Pentecostal Discussions

Lets talk about sex

by Shane Clifton

Next week in my ethics class, i am addressing the topic of sexuality.  What you might expect in a lecture on human sexuality is a list of “thou shalt nots”; of restrictions, of sexual sins etc. You expect this because ‘restriction’ has been the almost exclusive focus of the church in its discussion of human sexuality, a discussion which is essentially negative, which limits sexuality to genital activity, and which has resulted in people being manipulated by guilt and repression. Indeed, the history of the church's perception on these issues makes for interesting read

• Origen castrated himself, since he believed that prayer and sex were self-contradictory
•  St Anthony had a vision in which the devil took the shape of a woman and imitated all her acts simply to beguile him. His response was to repress his body and kept it in subjection.

Christianity and Politics - Kevin Rudd

by Shane Clifton - Citing Kevin Rudd

On the weekend, Mark Hutchinson and I attended the Australian Christian Heritage Forum at parliament house in Canberra.  It was a fascinating experience, gathering with prominant historians, politicians, church leaders and Christian professionals for the sake of reflecting on the extent to which Christianity has contributed to Australian society.  The point was not simply to contemplate a lost past, but to consider our "heritage" - what was described as useful history; that dimension of our history that will shape the values and direction of our future.

Mark and I will post some reflections on the forum later, but for now i thought it might be fun to get some response to the paper presented by Kevin Rudd, Christianity, the Australian Labor Party and current challenges in Australian politics, available at thee following address: http://www.kevinrudd.com/_dbase_upl/060807%20National%20Forum.pdf.   Note this is a partisan paper - and i am not personally advocating a political party.  But his comments are stimulating, particularly his comments on the relation between church and state, so i have set that out below (for full paper, follow the link above).

Tongues & Hobbes

by Shane Clifton

I "borrowed the above cartoon from a blog called "Sub Ratione Dei", by an "ex pentecostal" Richard Gillingham.  He makes the following comment about tongues that i thought might interest you (for his whole post, follow the link)

 

 

take a moment to laugh...

Women in Pentecostal Leadership: Why Not?

by Deborah Taggart

In his last post, Shane overviewed the current situation for woman in ministry in the AOG - basically, that while in AOG rhetoric women are acknowledged to be equally gifted and empowered by the Spirit, they are very under-represented in current credentialing statitistics, and completely unseen at the national leadership level. Why? Shane has asked me to respond to his question from my perspective as a female (called, I believe, to some kind of servanthood/leadership) in the pentecostal church.

One thing I noticed when reading through the AOG constitution is that while they used ‘he/she’ to describe people wishing to apply for PMCs (probatinary ministry certificate, hold that OK for a couple of years and you can apply to be ordained - OMC) and SMCs (special ministry certificate - this is non-progressive); the gender-inclusiveness stopped and it was all 'he' when it went on to talked about state and national office-holders.

I think in some ways it's because of the time clauses were added....'he' was more likely to be thought as an inclusive term when they wrote about the state and national office-holders....and then by the time they were adding clauses about PMCs and SMCs writing had moved to require 'he/she'. But nevertheless, when you read the constitution as a whole document it definitely feels like a barrier - and the very fact that it goes unnoticed probably points to (and reinforces) the subconscious picture in most people's minds that people on the state and national executive will be male.

Women in Ministry in the Assemblies of God

by Shane Clifton

We noted earlier Barry Chant’s observation that “over half the pentecostal congregations functioning [in Australia] by 1930 were established and led by women.”[1]  By 2001 in the Assemblies of God in Australia only four percent of senior pastors were women, and there were no women on the national executive, and across the executives of the various Australian states and territories, only one female representative.[2]  On the other hand, women held eighteen percent of the total number of AGA credentials, and up to forty percent of lower grade, subordinate credentials.[3]  Consequently, although women are heavily involved in ministry within the AGA, this involvement is generally restricted to particular types of ministry (children’s work, youth ministry, assistant pastoring).  In particular, women tend to be excluded from positions of church authority.