Church and Unity: Wolfgang Vondey on Ecclesiology and Ecumenism
The reasons for this rejection I noted in my review were exclusively ecclesiological: the relegation of the missional character of the church to the end of the discussion, the absence of a doctrine of the Holy Spirit for an understanding of the church, and as a result, the lack of consideration for spiritual gifts in church life and Christian practices that characterize the essence of the church. In contrast, Pentecostals, who themselves are struggling to formulate an ecclesiology, have generally equated the church with the mission of God instead of making mission one aspect of church practice among others. A Spirit-driven orientation is the hallmark of this Pentecostal endeavor and central to an understanding of Pentecostal practices.3 The neglect of these dimensions in the portrayal of Evangelical ecclesiology suggests strongly that Pentecostals are not Evangelicals in their understanding of the church, even if they are so otherwise.
I have laid out the contours of a Pentecostal ecclesiology elsewhere more fully.4 From a historical perspective, Pentecostalism in North America initially rejected the ecclesiological structures of Christendom altogether but then adopted them as a result of administrative and organizational as well as ecumenical pressures. A particularly close affinity with Evangelicals after World War II has resulted in what many have called an “evangelicalization” of classical Pentecostalism.5 The adoption of the evangelical mind-set has been described as exerting a negative impact on classical Pentecostalism, particularly on the role of sanctification, Spirit baptism, and speaking in tongues, as well as on the larger perspective of christological and pneumatological themes.6 While none of this critique is meant to exclude Pentecostals from fellowship with Evangelicals, it does suggest that classical Pentecostals also find the foundation of their understanding of what it means to be church in a different realm than that of Evangelicals.
The consequence of the adoption of evangelical ecclesiology by Pentecostals has been a shift away from a sectarian identity to recognizable ecclesiastical entity. However, as such, classical Pentecostalism is now identified as simply another add-on to the North American church landscape, another addition at the end of an ecclesiastical line, another example of the Evangelical or Free Church traditions, or, more broadly, another expression of Protestantism and the Reformation movements. While any of these characteristics may be found in the worldwide diversity of Pentecostal movements, I suggest that it does not form the center of a genuine Pentecostal ecclesiology. Granted such broad ecclesiological status, Pentecostalism has become simply one entity among others, a movement swallowed up by the competitiveness of the overall ecclesiological scheme and destined to be overcome by subsequent additions that continue to add to the diversity of ecclesial existence in the late modern world. In this sense, to identify Pentecostal ecclesiology with Evangelical ecclesiology is not an ecumenical alternative that contributes to the understanding of being-church among Pentecostals.
Category: Ministry, Spring 2011
Followers
Fans
