of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit was a present contextual message that gave hope to a suffering and destitute community.”[21] Prosperity teaching was part of the contextualization of the Christian message.
Martin Lindhardt, in Pentecostalism in Africa: Presence and Impact of Pneumatic Christianity in Postcolonial Societies, presents Pentecostalism in Africa as a booming religious power capable of addressing both existential challenges alongside economic-political circumstances.[22] Similarly, Ben Jones identifies community work as a typical expression of Pentecostal faith and an example of Christian engagement in African society concerning education, health, and farming even if scholars of development studies do not always acknowledge their contributions.[23] In a similar study in Ethiopia in 2017, Yared Donis found that one Pentecostal community had “a well-articulated theological and practical approach towards social and development ministry. It reaches out to individuals, families, and the community at large with a substantial amount of resources and networks. It also empowers itself as an organization in order to deliver better results in this ministry.”[24]
Although it is now a global phenomenon, some of the earliest proponents of the prosperity gospel were American preachers like E.W. Kenyon, Oral Roberts, and Kenneth Copeland. This constellation of theologies goes by other names, such as “dominion theology,” “faith gospel,” or “health and wealth gospel,” but all emphasize prosperity as a result of faith.[25] Paul Gifford summarizes the doctrine: “According to the faith gospel, God has met all the needs of human beings in the suffering and death of Christ and every Christian should now share the victory of Christ over sin, sickness and poverty. A believer has a right to the blessings of health and wealth won by Christ and he/she can obtain these blessings merely by a positive confession of faith.”[26] The gospel of prosperity emphasizes positive confession, that is, the belief that what you say is what you get. As one Pentecostal preacher famously proclaimed, “Your destiny is in your mouth!”[27]
Good health is also an emphasis of the prosperity gospel. Demonic activity is the likely root cause of illness, which makes healing an important ministry in prosperity churches. Church members are taught to “sow seeds” of prosperity to get rich or to get well. While the ministry of healing is an essential feature of Spirit-empowered Christianity, the prosperity churches take a unique spiritual approach to its underlying cause and “cure.”
Prosperity gospel devotees often point to the Abrahamic covenant as validation for their theology.[28] Stemming from faithfulness to the Abrahamic covenant, Christians could expect the dynamic of blessing for obedience. Christ’s victory on the cross enables believers to claim their redeemed status as God’s children, seemingly validated by financial rewards.[29]
Prosperity teachers claim that believers receive Abraham’s blessings through faith. In his book The Laws of Prosperity, Kenneth Copeland claims that “faith is a spiritual force, a spiritual energy, a spiritual power. It is this force of faith which makes the laws of the spirit world function. There are certain laws governing prosperity revealed in God’s Word. Faith causes them to function.”[30] The driving force behind this emphasis on giving is what Robert Tilton referred to as the “Law of Compensation.” According to this law, based on Mark 10:30, Christians need to give generously to others because when they do, God gives back more in return. This, in turn, leads to a cycle of ever-increasing prosperity.
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields — along with persecutions — and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mark 10:29–31)
As Gloria Copeland put it, “Give $10 and receive $1,000; give $1,000 and receive $100,000; … in short, Mark 10:30 is a very good deal.”[31]
Nigeria is replete with Pentecostal prosperity churches. Deji Isaac Ayegboyin, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Ibadan, surveys a number of these churches, including the Church of God Mission founded by the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa.[32] Idahosa is often referred to as the prime celebrity of material prosperity preaching in Nigeria. He reasoned that the Pentecostal and Charismatic boom of the 1970s provided Christians with material, physical, and financial resources to enhance the spread of the gospel. Another prominent prosperity preacher is Gabriel Oduyemi of the Bethel Ministry. Like Idahosa, Oduyemi has a bold inscription in his church: “The God we serve is not a poor God.” Likewise, Mensa Otabil decreed, “If you haven’t deposited anything, you have no right to ask for anything.”[33] All of these churches emphasize the “seed faith” principle where church members sow by giving a variety of offerings to reap material blessings.
