Pentecostal Discussions

Sermon: Pentecostalism and Baptism in Spirit

by Shane Clifton

I am preaching this weekend, and i thought i would post the first draft of my sermon.  Its a bit long and needs a good edit - but you can give me your feedback and suggestions anyway ...

Introduction

This year, 2006, is the 100 year celebration of the Azusa Street revival that birthed the pentecostal movement.  Less than 100 years later, we are told that Pentecostal and charismatic churches now represent over 620 million people, and are found in every continent and over 230 countries around the world.

Now – I am an ecumenist – I love the whole church.  I’ve studied with Wesleyans and Anglicans, and I completed my PhD with the Australian Catholic University.  I know that God is at work in all the church but, at the same time, I am also proudly Pentecostal.  I wouldn’t swap our radical and sometimes strange brand of Christianity for a more conservative church.  I love being a Pentecostal, because to be a Pentecostal is:

-         to desire Baptism in the Spirit

-   to be open to the move of God’s Spirit

-         to expect that God’s presence will be manifest

-         to be optimistic that the Spirit can make a difference

-         to be empowered by the Spirit to proclaim the Kingdom

-         to know that the Spirit can use me however unimportant others think I am – and despite my own failures and problems and weaknesses.

The Saints Are Coming

by Shane Clifton

Just to make you all jealous, my wife and i are off to the Sydney u2 concert this monday night.  Here's a video of u2 with greenday in celebration.

Poverty and Ecology

by Shane Clifton

I would like to address a debate that has been underway between Josh Ballard and Kate Tennikoff in the comments section of this blog (see here)

Josh's concern is that the cost of fixing global environmental problems will distract us from focusing on the issue of poverty - that the money we spend on global warming would be better spent on world poverty.   This is a common view, and the argument against addressing climate change has further weight if people take the view that the mechanisms of capitalism and industrialization that are understood to contribute to third world development also contribute to pollution and other environmental problems - i.e. that we need to choose between economic development for the sake of the poor and environmental concerns. 

I would argue, however, that this is a false dichotomy.  Indeed, it is now generally accepted that the issues of human poverty and environmental destruction go hand in hand and further, that global society can and should work toward the goal of environmentally sustainable human development.