I recently spent five days in my second D – Min class considering the topic of “The Future of Pentecostalism.” The multiple books required for the class plus cohort interaction intensified my yearning for a culturally relevant, contextually consistent, Pentecostal outpouring in the USA, especially in Kansas. The history of the North American church shows God maintaining His interest level to reveal His presence and power to hungry people. The multiple great awakenings in the colonial days, pre-Civil War revivals, plus the numerous Pentecostal and Charismatic outpourings in the 1900’s indicate we should set our hearts and prepare…

ourselves to receive another surge of His presence and power in this state and nation.
Something else I learned came from our elder cousins, the early Methodist. Their stated goal was to reform the continent and spread scriptural holiness. The average Methodist circuit rider expected to live to about 33. A common statement people made during extremely harsh weather was, “nothing will be out in this except crows and Methodist preachers.” At that time, the continental population contained Native Americans and multiple generations of immigrants from around the world. The Methodist goal echoes my heart and goal for Kansas. However, reforming Kansas necessitates a supernatural harvest among the white population since our demographics reveal more than 90 percent of the state is white. Therefore, an awakening among white Pentecostal churches must occur and provide a local homogonous harvest while not neglecting any potential for interracial harvest as occurred during the first 20 years of Pentecostalism.

How intense is our (my) hunger? What are you and I willing to do for a fresh, culturally relevant, contextually consistent, Pentecostal outpouring in this district?

“Dying millions” have names like Sarah, Juan, Ali, Annie, Rosa. Some are displaced by earthquake devastation, others walk miles to find water which probably will not be safe but they must still drink it. Some live in sophisticated, urbane apartments, others in mud huts. Some farm with $500,000 equipment and others use stone age tools.

These “dying millions” live in Kansas, Africa, Haiti, Europe, Indonesia, my neighborhood and your town. They may not know they are “reaching for the message from above” but they are.

Giving them this Pentecostal gospel through methods and language they understand IS our mission. Local strategies differ but a local strategy is imperative. The Spirit is ready to act alongside us IF we will mobilize the people of God to act with His compassion and passion.

In one of his last letters home, Orin Munger told his family and friends, “It is not in great numbers of missionaries that the evangelism of the world lies, but in the intense glow with which the firebrands burn.”

“Holy Spirit, I agree with Your desire to reignite the intensity of your Flame with corresponding strategies for action in me and in every Pentecostal leader in the Assemblies of God, Kansas District. Please do this for the fame of YOUR name and the sake of the “dying millions.”

In Jesus’ name!

In his new book “The Last TV Evangelist” Phil Cooke quotes David Kinnaman – President of the Barna Research Group – who found through his research that the public uses the following words to describe Christians: 

Anti-homosexual – 91%
Judgmental – 87%
Hypocritical – saying one thing, doing another – 85%
Old-fashioned – 78%
Too involved in politics – 75%
Out of touch with reality – 72%
Insensitive to others – 70%
Boring – 68%

Wow! As I look at this list, it hurts and feels unfair! I know I’m not like that! (At least I hope I don’t come across like that.) However, how it feels and how unfair it may be really is irrelevant. Without relationship and conversation with us, the people who describe us in such unpleasant terms will probably not change their opinion.

It seems clear in the gospels that “non Christ followers” didn’t find Jesus very “anti” anything except the religionist of the day. (They seem to fit the above list quite well.) What has happened to the church Jesus designed? Has the North American church moved so far from the personality of our living Founder? If our target audience seems to think so, it doesn’t matter what we think. What are we doing to redefine what “Christian” looks and sounds like?

And how about the last on the list? Fully 68% of the public describe us as BORING! If that stems from our living a righteous life – fine! However, if that stems from no obvious zest for life, an absence of hope or economic anxiety, etc., then I guess the shoe fits. If I am full of the Spirit, I won’t need to “wear” that shoe.

The opinion I find most intriguing is that 78% say we are “out of touch with reality.” OK, if “reality” is that no intelligent designer set the universe in order and that we are randomly connected cells floating through the cosmos without guiding purpose or accountability to a Creator, then I am guilty of being “out of touch with reality.”

I just pray I can connect with some of these people and be enough like Jesus to reshape their opinion enough so they will actually consider the claims of this living King and submitting their lives to Him.

A simple Google search using the word spirituality provided a plethora of resources and divergent ideas about spirituality. A few of the options available are: atheistic spirituality, Native American spirituality, Christian Science’s brand of spirituality, and multi-faith websites boasting spirituality boosts from forward thinking Christians, Muslims, Jews and atheists. It seems obvious we need a clear definition of Pentecostal spirituality in the public arena. This imperative task of defining and declaring awaits a thoughtful response.

Clarification is also necessary within our Assemblies of God subculture. At some point in General Council events, comments surface indicating a waning Pentecostal ethos as it relates to Pentecostal Spirituality. The concern centers on younger leaders becoming merely evangelical or leaning toward evangelical ministry principles, thereby casting aside historic Pentecostal foundations. If that is true, and anecdotally it seems the case in multiple pockets of the General Council, then definitive, cogent explanations, conversations of appreciative inquiry and holistic, transferable practices are necessary if we hope to convey our model of Pentecostal spirituality to succeeding generations.

Such transference will happen best in a relational context. The psalmist stated, “Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation…” Unless we clarify our personal model of spirituality and practice it, we cannot declare it meaningfully to the next generation, no matter how relationally savvy we live. (For more thoughts defining Pentecostal Spirituality.)