"The New Kind of Pentecostals are:
1.Those who do not claim exclusivity of the Holy Spirit to a particular denomination or church.
2. Those who respect other Christian denominations and traditions and are willing to fellowship, share and cooperate with them.
3.Those who believe that the unconditional love that is inspired & directed by the Holy Spirit in believers is the greatest sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
4. Those who share the Good News with all mankind, but in a manner full of grace and love and not through arrogance and “the-we-know-better-than-you-mentality...”
5. Those who believe that miracles, signs and wonders are still possible today, but one should not elevate these above the humility and the message of Jesus Christ. They are those who are against commercializing and merchandizing the gifts and signs of the Holy Spirit.
6. Those who do not tolerate any form of fear-theology and manipulation techniques in the name of the Holy Spirit in order to gain wealth, even for the ministry.
7. Those who believe in the grace that is in giving tithes and offerings but are against abusive and manipulative forms of preaching/using Malachi 3:8... Tithes and offerings should not be controlled and must come from the heart of the giver and not from the fear preached from the pulpit.
8. Those who may disapprove of the non-heterosexual lifestyle, but are not witch-hunting homosexuals. Instead of using hateful vocabulary toward homosexuals, they listen to and pray for them.
9. Those who are balanced in their theology on Israel/Zionism. New Kind of Pentecostals are those who aim to play the role of bridge builders between the Jews and Palestinians. For God loves both…
10. Those who are not only concerned with miracles, signs and wonders, but are also concerned with social justice, and with the poor, the oppressed, the orphans, the widows and the immigrants.
11. Those who respect other cultures’ and people’s convictions and even religions, and are willing to enter into a mutual dialogue with them, without any hidden agendas.
12. Those who respect and have a dialogue with other cultures, yet when it comes to any form of inhumane practices within these cultures, the New Pentecostals are willing to address them.
13. Those who are concerned with the environment and are willing to bring in Pentecostal input in caring for the creation.
14. Those who believe in the Bible as the inspired collection of Holy Scriptures, yet they use the scriptures to bring forth grace and mercy and offer blessings instead of doom and gloom theology.
15. Those who believe that leadership should be servant hood; that leaders should serve instead of being served. Leaders should sacrifice instead of demanding sacrifice. Leadership should be based on love and fellowship and not on spiritual rank.
16. Those who respect traditional churches, or organized churches, but believe that the real church is built of people and their relationship with God and with each other. They are those who believe that the church is not a “building”, but it is a part of God continually fulfilling kingdom."
Thursday, October 28, 2010
How this works
Here’s how this is going to work.
You can read Lee’s original post here, and we’ll also post a separate entry here on the blog.
There are 16 statements in total. To give us enough time to get our heads around each concept and give each of you time to provide thoughtful input, we’re going to look at one statement each month. We’ll get some guest posters to get the discussion going, and then it’s a free for all. We want your comments, and comments on comments!
If there is a particular statement you would like to explore by writing a more detailed post, or if you’ve done some research in a particular area and would like to share, let us know!
If there are people you know who would be interested in what we’re discussing, invite them along too.
We’re not out to bash Pentecostalism. We are part of this movement and we believe God has and is doing some amazing things among us. Sure, we’ve got our disagreements and our frustrations. No denomination is perfect. But we have chosen to stay part of this movement because there is much good, and we believe reformation is best done from within. The message of Pentecost hasn’t changed. But maybe we need to.
This is going to be fun . . .
~lg
You can read Lee’s original post here, and we’ll also post a separate entry here on the blog.
There are 16 statements in total. To give us enough time to get our heads around each concept and give each of you time to provide thoughtful input, we’re going to look at one statement each month. We’ll get some guest posters to get the discussion going, and then it’s a free for all. We want your comments, and comments on comments!
If there is a particular statement you would like to explore by writing a more detailed post, or if you’ve done some research in a particular area and would like to share, let us know!
If there are people you know who would be interested in what we’re discussing, invite them along too.
We’re not out to bash Pentecostalism. We are part of this movement and we believe God has and is doing some amazing things among us. Sure, we’ve got our disagreements and our frustrations. No denomination is perfect. But we have chosen to stay part of this movement because there is much good, and we believe reformation is best done from within. The message of Pentecost hasn’t changed. But maybe we need to.
