Four purpose statements of Perichorus:
1. A call for true Pentecostal revival.
2. Visioning a new kind of Pentecostal church for the postmodern world.
3. Conceptualising Pentecostal ethos through postmodern paradigms.
4. Encountering Jesus as the Baptiser in the Spirit.
A call for true Pentecostal revival
First, the blog envisions a new Pentecostal revival. Throughout the world, Pentecostalism has come to a crossroads. It now wanes as a revival movement. It wanes as all renewal movements do, when they fail to negotiate the eventual crossroads they must face, at the very crest of their existence.
This is a crossroads between two future paths. One is death as a dying, magisterially controlled traditionalism. Yet the higher path is that we evolve into a living tradition, which is faithful to its perennial calling as a needful communal gifting within the larger Christian faith tradition.
What was and remains this perennial calling of Pentecostalism? To proclaim through word and deed, God’s Year of Jubilee (Luke 4:16-19):
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor. . . .
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
Through a “latter day” outpouring of the Holy Spirit, God raised up the Pentecostal movement as a prophetic and apocalyptic witness to the coming Kingdom. This is a witness that calls the Church to her existence as a pilgrim community, by envisioning Kingdom realities that counter culturally challenge the prevailing realities of this present evil age.
“I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh . . .
Even upon my slaves, both men and women . . . I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”
We encounter this calling through the Pentecostal baptism in the Holy Spirit. Through this baptism in the Holy Spirit, God empowers us, especially the marginalised, towards the full fruit of redemption in all its complete spiritual, social, racial, economic and political ramifications. It is this calling, which throughout the history of its existence as a movement comprised the prophetic calling of Classic Pentecostalism.
Through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, God empowers the powerless with a “prophetic imagination.” This prophetic imagination has enabled us to dream of “new futures,” hopes, and yearnings so long denied and suppressed by the prevailing powers of this present age.
For this reason, Classic Pentecostalism received from God a revolutionary ethos. This is an ethos and spirituality directly arising from the seminal, embryonic and spiritual DNA of the Azusa Street Revival. This ethos was and still is a revolutionary manifestation of God’s Kingdom. It is a manifestation of the Kingdom breaking in, challenging the authority, and breaking the power of prevailing oppressive realities, which have separated us from one another. Moreover, this manifestation of God’s kingdom, which is the anointing of the Holy Spirit, delivers those whom it set free, into one heterogeneous community of the Spirit.
This was therefore an ethos, which empowered every believer into full immediate vocalised participation within the gathered community, regardless of education, race, or social strata. This was an ethos therefore privy towards the marginalised, so that our community may remain fixed towards a goal of complete social, racial, and demographic inclusiveness and reconciliation.
“Tongues of fire . . . came to rest on each of them.”
Because God has been pouring out His Spirit on “all flesh,” we speak in a new tongue that transcends every other social, racial, and demographic tongue, which previously demarked our separation from one another.
Yet Pentecostalism wanes because as a revival movement, so many of its communal centres and streams throughout the world are retreating from the movement’s seminal and perennial role within Christianity. The future of Pentecostalism hinges on whether we can once again recover our “prophetic imagination.”
Through this prophetic imagination, God speaks into us His dreams of a better world that is coming. It is coming and now here, though sometimes only manifest as a mustard seed. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Even now, the axe is laid at the root of the trees. But every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
The time has come to pray for a new Pentecost; a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We can pray for an “open heaven.” In times like these, we must also pray for a new Pentecost because the Pentecostal movement also needs a new “Pentecost.” We need to turn and again see the fire in the burning bush. As a movement that is now at a crossroads and waning through the forces of institutionalism, there is indeed much to turn from.
To further explore this discussion, visit and download the following keynote Perichorus manifesto essays:
Part 1: The Revolutionary Power of Pentecostal Spirituality
Part 2: The Decline of Pentecostalism as a Revival Movement
Part 3: A Vision for True Pentecostal Revival
You may also want to visit the posting titled, “The Space where Dreams are Born.”
Monte Lee Rice (© copyright September 2008)
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