PCTII Newsletter #18

2003-2005

The first Retreat for Pentecostal and Charismatic Peacemakers was held October 7-9, 2005 outside Dallas, Texas. Sponsored by the Pentecostal/Charismatic Peace Fellowship, the event was c0-chaired by Dr. Paul Alexander, Ms. Shelley McMullin and Marlon Milner. The local hosting duties were ably handled by Ms. Christa Savely. The event attracted about 30 persons who came from California to Colorado to Tennessee. The program featured a mixture of Pentecostal preaching, well-informed interactive workshops, hours of invaluable fellowship, and a powerful closing session by Dr. Alexander founder of PCPF. The PCPF web is constantly updated with pertinent news and carries helpful resources. Consult this web for the next retreat that will build on the momentum of the inaugural conference.

The Christian Churches Together in the USA met recently in California. According to their press release, the Church of God in Christ is seriously considering joining the fledgling organization.

A joint communiqué from the Pentecostal - World Alliance of Reformed Churches Dialogue held May 25-31, 2005 in Germany.

May, 2005: Pentecostals participate in expanded WCC World Mission Conference in Athens, Greece. One of the keynote speakers for the event was Dr. Wonsuk Ma. Both Pentecostals and "historic" churches have much to learn from each other about their different views and traditions on this theme, Ma said. "As a 'new kid on the block,' Pentecostals have much to learn from the historic churches with their rich histories and traditions. At the same time, the rise of a new movement, particularly of the renewal type such as this, itself serves as God's reminder to his people of his missionary mandate to the world." Here is a joint statement from Pentecostals who attended the conference. Dr. Ma has put together a web page with additional information and photos.

Bishop James D. Leggett, General Superintendent of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, was elected May 4, 2005 to lead the Pentecostal World Fellowship. Dr. Harold Hunter is now responsible for the PWF web which has been redesigned and is being expanded with new features.
 

The Harvard University Department of African and African American Studies, along with the Harvard Divinity School, is sponsoring "Into All the World: Black Pentecostalism and Global Contexts," Friday, March 18 in Cambridge, MA.
Respected colleagues will be presenting, including: Dr. Amos Yong, Dr. David Daniels, Dr. Leslie Callahan and Professor Daniel Ramierez. Graduate students from COGIC, COG(TN), Vineyard, AICs, and others will be presenting. A student group and local pastors are sponsoring a separate service that evening where Bishop George McKinney, general board member of COGIC, will preach.
For more information, or to register and attend: www.hds.harvard.edu/news/pentecostal_conf/

 

The Mylapore Institute for Indigenous Studies, Chennai, India will be organising a conference entitled "Indian & Christian: The Life and Legacy of Pandita Ramabai". This will be held at the Union Biblical Seminary Pune, from the 17th - 20th Jan 2005. Information can also be found on http://www.ubs.ac.in/My%20Webs/CMS%20Web/index.htm The conference brochure is available as a pdf file.

The PCTII webmaster suffered a pulmonary embolism on August 31, 2004. The entire month of September has been spent in either the hospital (ICU) or home recovery. As a result, it has not been possible to respond to regular email. It is hoped that in the near future work can resume on this web.

The first publication from the international Future of Christianity in the West Conference (held at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand , in December 2002) has just come off the press. Edited by John Stenhouse and Brett Knowles (assisted by Antony Wood), The Future of Christianity: Historical, Sociological, Political and Theological Perspectives from New Zealand will be of interest to readers with an interest in the place of Christianity in the post-modern world of the 21st century. A variety of perspectives are offered in the book (most of them taking issue with the view that secularisation is the dominant process underlying changes in Christianity in the West today).  Of particular interest to Pentecostal readers is Brett Knowles' article "Is the Future of Western Christianity a Pentecostal One? A Conversation with Harvey Cox". The book is published by ATF Press in Adelaide, Australia, and can be ordered at the following website: http://www.atfpress.com/.
 