This is going to be fun . . .
~lg
What are we doing here?
Hey Pentecostals, welcome to the conversation!
The idea for this blog started with a blog post from Josh Singh. He introduced me (Lindsey) to Samuel Lee, a Pentecostal pastor, thinker and writer currently living in Amsterdam, who is interested, among other things, in reforming Pentecostalism as we know it. (You can read Josh’s original post here.)
Samuel Lee has his own blog, in which he explores some of the issues on the current Pentecostal horizon. On July 1st, 2010, he posted a “possible statement of faith” for a “New Kind of Pentecostalism.” When Josh reposted this list of 16 statements, it really caught my eye.
Here was someone who wasn’t afraid to take a good look at the Pentecostal world we inhabit – the values we hold, the practices we engage in, our patterns of thinking, our cherished statements of fundamental and essential truths, our strengths and our weaknesses – and open it up for critique and dialogue. Granted, many of these statements arise from some of the abuses and extremes of Pentecostal thought, but overall the list provides a positive, balanced approach to reforming the worldwide movement that began just over a century ago.
And I don’t know about you, but I think Pentecostalism could use some reformation. So when I read the list, I immediately wanted to invite a few dozen of my best Pentecostal friends to the closest coffee shop for some discussion. What did they think about the list? Are these concerns valid? Is this the direction we need to go? Is this the equivalent of Luther’s 95 theses and is there a door somewhere we can nail to them to?
With said Pentecostal friends spread out all over the country, the next best thing I could think of was that great virtual Starbucks of the new millennium – the blogging world. Wouldn’t it be great to start a blog series discussing the premise of Lee’s manifesto and each of Lee’s statements? Wouldn’t it be great to invite a few “experts” to weigh in on different areas of Pentecostal thought? Wouldn’t it be great just to have a conversation about where we are now and where we think we might be heading? Wouldn’t it?!?
Josh thought it was a good idea, anyway. We figured we have enough Pentecostal friends and people interested in Pentecostal thought to make for a good discussion. If you agree, grab a cup of coffee and your laptop and meet us here at newpentecostals.blogspot.com.
~lg
The idea for this blog started with a blog post from Josh Singh. He introduced me (Lindsey) to Samuel Lee, a Pentecostal pastor, thinker and writer currently living in Amsterdam, who is interested, among other things, in reforming Pentecostalism as we know it. (You can read Josh’s original post here.)
Samuel Lee has his own blog, in which he explores some of the issues on the current Pentecostal horizon. On July 1st, 2010, he posted a “possible statement of faith” for a “New Kind of Pentecostalism.” When Josh reposted this list of 16 statements, it really caught my eye.
Here was someone who wasn’t afraid to take a good look at the Pentecostal world we inhabit – the values we hold, the practices we engage in, our patterns of thinking, our cherished statements of fundamental and essential truths, our strengths and our weaknesses – and open it up for critique and dialogue. Granted, many of these statements arise from some of the abuses and extremes of Pentecostal thought, but overall the list provides a positive, balanced approach to reforming the worldwide movement that began just over a century ago.
And I don’t know about you, but I think Pentecostalism could use some reformation. So when I read the list, I immediately wanted to invite a few dozen of my best Pentecostal friends to the closest coffee shop for some discussion. What did they think about the list? Are these concerns valid? Is this the direction we need to go? Is this the equivalent of Luther’s 95 theses and is there a door somewhere we can nail to them to?
With said Pentecostal friends spread out all over the country, the next best thing I could think of was that great virtual Starbucks of the new millennium – the blogging world. Wouldn’t it be great to start a blog series discussing the premise of Lee’s manifesto and each of Lee’s statements? Wouldn’t it be great to invite a few “experts” to weigh in on different areas of Pentecostal thought? Wouldn’t it be great just to have a conversation about where we are now and where we think we might be heading? Wouldn’t it?!?
Josh thought it was a good idea, anyway. We figured we have enough Pentecostal friends and people interested in Pentecostal thought to make for a good discussion. If you agree, grab a cup of coffee and your laptop and meet us here at newpentecostals.blogspot.com.
~lg
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