According to Ayegboyin, these churches are prosperity churches because “in their bid to stress the teaching of victorious, prosperous and healthy living in the spiritual as well as in the physical realm, they start from the premise Jehovah Jireh our provider, is a God of abundance.”[34] God owns everything and wants his children to prosper. Prosperity churches also teach that Christians should excel in material wealth, which is one reason why so many of their pastors wear expensive clothes and own luxury cars. These new Pentecostals are sophisticated in their use of marketing techniques by selling books and other resources such as seminars covering subjects from deliverance to marriage. They also create elaborate signboards and posters for their churches and events. These are some of the fastest growing churches in Nigeria and around the world.
Despite some questionable theology and moral practices, there are positive aspects to the prosperity gospel. In response to prosperity gospel teachings, many Pentecostals have started their own businesses, combatting poverty by creating new jobs for others. Entrepreneurship is a curious consequence of prosperity teaching that helps to promote sustainable development in poor areas.[35] Perhaps the most important contribution of the prosperity gospel is the positive mindset it encourages among church members. Prosperity teachings push back against structures of oppression that keep Africans poor and without hope. J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu comments, “African Pentecostalism has initiated a move from Afro-pessimism to Afro-optimism and hope.”[36] Togarasei observes that “members are encouraged to aim for the best. They are always reminded that they are ‘going to a higher place,’ ‘going somewhere,’ ‘being lifted higher’ and that ‘God has a plan for your life and works good for your life.’”[37]
One study from Nigeria shows how the prosperity gospel serves as a response to changing economic conditions and the rise of neo-Pentecostal groups and the transformation of older Pentecostal groups. One of the most important in this latter category is the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG). Counted in the rise of African independent churches, the RCCG was founded by Pa Josiah Akindayomi shortly after he left the Cherubim and Seraphim Church in 1947. Under the leadership of Enoch Adeboye, the church grew exponentially through wildly popular “Holy Ghost Festivals,” all-night revival-style festivals that included evangelization and healings. However, while the RCCG and other independent churches were rapidly growing, Nigeria was facing economic crisis with the collapse of oil prices in 1981 and rampant political corruption. It was in this context that the RCCG emphasized their “purity and prosperity” doctrines, linking pure ethical behavior with physical and financial rewards.[38] Adeboye preached that if one lived holy, one would have no need to pray for prosperity. After all, health and wealth were the will of God if one committed to prospering his or her soul.[39]
In light of these changing conditions, the RCCG “changed its social and theological character from a church in the holiness movement to a neo-Pentecostal, prosperity-preaching church.”[40] With the growth of the independent churches, church leaders were often poignant examples of ordained wealth and served as validation of the prosperity teachings. However, it must be noted that while the prosperity teachings linked material blessings with faith and religious performance, the theology remained heavily influenced by indigenous values. The Nigerian ethos yielded teachings that emphasized wise money management over investment profits as well as social patronage and familial obligations over individualism.[41]
While Spirit-empowered Christians have a long history of mission-sending and missionary outreach, the focus here is on missiology, or how Pentecostals and Charismatics think theologically about mission and missions. Grant McClung identified seven main characteristics of Pentecostal missions:
At the same time, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen has suggested that Pentecostal missiology is a mixture of positive and negative characteristics, including naïve Biblicism and eschatology, individualism, total commitment, pragmatism, flexibility, emotional personal testimonies, establishment of indigenous churches, demonstration of the power of the Spirit, and the participation of all Christians.[43]
Experience plays a central role in on-the-ground Pentecostal missions, but missiologists have been carefully documenting their perspectives through publications. The first treatise, The Indigenous Church, was written in 1953 by the most noted Pentecostal missiologist at that time, Melvin L. Hodges. In 1991, Pentecostal missiologists Murray A. Dempster, Byron D. Klaus, and Douglas Peterson produced a major compendium on Pentecostal missiology Called and Empowered: Pentecostal Mission in Global Perspective. John Wimber’s Power Evangelism (1986) and C. Peter Wagner’s books on spiritual warfare, such as Warfare Prayer (1992) and Territorial Spirits (1991), received enthusiastic acceptance, especially among Independent Charismatics. More recently, Amos Yong produced Mission after Pentecost: The Witness of the Spirit from Genesis to Revelation (2019). These, and many other books, demonstrate that Pentecostal missiology is engaged in a self-reflective process to consider the main contributions of Pentecostals to missiology. Julie and Wonsuk Ma’s Mission in the Spirit: Towards a Pentecostal/Charismatic Missiology (2010) is one of the more comprehensive books to make explicit Pentecostal contributions to missiology.