PBS Frontline did a recent episode available online about how President Bush1 and President Bush2 engaged NAE-type Evangelicals and some white Pentecostals in U.S.A. presidential election campaigns. Titled "The Jesus Factor" more information is available at www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jesus/

REFLEKS-Publishing seeks to build bridges between Pentecostal-charismatic renewal movements and the outside world, first and foremost the academic one. The Press started with the REFLEKS Journal in 2002. The Norwegian word Refleks suggests our emphasis on theoretical reflection. In 2003 we published our first book. As with the journal, our books seek a scholarly approach to Pentecostalism and neo-Pentecostalism, including their predecessors, i.e., the Holiness movement and similar traditions.
We are proud to announce our second book, this one in English and entitled E.W. Kenyon: Cult Founder or Evangelical Minister? Dr. Vinson Synan of Regent University claims that this book “will be of great value to scholars and laymen alike who are interested in the progress and development of worldwide Pentecostalism.” Pastor Joe McIntyre, President of Kenyon Gospel Publishing Society in Seattle, refers to the same book as “a refreshing contrast to much of the misinformation about and misunderstanding of E.W. Kenyon’s teaching that has been previously published.” Our publications can be ordered from North America via our representative, Mr. Brett Pavia at 5028 W. Tarkio St., Springfield, MO65802. Payment must accompany all orders. Visit the web at www.refleks-publishing.com or contact Geir Lie, Managing Editor.
 

A brief report is available on Malta 2004, an International Charismatic Consultation (ICC) conference on the Suffering Church. A theological track was organized by Dr. Harold D. Hunter and Cecil M. Robeck, Jr.

Cardinal says Holy Spirit is Antidote to Ecumenical Fatigue, Tensions By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) -- The only effective antidote to the tensions, disappointment and fatigue being experienced in the ecumenical movement is to give the Holy Spirit more room to work, said Cardinal Walter Kasper. The German cardinal, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said an "ecumenical spirituality" focused more on prayer and less on strategizing must underlie all efforts for Christian unity. Cardinal Kasper spoke March 27 at Rome's Salesian University, which was marking the 40th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's document on ecumenism.
The cardinal said that in the 40 years since the council huge strides have been made, not only in reaching agreements on important points of faith, but especially in how Christians relate to and interact with each other. "Separated Christians no longer consider each other strangers, or competitors or enemies," he said. At the same time, Cardinal Kasper said, the last decade has been marked by "signs of tiredness, disillusionment and stalemate." The cardinal said that at the center of the difficulties lie questions about identity -- both of individual denominations and of Christianity as a whole -- with the danger of either heightening the importance of one community's distinctiveness or of pretending the differences are not important.
The point of ecumenism is not to negotiate a way around differences, but to engage in a process of continual conversion and fidelity to Christ, who wanted all his disciples to be one, the cardinal said. "The closer we draw to Jesus Christ, the closer we draw to one another in him," he said. The big question is how Christians can become one without losing differences they have experienced as gifts of the Holy Spirit, Cardinal Kasper said. While Pentecostal Christian communities can be difficult dialogue partners, especially if their focus is proselytism, the cardinal said they can teach the mainline churches about the gifts of the Holy Spirit being poured out on each Christian for the good of the entire community.
Cardinal Kasper said a greater focus on the Spirit acting in each of the baptized makes it possible to envision a church "in which the magisterium, for example, has an undeniable and irreplaceable role," but one that does not exclude consideration of the consensus of the faithful, the input of theologians and the centrality of worship. "Such a vision would maintain all of the essential Catholic positions on ministry and magisterium, but at the same time would respond to criticisms made by our separated brothers and sisters" about the Catholic Church being too centralized and hierarchical, he said.
Cardinal Kasper said the only way forward seems to be through the development of an ecumenical spirituality and a readiness to respond after praying the words "Come, Holy Spirit."
 

Just prior to the 20th conference by Pentecostal World Fellowship will be an international meeting of scholars hosted on September 13 by the Auckland Park Theological Seminary, an Apostolic Faith Mission college near Johannesburg, South Africa. The conference theme is "Pentecostalism in Diverse Contexts." Partners in this event include the Asian Pentecostal Society and the European Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Association. For more information or to submit a proposal for a paper, contact conference host Dr. Mathew Clark.

The Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary features the World Christian Database.  The handiwork of Todd Johnson, the WCD represents the core data of the World Christian Encyclopedia and the World Christian Trends.

