Pentecostal Discussions

Pentecostal Devotions

Just thought I'd mention beginning of our new devotional blog - daily devotions written by SCC staff and students as we integrate our study with our spirituality....

http://scc.typepad.com/devotions

Be blessed, inspired and challenged :)

Feminism through Mina Ross Brawner

by Shane Clifton

I have been asked to include some Scripture - but rather than do this myself, i thought i would continue followng the 1930 insight of Brawner.  After the introductory testimony, she proceeds to investigate the status of Women in the Scripture via a monthly analysis (January 1929 to March 1930) that moves from Genesis to the New Testament. Her argument will be familiar to modern readers, but was unique for Pentecostals in its day. She begins with the equality of men and women created together in the image of God, further observing the important status of Eve as ‘the mother of all living’. Perhaps controversially, she takes the common view that ‘the female was the aggressor in the tragedy of the Fall’ [1] (a position with which i disagree - but which probably comes from Paul's letter to Timothy, ignoring other Scriptures giving responsibility for the fall to Adam).  Brawner concludes from this ‘the fatal friendliness with the serpent cost the woman her freedom’, and the result was subjection to male authority, domination and even tyranny. 

Christian Feminism

by Shane Clifton

As my friends would be aware, i consider myself a Christian feminist - that is, i believe that Christian theology (and Pentecostal spirituality) encourages the view that men and women are equal, both ontologically and functionally.  More than just believing in equality, I would consider myself a feminist because I actively seek to encourage the liberation and elevation of women to positions of authority and leadership in homes, in churches and in society. 

I would contend that this is the orthodox Pentecostal position - despite what you might have been told about supposedely conservative pentecostal persepectives.  Pentecostal history shows us that the Spirit empowers people irrespective of gender.  As Barry Chant notes, commenting on early Australian pentecotalism, "the first Pentecostal church was pioneered and pastored by a women, Sarah Jane Lancaster, and over half of the assemblies established prior to 1930 were brought into being by women, and often led by women as well"[1] 

One of those early Australian Pioneers was Mina Ross Brawner, and i thought it would be inspiring to start this series of posts with some insight from her.

The Emerging Missional Church: A SWOT Analysis (Part 6)

by Deborah Taggart

Conclusion

Having examined some of the major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the EM church, what now? We can rejoice in its strengths: the variety and experimentation, the intentional engaging with culture, the emphasis on building community, the culture of self-critiquing, and the space allowed for mystery within an integrated, holistic faith that leads to personal and social transformation. We can embrace the opportunities that our current setting presents: the cultural change around us and the newness and adjustability of the EM movement.

 

But what about the weaknesses? What do we do with a movement without clear definition and direction, which is prone to unfair stereotyping, false dichotomies and exclusivity? If we pause to put this in historical perspective, we can then acknowledge that the church has never been perfect in practice (as a quick glance through Paul’s letters to the Corinthians might remind us) or theology (as we can see in the disagreements between Paul and Peter in Galatians).

The Emerging Missional Church: A SWOT Analysis (Part 5)

by Deborah Taggart

Threats

While many aspects of the EM church’s environment offer opportunities, there are also threats to be overcome on the journey to healthy, sustainable development.

 

Common Threats to Church Plants

Firstly, as most EM churches are new churches starting from scratch, they will face many of the same threats as any other church planting team. George Lings and Stuart Murray^[1] identify some of the issues that are often unexpectedly troublesome: the pressure of keeping motivation alive; the attrition of weekly setting-up; ceaseless creativity in worship; a constant multifaceted learning curve; a widening agenda as the church matured; and a misunderstanding by surrounding churches.

The Emerging Missional Church: A SWOT Analysis (Part 4)

by Deborah Taggart

 

Opportunities

Not only are there strengths and weaknesses within the EM movement itself, but there are also outside factors which can help us examine its potential.

