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"Pentecostals have not always felt comfortable
with relating to the wider society, but this is something that is
gradually changing. the history and theology of Pentecostalism
certainly makes room for engagement with society, especially because
of the freedom bring about by the Pentecostal experience. One of the
results of the experience of the Spirit is what I term a
'Pentecostal theology of liberation'. On issues of discrimination or
equality on the basis of race, class or gender, Pentecostals and
Charismatics have sometimes led the way, but they have also faltered
between extremes and capitulated to the prevailing society.
Pentecostals have been accused of a spirituality that withdraws from
'worldly' issues like politics and the struggle for liberation and
justice, and of proclaiming a gospel that either spiritualizes or
individualizes social problems. The result, some say, has been a
'pie in the sky' approach that has encouraged accepting present
oppressive conditions or has led to the 'health and wealth' gospel
that makes material gain a spiritual virtue. The dichotomization of
church and state into 'secular' and 'spiritual' spheres has
continued in recent years. ... All this betrays the ethos of the
beginnings in an impoverished black mission at Azusa Street, which
defied so many social mores of the time. Pentecostal roots in the
socially active revivalist and Holiness movements of the nineteenth
century resulted in a commitment by some early Pentecostals to the
the struggle for social transformation. But in the USA this soon
changed. ...
"There is an increasing awareness of the
potential in Pentecostalism for a politically and socially relevant
engagement, particularly because of its tendency to attract the
marginalized and working class people. ... Many Pentecostal and
Charismatic leaders still need to be convinced of the need to be
more involved in social protest, and that this will not deflect them
from their central 'spiritual' focus. ...
"The Spirit of God brings a liberation that
is holistic, not only in that which is confined to the 'spiritual'
sphere. If freedom is always the result of receiving the Spirit,
then true freedom or liberation is an integral part of Pentecostal
experience. ...
"Early Pentecostals were involved in
socio-political criticism, including opposition to war, capitalism,
and racial discrimination. African American Pentecostals have been
at the forefront of the civil rights movement. Throughout the world
today Pentecostals are involved in practical ways caring for the
poor and the destitute, those often 'unwanted' by the larger
society. ... We must not write off Pentecostals and Charismatics as
hopeless, otherworldly, only concerned with private morality and
irrelevant as far as society's needs are concerned. They may have
only just begun, but an enormous transformation is now taking
place."
An Introduction to Pentecostalism by
Allan Anderson (Reader in Pentecostal Studies, U. of Birmingham),
Cambridge Univ Press, 2004, p. 261, 264, 266, 269, 276, 277.
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