Pentecostalism and Ecumenism: Past, Present, and Future (Part 2 of 5) by Amos Yong
My next two observations will be much more succinctly stated. I am concerned that Pentecostals continue to perpetuate the idea that all mainline or established churches are spiritually dead. This is especially disconcerting in view of the charismatic renewal movement that has swept the world during the past two generations. Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, Disciples of Christ, Episcopalians/Anglicans, United Church of Christ members, Baptists of all stripes, and even Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians have all been touched and transformed by fresh encounters with the Holy Spirit. All of these denominations and churches have charismatic churches and have developed ministries designed to foster and nurture charismatic experience, piety, and mission. And while some who have experienced the Holy Spirit have left to join Pentecostal churches, many have chosen to remain committed members of these mainline churches and are fervent ecumenists. On the other hand, we have also recently begun to see many leave Pentecostal churches for mainline, Catholic and Orthodox churches because of their depth of tradition, the richness of their liturgy, and the sense of greater connectedness that Christian life within these communities evoke. How can Pentecostals continue to believe that those involved in the ecumenical movement are apostate or lukewarm churches in the last days?
Finally, even if we grant that the established churches are, generally speaking, spiritually dead, given the revivalist fervor that the charismatic renewal movement has had in some quarters of these churches, I believe that we as Pentecostals have an obligation to engage these churches and be instruments for their further renewal and revival. We can and should take heart from the difference that even one person can make. I am thinking about the life work of one of the first globally recognized Pentecostal ecumenists, David DuPlessis. Here was a man who was obedient to the Spirit’s leading to take the pentecostal message to the mainline churches, and he experienced rejection by his Pentecostal community in the process of doing so. Yet it is undeniable that this one man was a catalyst for the charismatic renewal in the mainline churches. And, what else does it mean to be such catalysts other than we be Pentecostal ecumenists? How else can we hope to be used of God apart from engaging in the ecumenical task? Not to take up this challenge will render a guilty verdict on the charge that Pentecostals are guilty of continuing to perpetuate the scandal of Christian disunity before a world looking for the love of God.
Category: Ministry, Pneuma Review, Spring 2001
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