Global Pentecostal Renaissance? Reflections on Pentecostalism, Culture, and Higher Education, by Jeff Hittenberger

Pentecostal colleges contribute to Global Pentecostal Renaissance through the liberal arts. Many Pentecostal colleges and universities offer strong liberal arts programs, such as the newly revised “Frameworks” curriculum at Evangel University, which features thematic, interdisciplinary courses including one entitled simply “Pentecost.”³² Humanities faculties at Pentecostal institutions include notable poets, playwrights, fiction writers, and historians.

Pentecostal colleges contribute to Global Pentecostal Renaissance through music and fine arts. Many outstanding music programs are making an impact on students’ lives and on the world at Pentecostal colleges and universities. The highly-regarded Lee University choir was invited to sing at this year’s Presidential inauguration.³³ Vanguard University’s Theatre program is one of only two Council of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) institutions accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre.³⁴ Vanguard’s Music program frequently ministers internationally and travels regularly to China for concerts.³⁵ Increasingly, Pentecostal universities are also offering programs in film production and digital media.

Pentecostal colleges contribute to Global Pentecostal Renaissance through science and technology. Regent University College of Science and Technology in Accra, Ghana, is perhaps the first Pentecostal institution launched specifically to prepare students in the sciences.³⁶ Scientific research is being carried out at a number of Pentecostal institutions, as is deep reflection on the interface between science and Pentecostal Christianity, as evidenced by the publication of Science and Spirit: A Pentecostal Engagement with the Sciences.³⁷ A number of Pentecostal institutions such as Northwest University, Oral Roberts University (ORU), and Vanguard University are leading the way in preparing nurses and other students who seek to serve in health fields. ORU’s engineering program is sending engineering students on international missions trips.³⁸

Pentecostal colleges contribute to Global Pentecostal Renaissance through social and behavioral sciences. Graduates of Bethany University and Vanguard University were instrumental in launching Latin American Child Care (which educates tens of thousands of children in Christian schools) and Enlace (which has created a powerful model of church-based community development in El Salvador).³⁹ Convoy of Hope (an international relief agency)⁴⁰ was launched by brothers who graduated from Evangel University and Bethany University. Vanguard’s Global Center for Women and Justice⁴¹ is making a phenomenal contribution to AG efforts to combat human trafficking. Outstanding programs in Psychology prepare counselors at many Pentecostal institutions and a number of these engage students in service in the United States through organizations like Royal Family Kids Camps (an organization ministering to thousands of foster children, founded by an alumnus of a Pentecostal institution),⁴² and internationally.⁴³

Pentecostal colleges are also contributing to Global Pentecostal Renaissance through programs in business, education, student development, spiritual formation and many other programs too numerous to catalog here.⁴⁴ The reader is encouraged to visit the website of the Alliance for AG Higher Education⁴⁵ and the individual websites of Pentecostal colleges and universities not mentioned above (such as the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, Pentecostal Theological Seminary, Emmanuel College (Georgia), Life Pacific College, North Central University, Southeastern University, Southwest Assemblies of God University, Valley Forge Christian College, and many others), as well as those in other countries (like Hansei University [South Korea], West African Advanced School of Theology [Togo], Universidad Cristiana de las Asambleas de Dios [El Salvador], and Asia Pacific Theological Seminary [Philippines]),⁴⁶ for regular updates on initiatives of the kind described above.

Pentecostal institutions of higher education offer a unique environment for integrating a passion for God with a passion for learning and creative expression and a passion for redemptive service and mission.

In the midst of the significant challenges they must navigate, Pentecostal institutions of higher education continue to equip students to commit their lives and God-given gifts to His glory and for the transformation of people’s lives, whatever their field and wherever they serve around the world.

One final reflection on the contribution of Pentecostal colleges and universities has to do with a possible objection to the use of the term “Renaissance” and the emphasis of this essay on higher education. One might suspect that this term implies a kind of elitism. Given that Pentecostals now have opportunities to participate in higher education and other social and cultural institutions from which they were previously excluded, the temptation to status consciousness is real. Drawing on The Lord of the Rings imagery, I have elsewhere referred to this as the temptation of the Ring, or the temptation to grasp at educational achievement as a pathway to social power on terms defined by secular society rather than as an opportunity to serve Christ and His kingdom.⁴⁷

A true Global Pentecostal Renaissance, however, must be inclusive of all, recognizing in authentic Pentecostal fashion that all people receive gifts to share and must be welcomed and encouraged to do so. A Global Pentecostal Renaissance encourages all believers to express their gifts with confidence, as illustrated by this personal example.

Tags: culture, education, global, hittenberger, pentecostal, pentecostalism, reflections, renaissance

Category: Living the Faith, Pneuma Review, Spring 2013