When the Spirit Comes Down

IN 1906, a few hundred people were present at Azusa Street Mission revivals in Los Angeles, which are regarded as the beginning of modern Pentecostalism. A century later, Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity claims about half a billion adherents worldwide.

Around the world, where work for change is happening, it’s often Pentecostals in the middle of it.

For example, Donald E. Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori, two scholars based at the University of Southern California, examined flourishing churches in the global South that were involved in social issues (churches that were indigenous to their areas—that is, not reliant on foreign resources). To the surprise of Miller and Yamamori, authors of Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement, 85 percent of them were Pentecostal and Charismatic churches.

What motivates these churches to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty in serving their neighbors? Is it poor economic conditions? If the answer is related to context, why are these Pentecostal churches more engaged and proactive than their Catholic or Protestant counterparts?

There are several key Pentecostal beliefs that encourage response to social challenges:

1) Called: God touches us!

The Pentecostal movement is best characterized by personal experiences with God. Often supernatural in nature, these encounters with God are described as “crisis experiences,” and they tend to revolutionize the believer’s faith, attitude, behavior, and life.

For example, the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Korea publishes Shinang-gye (World of Faith), a popular monthly magazine that features testimonies of divine healings and miracles. Such testimonies affect others and reinforce a key value among Pentecostals: Most human problems are spiritual at their core.

This assumption has significant implications. First, in Pentecostal worship such an encounter with God is expected, encouraged, and facilitated. Songs, preaching, prayer, altar call, and other components of Pentecostal worship lead worshippers to enter into a “holy ground” where one meets the loving and powerful God. This makes Pentecostal worship dynamic and vibrant.

Second, such experiences powerfully influence believers’ attitude toward themselves, work, family, and God, often making them more positive and proactive in their outlook. Third, remembering their own past and dramatic experiences, they tend to reach out to those who struggle with life issues. Pentecostals are generally eager to share their experiences of God.

Here’s another example: Jashil Choi International Fasting and Prayer Mountain is located close to the heavily fortified border between South and North Korea. Buses deliver thousands of people from around Korea; almost everyone holds a black Bible and bags of bedding and toiletries. They are not here for a camping experience, but for prayer and fasting. People gather several times a day in a large sanctuary for prayer and worship, but the real action takes place in countless tiny prayer cells, where cell leaders—often women who have had a profound experience of God’s spirit—invite others overwhelmed by life’s challenges to come to the “prayer mountain.” For some, the most significant aspect of this movement of prayer and transformation is its grassroots nature.

Another story of this kind of Pentecostal transformation is found among the harshly marginalized Roma people in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere in Europe. In recent years, the Roma have begun to embrace Pentecostalism—particularly through the indigenous Roma Life and Light church—and are becoming what some call Europe’s “new moral army,” with noteworthy positive social programs and growing political potential. As Swedish academic David Thurfjell explains, the Roma people do not have a homeland or state, “so the sense of identity is linked to Pentecostalism, and is intertwined with the influence of Romani rights activists. The Pentecostals are a uniting force.” Around one-third of French, Spanish, and Portuguese Roma are Pentecostal Christians, according to journalist Katharine Quarmby, author of Romani Pilgrims: Europe’s New Moral Force.

When a mainline church leader once asked a Pentecostal minister whether his church had any social programs, the Pentecostal answered, “We are the social program!” Pentecostals fully believe that social action begins with a personal experience of God’s grace and power.

2) Empowered: The Holy Spirit baptizes us!

The modern Pentecostal movement, in its incredible diversity, has recovered for Christianity a strong focus on the Holy Spirit. One doctrinal form of this is “baptism in the Holy Spirit,” distinct from water baptism, in which one is empowered for service. Almost every family of Pentecostalism believes that the Holy Spirit empowers God’s people for bold action.

The Spirit baptism becomes a powerful next step, after personal experience of God, in spiritual formation, and it is often accompanied by speaking in tongues. Based on the promise in Acts 1:8 that believers “will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you,” Pentecostals believe that this is available for every believer. As Peter’s preaching (Acts 2) on the day of Pentecost illustrates, the experience transcends age and gender, as well as social, educational, and even ecclesial status. This new paradigm liberates ministry from a “properly trained few” to every believer.

In many male-dominant cultures, Pentecostal women excel in their leadership and mission engagements. My own Korean Pentecostal mother is a typical example. She struggled to feed and educate five of us, while suffering from a chronic heart disease. Her daily strength came from her deeply committed Christian life in a small Pentecostal church. She had barely completed her own elementary school education because of the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula between 1910 and 1945. Our home was always filled with young people from the church. All of them came from non-Christian families. My mother never failed to urge them to continue their studies. Because of her persistent campaign, even against opposition from their families, most of them continued on to their university education. Although never healed of her illness, she was relentless in believing that God can make great things happen.

Her story is rather common in many parts of the global South. For example, in Ethiopia, two of the largest Protestant denominations (with a combined membership of 15 million) adopted Pentecostal beliefs and practices during the communist era and developed an extensive system of private Christian schools run by women that continues today. These women proprietors, often with little education themselves due to poverty, open their garages, sitting rooms, or outdoor spaces to provide education to children of poor families. They have to raise funds, meet ongoing demands, and frequently fight government bureaucracy.

Schools like these are found in almost every part of the world where public education is too expensive for poor families. A strong sense of spiritual empowerment is a driving force for these women.

3) Commissioned: We are story-makers!

Pentecostal theology, born of ordinary people’s experiences, is a grassroots phenomenon. In Burkina Faso, the Catholic Church has about 1.9 million members and the Assemblies of God (a Pentecostal denomination) a little more than half that. But the Pentecostals have almost three times as many local churches than the Catholics do. Pentecostal congregations have reached large cities and small villages throughout the country. In Brazil, Pentecostals have 18 times more clerics per believer than the Catholic Church.

Where does this grassroots orientation come from? For Pentecostals, each believer is a maker of stories of God’s marvelous work in their lives. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, they are also story-makers in the lives of others—and, more significantly, they are eager to share these stories. It is story-telling evangelism rooted in music, art, and lively worship.

Pentecostal believers express their theology and stories in songs, prayers, and dances. This makes Pentecostals eager witnesses to God’s transformative work. This also explains in part the breadth of Pentecostal growth and the depth of its impact.

Too often Pentecostalism is associated with mass media “prosperity preachers” and a “health and wealth” ideology. These movements, though not dominant, are persistent. Where they flourish, the gospel is poorer and positive social contributions are few.

Pentecostalism is here to stay, and it comes with valuable gifts for the church and the world. But only recently have Pentecostals begun to diligently collect and theologize on their faith and experiences. This is beginning to happen through organizations and institutions such as the Society for Pentecostal Studies and the Pentecostal Theological Seminary in Cleveland, Tenn., through books such as Good News from Africa: Community Transformation Through the Church, and through the work of other scholars.

Churches around the world can benefit from Pentecostal strengths while also helping them fulfill their unique calling. The task is simply too great for the church to remain divided.