Higher Standard Publishers, Atlanta, Georgia is pleased to announce the release of Kingdom Beyond Color (please try getting under my skin) Re-Examining the Phenomenon of Racism  by Dr. Leonard Lovett. Critics and reviewers say that this is one of the most serious books on racism from the perspective of faith in several decades. Dr. Lovett a trained ethicist-theologian engages the conversation where former Dean Liston Pope (Yale Divinity School- Kingdom Beyond Caste - 1957) left off and writes from a descriptive and prescriptive approach.  Most recent books on racism are descriptive, an error Lovett candidly avoids as he challenges  the Faith Community to a radical call to lead the way in the resolution of racism which he describes as "demons with a new address and zip code."  "You will be offended should you take this book seriously...but you will also be liberated," says Lovett.

Here is a press release on the December 4-8, 2002 WCC Consultation on Faith, Healing and Mission hosted by the Church of Pentecost at Accra, Ghana.

Updates will follow on the newly published site for the Azusa St. Centennial. The celebration dates are April 25-29, 2006 in Los Angeles.

"Christ and Culture Revisited" is the challenging theme of the next annual conference of the North American Academy of Ecumenists, September 26-28, 2003, in Montreal.  As an SPS member and member of the NAAE Executive Board, Dr. Amos Yong is especially interested in seeing more representation from the SPS at this meeting. For more information about the Academy and the Conference, visit www.naae.net, and click on the "2003 Conference" tab on the left hand column.
 

Online registration and program information is available for the 20th Pentecostal World Conference to convene September 14-17, 2004 in South Africa under the theme "Come Holy Spirit -- Transform Our World."

On June 12, 2003, the National Leadership Forum of the Apostolic Faith Mission (South Africa) resolved that the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) should apply for membership in the South African Council of Churches. The AFM expects to participate in a conference to be held July 7-12, 2003 in Pretoria where leaders from Historic, Evangelical, Pentecostal, Charismatic and African Independent Churches will face issues such as AIDS, violence, poverty, racism and sexism.

Press release for the June 5-11, 2003 International Pentecostal - Reformed Dialogue.

For a look at a pentecostal taking a leading role in a political solution to social issue see Wilfredo Estrada Adorno,  ¿Pastores o Políticos con Sotanas? Pastoral de la guardarraya en Vieques (San Juan, Puerto Rico: Fundación Puerto Rico Evangeélico, 2003) ISBN: 0-9728827-0-7.

Press release on the May 16-23, 2003 meeting of the World Council of Churches - Pentecostal Joint Consultative Group at Lee University.

The 2003 Young San International Theological Symposium was held May 15-16 at Hansei University. The theme was Dr. Yonggi Cho's Theology of the Holy Spirit and Blessing. Papers were read  by Dr. William W. Menzies, Dr. Simon Chan, Mun Hong Choi, Sung Yong Jun, Dr. Wonsuk Ma, and Hyung Geun Im.

On February 3-4, 2003 an International Symposium on Pentecostal Missions was hosted by, and held at, Asia Pacific Theological Seminary.

February 27-28, Symposium on "Non-Western Pentecostalism in the Netherlands: Diaspora and Conversion" and the inauguration of Dr. Cornelis van der Laan as Professor of Pentecostalism at the Free University of Amsterdam. Speakers include Dr. Allan H. Anderson and Dr. Walter J. Hollenweger. Contact: nzr@antenna.nl

Church of God in Christ Criticizes President Bush Over Iraq and Affirmative Action, Washington Post (Jan 25, 2003) and the Salt Lake Tribune (Feb 1, 2003)

The Christian Peacemaker Teams announces delegation to Iraq, February 1-15, 2003.

National workshop on Christian Unity with feature pentecostal theme. Among the speakers at the May 12-15, 2003 conference are Drs. Robert Franklin, Cheryl Bridges Johns, David Daniels, Carmelo Alvarez and Anthea Butler.

"Visions of Christian Unity" is a press release on the November, 2002 meeting of the WCC-Pentecostal Joint Consultative Group.

"Christian Churches Together in the USA: An Invitation to a Journey" signed by Bishop McKinney, co-chair PCCNA.