My Personal, Contextual and Theological Reflections on Pentecostal Spirituality

My Personal, Contextual and Theological Reflections on Pentecostal Spirituality

Pentecostal Spirituality & Practices

Patrick C. Tan

October 8, 2009

I practically grew up in the Pentecostal tradition. My parents got saved (received Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of their lives) back in 1989 at Asia Pacific Theological Seminary (APTS). It was a Lenten family retreat of what would become our home church. It was also there that my mother experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Coming from a Roman Catholic, Buddhist and Taoist multi-religious backgrounds (as most Filipino-Chinese people are) this was a new experience for us. And shortly after we start coming to our new church, my father and I got baptized in the Holy Spirit also. So practically I grew up in a Christian tradition I would learn in the recent years as classical Pentecostalism. I have seen its ups and downs. And this paper will highlight my reflections on our spirituality as I continue to discover its richness, especially going through Pentecostal Spirituality and Practices class this semester.

This class has helped me realize the beauty of our tradition. It is indeed a Christian tradition rich in heritage considering it is still a relatively young movement compared to others. Here are three things I would like to highlight about the strengths of our movement:

(1) Our intimate affection with the Holy Spirit. First of all, this does not discount the beauty of Christ’s redemptive work in us, as well as the Father’s love for us. What I want to point out is that the strength of our movement is that we have not neglected the work and authority of the Holy Spirit (as compared to other traditions who let the Holy Spirit take the backseat). Our familiarity with the Holy Spirit and his work allowed us to experience empowerment and unique spirituality as told in the Scriptures: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you …” (Acts 1:8). Jesus himself told the disciples to wait and embrace the Holy Spirit as he will be our parakletos, one who comes alongside. And this is very true. The Holy Spirit is the one coming alongside us in our spirituality, ministry and witness. Through baptism in the Holy Spirit, we are empowered for transformation of ourselves, the body of believers and our community.

As a student of faith and Christian systems, I find it difficult to understand why this gift is untapped by many of us, some “modern” Pentecostals and non-Pentecostals alike. The idea that the Holy Spirit’s work of baptism, endowment of spiritual gifts, and manifestation of healing, signs and wonders has ceased in the modern church (as some “anti-charismatics” argue and support through 1 Corinthians 13:8) is unbiblical (for there never had been a transition or re-establishment of the God’s church from early church until today), and not to mention truly out of context. I feel that to deny this work of the Holy Spirit is limiting his work and limiting ourselves towards a more intimate spirituality and a more potent ministry.

(2) Our missional fellowship. I got this term in reading Steve Land’s book. And indeed it sums one of our core identities as a movement. We are a missional fellowship. We are a body of believers, redeemed through Christ and empowered through the Holy Spirit. But to neglect our purpose to go into all the world and make disciples is likened to a chicken with its head cut off—without the purpose of mission and discipleship, we fail to live up to our calling as Pentecostals. I like what Dr. Chuck Quinley said about church programming: If it does not help (directly or indirectly) produce Christian conversions, it’s not worth investing one’s time, money and effort on. I feel that today it’s as if many Pentecostal churches have become short-sighted of this calling. Our members are not empowered to become witnesses in their spheres of their influence. Some local churches are (our church for one) more concerned with “many things” rather than the “one thing”. I am coming from a church environment that is like this, but I rejoice that many churches are fulfilling the reason for their existence in a community. And on my part it is my duty to struggle in constant dialogue and creation of change agents in our local church; because if we blur our identity as a missional fellowship, we might go somewhere, but not where God wants us to go. Despite these inner struggles, I also rejoice with the fact that (the Pentecostal denomination) Assemblies of God are at the forefront of local missions (church planting) through its focused vision, passionate and driven leaders, and systematic and strategic approach to local missions.

(3) Our integration in Pentecostal spirituality. Another thing I learned in this class through my readings is what Steve Land called spirituality “integration” of Pentecostals. Many times he mentions in one way or another the significance of doing a holistic spirituality. This means that our spirituality is not two-dimensional but a living whole. Our convictions are not held through the biases of orthodoxy (beliefs and doctrines). It is not meaningless expressions (orthopraxy). And definitely and should not be a bias of mere experiences (orthopathy). I feel that these are entry points of the enemy in order to discredit us of our influence and credibility in the Christian and secular society, especially in way of experience and expressions. Pentecostals are often criticized for our dependence on experience with the absence of critical analysis and proper discernment of these experiences. Our experiences cannot be discredited, but it would be better if we are able to bring the study and affirmation of the Word of God alongside it. Expressions should not be merely expressions without right motivations, but our expressions must be tied up with what we believe and what we have experienced. Pentecostal spirituality is beautiful because it is not two-dimensional but a vibrant and holistic spirituality affecting all our faculties.

Opportunities and Threats

Our young movement has a lot more ground to cover and discover for aggressive expansion. Here are some things that I feel we still need to develop if we want to continue to grow as a movement.

(1) Social responsibility. I believe that for the Pentecostals in the Philippines our next move should be towards “visibility” in society. Let me explain. In a related class (Holiness-Pentecostal and Charsimatic Movements with Ptr. Toto Gustillo), I became aware of our need as a church to “penetrate the social structures” of our society. Roman Catholicism became the nation’s dominant religion and wields great influence over various sectors of our community because they penetrated the social structures of the nation when in the early days they erected churches and schools in the community, they prioritized not only on proselytizing by word, but through civic and social initiatives. In a way, they dissolved into the Filipino’s everyday living. Another example given is Methodists in the Philippines that display the concept of the “influential few”, they may be small in numbers, but their memberships are from influential sectors of government and society (the first Protestant president was a Methodist), not to mention their abundant resources. It is this kind of dissolving distinction the sacred and secular that we Pentecostals need to move towards. Today, Pentecostal churches are starting to be involved in society through our outreaches and missions, but when we evaluate our motives it still boils down (for some) to our desire for church and numerical growth and proselytizing). We erect schools for the purpose of fund raising. Our motivation must be elevated or “upgraded” from this to long-term means of establishing God’s reign in the seats of our society.

(2) Scholarship and resources. Being a young movement opens up a lot of doors for inquiry and critical scholarship of our beliefs, traditions and experiences. And like I mentioned earlier, Pentecostal cannot deny its experiential spirituality, instead we must strengthen our traditions and experiences by scholarship. I am glad on personal account that I continue to see Pentecostal ministers (especially the younger generation of ministers) equip and train themselves by going in to bible schools and seminaries. Our expression “as the Spirit leads” must now be applied in proper context of the bible and ministry. Experience is good, but we should also be equipped in leadership, administrative and financial management. This is one way we could improve our movement. Another is our need to produce more resources that edifies our Pentecostal beliefs and tradition. For example, most if not all the resources I read and listen to come more from non-Pentecostal traditions. We may have popular books but most of them are experiential, only few have written about theology and scholarship. This is one window of opportunity we can explore and take the reins on.

With these in mind, and after what I have heard and learned in this class and semester, I am faced with the challenge to apply them and contextualize them in my realm of ministry, particularly in my ministry towards the Filipino-Chinese community and youth, campus and student ministries.