Spirit Freedom Power: Changes in Pentecostal Spirituality

1. Spirit Freedom Power
Changes in Pentecostal Spirituality
Dr Angelo Ulisse Cettolin
Fresco pictured inside catacomb in Rome (CNS photo/Max Rossi)

2. Foreword
 “It was Hellenism’s emphasis on unchanging rational forms… that
imprisoned the ancient world in eternally repetitive cycles with no
possibility of change. It took Jerusalem’s contrary view that
creation’s goodness was necessarily about the real possibility of
genuine growth that opened up the way… what Pentecostals have
unwittingly anticipated and answered-perhaps through the leading
of the Spirit?....[is] the needful primacy of the right brain with its
emphasis on the personal, the particular, the implicit, with room
for growth, and interconnection. Change in the world God created,
is to be expected.” (Rikk Watts, Professor of NT)

3. Spirituality
 “For Christians, “spirituality”
is more than just a human
quest or journey. It is an
attraction to the things of
the Spirit and the conscious
living of a Christian way of
life empowered by the Holy
Spirit” (xxi).

4. Pentecostal Spirituality
 “…particularly emphasizes God’s Spirit working in the
process of sanctification and empowerment for
ministry” (xxi).

5. Introduction
 “…my concern was for
Pentecostals to retain
their radical edge, being
faithful to their historic
roots, and yet still
develop a mature and
relevant spirituality for
this present day and
age” (XX).

6. Early Pentecostalism
 “William J. Seymour preached in a time of racial
tension. A descendant of slaves, he had to listen to
Parham’s lectures through an opened door sitting
outside his Bible class” (19).
 “…what was extraordinary about Seymour was his
spirituality enabling him to endure persecution from
Christians, non-Christians and white Pentecostals
without becoming embittered” (19).

7. Distinctive Experience
 ‘Speaking in tongues was to become the point of
demarcation between Pentecostalism and other
previous revival movements that were also marked by
various emotional phenomena, but none had enshrined
such experiences in a biblical doctrine before’. (27)

8. Classical Pentecostal Spirituality
 “Spirit baptism is seen as a distinct experience
subsequent to conversion and followed by tongues
speaking as the initial evidence.” (45)

9. Australian Pentecostalism
 ‘It was primarily a middle class movement…“deprivation
theories” have proven inadequate to explain the origins
and character of Pentecostalism in Australia’. (23)

10. Current Pentecostal Spirituality
 Experience still
important
 Influence of
Evangelicalism
 Tensions between
beliefs & practices

11. Research Insights
 “ The aim was to discover
whether the current
practices of ..pastors
indicated they were
confining themselves to
the classical written
doctrinal position, or
whether their emphasis
was more on the
experience of the working
of the Holy Spirit and the
exercise of the spiritual
gifts.” (45-46)

12. National Survey of Pastors
 Experiences &
Practices
 Private Devotional Life
 Church Services
 Community Service
 Beliefs & Attitudes
 A Mixed Picture

13. Contemporary
Pentecostals
 Growth
 Influence of Charismatic & Neo-
Pentecostals
 Changes in Style & Structure
 New Networks
 Social Political involvement
 Worship Music
 Tension Charisma & Structure

14. Pentecostal Spiritual Practices are Changing
 Less classical expressions of gifts in
church
 More mainline forms
 More community engagement
 More Charismatic & Third Wave
approaches

15. Change is in the Air
 Spirituality more institutionalized but not more routinized!
 A classic movement has been revitalised
 More people are being reached
 Institutional tension with freedom in Spirit must be tolerated
 Theological development of a truly Trinitarian Pentecostal
church structure and wider understanding & renewed
emphasis on Spirit baptism

16. Constant Reform & Renewal
 ‘….[the] spirituality remains Pentecostal but it is
delivered and styled in increasingly “contemporary
clothes”. It is still oriented on EXPERIENCE with the
Holy Spirit but is reflecting a more educated and
affluent Western cultural context.’(113)

17. Finally…
 “…it might just be that the essential spirituality of
Pentecostalism—the dynamic experience [of] God’s
power and freedom—has caught something of what it
means to be his designers in a world characterized by
change.”
 Rikk Watts, Professor of New Testament
Regent College 2016