 

Cultural Change

Many people see the EM church poised to reach several of the needs and orientations that people now have due to cultural change in Western society. Michael Moynagh^[1] lists various key changes, such as:

• the fading out of churches – churches that pop up ‘outside of the box’ can attract people’s attention;
• the urban struggle for time and money – churches can revise what expectations are placed on their congregations and how they find and use their financial and human resources;
• hyper choice (personalised consumerism) – people are looking for churches that meet them on a personal level and share their values (this would also need to be challenged, as an encounter with Christ and his church should challenge some of our values, not simply cater to all our personal preferences);
• spiritual spending – people’s consumer choices are often towards ‘products’ in which they hope to find “identity, acceptance, belonging, connection to the whole and meaning”^[2] – all of which the church and faith in Jesus can supply. Another inroad for EM churches is their emphasis on social justice – the secular world is becoming increasingly sympathetic to ‘good causes’, and they are more likely to connect with churches who want to ‘make poverty history’ than with those who are only pointing their fingers at “litmus test issues as homosexuality and abortion”^[3];
• experience economy (shopping, eating, and activities are geared toward not just another boring consumption, but creating atmosphere and memories – ‘an experience’) – there is an opportunity to create churches that don’t just have ‘services’ comprised of standard segments, but instead where rich experiences can be created, where the synergy of creativity, atmosphere, community, transformation, service and symbolic actions combine to help people enter into an experience of God’s Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven”[4];
• liquid lives (people live flexibly with transitions, ages, expectations and life choices) – times, demographics and expectations can be remixed into a surprising ‘church cocktail’; and,
• relational recreation (people’s relationship-building is shaped by their choices of leisure and consumption) – so church groups can gather and evangelise enjoyably, centred around relationships and shared leisure preferences, rather than having to approach people with whom they have little in common.

 

The Emerging Missional Church: A SWOT Analysis (Part 3)

by Deborah Taggart

 

Weaknesses

Having discussed the main strengths of the EM movement, we now turn to examine some of its weaknesses and how they may be overcome.

Lack of Clear Definition and Direction

The newness of the EM church and the nature of its reaction against ‘5 steps to church success’ and ‘one-size-fits-all’ models has meant that many EM churches are hesitant to define themselves or lock themselves into a certain method, description or category. While this can be helpful and allow a church to move forward rather than stagnate; it can also be counterproductive to have a lack of direction. As Kim Hammond admits, “my fear for the emerging church is that it defines itself by what it isn’t”^[1]. Alan Roxburgh points out, “in too many ways, it is still reacting to the immediate past of the church in the West, and no movement of reaction brings real innovation”^[2]. It is all too easy for many EM churches to identify the flaws of other church models and practices, but their real fruit will show as they continue to move from simply protesting about problems to creating and implementing positive solutions.

The Emerging Missional Church: A SWOT Analysis (Part 2)

by Deborah Taggart

Strengths
Variety and Experimentation
Firstly, a major strength of the emerging missional church is their willingness to be flexible with culture and experiment with something new, all part of what Sweet identifies as “our continuing struggle, as followers of Christ in a changing culture, to live out the meaning of the incarnation”^[1]. This flexibility and experimentation leads to a wide variety of EM churches (hence the definition problems discussed earlier), so Moynagh writes of an Anglican church in Halifax, England, that has started a Monday Lunch Box (communion and lunch service, attracting people who don’t go to church on a Sunday, and are asking to be baptised) and also of Saddleback church in California where they have a video café service (offering a choice of worship styles, smaller crowds, and videotaped sermon)^[2]. Although these churches differ in structure and style, both have decided to move beyond the traditional forms of church to create a worship gathering that will resound with local people. Variety in types of church is important not only contextually, but also culturally – moving away from one-size-fits-all church models is an important step towards reaching out to the growing numbers of people who, wearying of the standardisation that came with modernity, are looking for personalisation^[3].

The Emerging Missional Church: A SWOT Analysis (Part 1)

Last year (on the way to a babysitting gig) I was introduced to the movement known as the emerging or missional church (let's just call it the EM church from hereon in). Hearing just a few examples of what it can be like had me salivating; this was the kind of thing I had been dreaming about creating in my church-to-be. 'You mean to tell me there are other people out there who have these kind of crazy unusual random ideas about doing church differently?! Like really differently??!' So Shane suggested I do an independent guided study....which means a whole subject's credit for reading and writing about the things I dream about, plus an excuse to go on a research trip to Melbourne! As you can guess, I did it! So what follows is my essay, broken into a five part series. Part 1 deals with the (lack of) definition, parts 2 and 3 look inside the EM church, examining its strengths and weaknesses; parts 4 and 5 look at its environment, noting opportunities and threats; and part 6 is a conclusion which I may have to rewrite depending on how much you and all your comments enlarge me! So, read and comment away on part one...