Where Do We Go From Here?

August 3, 2007, 10:30 am; posted by
Filed under Articles, David  | 1 Comment

What some Pentecostals term the “Latter Rain Movement” began on January 1, 1901 at a small Bible college in Topeka, Kansas. It was not “unlooked for,” as the school’s leader, Charles Parham, had become convinced that the baptism of The Holy Spirit (as described in the 2nd chapter of Acts) was still available and would appear again in the “last days,” accompanied by the initial physical evidence of speaking in tongues. Tongues would not be the point — that was evangelism. Tongues would simply serve as the initial physical evidence, just as it had in the early church.

Following a Watch Night service on New Year’s Eve in 1900, the Holy Spirit fell, and over the following weeks, several of the students experienced this baptism of the Holy Spirit, accompanied by what the Greek New Testament terms glossolalia, or tongues. The movement slowly spread to Texas, then on to San Francisco, where it burst onto the world scene during the Azusa Street revival of 1906. This was the birth of the Pentecostal movement. Pentecost is not a new thing, and it’s certainly not the only thing; it’s just the latest thing. It wasn’t people looking for a new fad, but rather people striving to recapture what the early church took for granted.

Between 1901 and 1988, the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement grew from a handful of students in Topeka, Kansas to 10 million adherents in the US — 51 million worldwide. The 2nd-largest Pentecostal denomination (Assemblies of God) was recognized as the fastest-growing denomination in America in 1983, and while mainline denominations were steadily losing ground through the 90’s (when measured as a total percentage of the US population), the AG church continued to grow (figures from Fields White Unto Harvest, by James R. Goff, Jr.).

So after 100 years of Pentecost, where are we now? According to statistics released by the Alabama District, Assembly of God, in 2005, membership in Pentecostal churches in America declined by 9% between 1995-2004, while the US population increased by 11%. In fact, in 2004, 85% of Pentecostal churches in the US were experiencing a plateau, or had declined in attendance. In Alabama, membership in AG churches decreased by 46 people at Sunday morning attendance from 2003 to 2004, and the Pentecostal movement’s 2nd-largest denomination only managed a net gain of 24 members statewide over the previous 5 years.

Why? What happened? Is the Pentecostal movement dead? Has it ground to a halt? Another study I read made the point that even the growth Pentecostal churches saw through the 90’s was a bit deceptive, because people weren’t being converted to Christianity, but rather shifting from mainline denominations. Why has the movement lost momentum?

Maybe because it’s been mixed with the American Dream and sold as “Faith and Prosperity” on the television? Maybe because it’s been exploited as fundraising material by unscrupulous men building earthly kingdoms, replete with mansions and luxury cars? Maybe because we’ve let TV evangelists become our theologians, robbing us of traditional Bible-based faith? For a large section of Christians in America, what we now believe is no longer decided by scholars but charlatans. Maybe we’ve taken what was once the answer from heaven for a group of hungry souls seeking the experience and power of the early church and packaged it in slick one-hour segments mass-marketed for high profit? And maybe it’s killing Pentecost.

I’m not alarmed that the Pentecostal Movement is apparently over, because I know the experience itself is here to stay. And it’s an experience that we need to cling to with a furious passion. I hope we will. But I’m a Christian and nothing more, so the demise of a particular sect or demographic within the Christian church doesn’t trouble me much. They’re only labels anyway. God moves, and when He’s done, men cast that move into stone and call it a denomination. I’m not sure God cares much for that process at all, but He’s always faithful to send us what Acts calls “times of refreshing from the presence of the LORD.”

But for some reason, every time I think about all this I hear the lines from that old 70’s rock standard: “And where do we go from here? Which is the way that’s clear?”


Comments

1 Comment to “Where Do We Go From Here?”

  1. Bob Simes on August 6th, 2007 10:59 am

    In my study of church history we have always been growing or shrinking. In a way that is good for us. It removes complacency. The Lord told us to be busy about His work, sharing the Word. Declining rolls is a spur to get out and spread the word.

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