In the context of global mission, Pentecostals aligned themselves with Evangelicals due to their conservative doctrinal views. Like Evangelicals, Pentecostals exhibited a strong eschatological, premillennial worldview. Originally hopeful that glossolalia would give them a head start as missionaries, Pentecostals gradually adopted the missionary methods of other Protestants. Nonetheless, Pentecostals maintained the doctrine of Spirit baptism (evidenced in the gift of tongues) and their primary mission “strategy” remained the baptism in the Holy Spirit as empowerment for witness and service (Acts 1:8). Miracles in various mission fields have been well-documented to support the thesis that supernatural power has been a crucial dimension of Pentecostal mission. In addition, the belief that Spirit baptism equips every Christian, male and female alike, has led to its rapid growth.
A consultation on Charismatic theology sponsored by the World Council of Churches in 1980 produced an important document, The Church Is Charismatic. A summary of a theological group, compiled by Walter Hollenweger, suggested three major orientations to the Spirit’s role in the world: (1) an ecclesiological approach, where the Spirit works for the unity and united witness of all churches; (2) a cosmological approach, where the Spirit renews creation and bestows fullness of life that encompasses physical healing and healing of social relationships as well; and (3) a sacramental approach, where the Spirit is mediated through personal conversion, baptism, confirmation, and ordination as sacramental theologies renew their focus on the Spirit. Charismatics emphasize signs and wonders and have come to highlight the role of healings and exorcisms in a more visible way than many Pentecostals. Similarly, Dutch Reformed missiologist J.A.B. Jongeneel, working from a Pentecostal background, “shows that the origin of mission is in the movement of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit sends the church into the world. The same movement equips the church to accomplish its mission through both the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.”[44]
Although Pentecostal mission focuses on evangelization, it is not to the exclusion of social concern. The recent Pentecostal theology of social concern argues that its eschatological worldview does not necessarily lead to a pessimistic attitude toward social action. Gordon Fee has been among the vanguard of those contextualizing the kingdom of God to Pentecostals as God brings his future reign to the present with the proclamation of “good news to the poor” everywhere.[45] Pentecostals have often been accused of proselytizing Christians from other churches, especially Catholic and Orthodox churches. Cecil M. Robeck, in dialogue with Roman Catholics, admits that proselytism often distracts from the Christian message and hinders the effectiveness of Christian mission. Pentecostals have also struggled with the Eastern Orthodox church, given its cultural ties to the contexts in which it is rooted. Nevertheless, Pentecostalism has a deep history in post-Soviet states, with evidence of baptism with the Holy Spirit reported in the early 1920s within Russian Protestant communities.[46]
Most Pentecostals have serious reservations about ecumenism in general, although Pentecostalism partially arose as a revival movement within historic churches regardless of culture and socio-economic status. Tensions arise over definitions of core values such as conversion, which for Pentecostals is usually a sudden crisis experience, while more sacramentally oriented churches understand it to be a long process, initiated and sustained in the community of faith.[47]
In relation to other religions, Pentecostal and Charismatics identified themselves with the exclusivist view that there is no salvation outside the Christian gospel. This is natural since they inherited fundamentalist and evangelical-conservative heritage. Conversely, Evangelical-Charismatic theologian Clark Pinnock suggested that “one might expect the Pentecostals to develop a Spirit-oriented theology of mission and world religions because of their openness to religious experience, [and] their sensitivity to the oppressed of the Third World where they have experienced much of their growth.”[48] In more recent years, Pentecostal and Charismatic churches have an increasing presence in religiously-diverse countries like Indonesia and India. This context is likely to bring new, and perhaps less combative, perspectives on other religions.
