Pentecostalism begins in the opening chapters of Acts. Wesley’s ‘heart strangely warmed’ in the eighteenth century paved the way for tongues of fire in the twentieth century. Particularly the Azusa Street Revival (Los Angeles, 1906–15), which is widely regarded as the birthplace of modern Pentecostalism. Whatever you might think Pentecostalism has achieved, there can be no denying that God sent a living and restless signal through this movement and outpouring. In Azusa Street, we have ‘A-Z, USA’ clearly spelt out. The Holy Spirit has given us a sign.
One of the troubles with history – in evaluating movements and ideologies – is not predicting the trends and the ends, so much as trying to figure out the messy business of their beginnings. All kinds of activities, revolutions and wars usually begin much earlier than one thinks, and their origins are often contested and opaque. In this illuminating book on Pentecostalism from Professor Will Foster – surely a leading expert in this field – we are treated to a shrewd analysis of the origins, development and growth of a movement that can reasonably claim to have influenced a quarter of the world’s Christian population.
Foster’s ground-breaking study primarily focusses on the study of the leadership structures and practices in British Pentecostalism and Charismatic Renewal, and using participant observation tuned-up ethnographic vignettes and various kinds of documentary evidence (e.g., narrative, story, etc), he has developed a critical-empathetic framework for interpreting Pentecostal denominations and their leadership, culture and emerging ecclesiology. The exploration ranges across familiar foci of interest to Pentecostal and Charismatic Christian groups charting the challenges that emerge when movements with loose organisational paradigms experience significant growth and then plateau. What Foster executes with such delicacy and precision enables us to see that at the local and congregational level, there is real vibrancy, and much diversity and the challenges in leadership of curating this diversity.
Will Foster’s outstanding study is a welcome contribution to the growing field of congregational studies. In particular, this deeply grounded study of luminaries such Alexander Boddy and Smith Wigglesworth offers richly researched insights into the origin and development of British Pentecostalism, and most especially Elim Churches and the Assemblies of God denominations.
Will Foster’s work is fully attuned to the heightened emphasis that scholars of religion now place of vernacular, ‘operant’ or ‘ordinary’ theology – thereby distinguishing local beliefs and practices from those that are the ‘official’ ones of a denomination. But also a nascent catholicity – by which I mean, and
First, and what makes this study so unique, is that Foster has delved into the structural business of authority, leadership, power and polity in the developed denominations of Pentecostalism and Charismatic Renewal. Many sociologists and other analyses of such churches would be tempted to deploy Max Weber’s insights in order to deconstruct the charismatic authority of the leader and led. But such accounts tell us little of how these congregations fare a century after the death of a founder, and how the inevitable and bureaucratic nature of leadership still makes space for the interruption and inspiration rooted in the work of the Holy Spirit.
Second, Foster deploys his own skills, expertise and research from the realms of business and organisation studies, and draws on this richly, to help us see how such denominations grow and develop sustainable models and paradigms that avoid the worst potential spiritual abuses of divine-human agency through conflation. At the same time, these new denominations have managed to produce patterns of leadership that are nimble, fluid and open – and yet traditioned, carrying in them the offices, work and roles one finds in all other churches. This is no mean feat, since the tensions between the executive, pastoral, priestly, prophetic and apostolic are baked in to ecclesial culture, albeit encountered in different ways across the ecumenical penumbra.
Third, there is a direct and causal link between the development of British Pentecostalism and the later growth of Charismatic Renewal. Those who were caught up in these new movements could normally identify a significant moment of spiritual renewal or re-birth. This was sometimes associated with speaking in tongues, or some comparable experience of spiritual catharsis. There was renewed interest in the ministry of healing, for example. The conditions that paved the way for such renewal (and the acceptance in mainstream denominations) can be traced to the early half of the 20th Century and those Pentecostal assemblies and congregations who formed new networks (and eventually denominations) when these charisms were rejected and ‘cast out’ of their traditional ‘ecclesial homes’.
Fourth, some scholars of new religious movements now regard this moment as ‘the inward turn towards the self’. But this would not quite do justice to the quiet revolution that has been ushered in by Pentecostalism and the Charismatic Renewal. New modes of worship allowed for greater corporate freedom of expression, such as raising hands, and dancing. Indeed, the now commonplace practice of shaking hands or hugging during the exchange of peace (in a Eucharist in most mainline denominations) is probably directly attributable to the influence of Pentecostal and Charismatic Renewal.
Foster’s study is so important for the church and academy today, because it shows us that Pentecostalism and Charismatic Renewal is a many-headed hydra. To be sure, one can find expressions of Pentecostalism and Charismatic Renewal that have begun and continued as new churches or denominations – even if such groupings tend towards being credal, stylistic and organisational agglomerations rather than conglomerations.
However, most other major Christian denominations now contain within themselves Pentecostal and Charismatic groupings. Some of these are quite hard in identity; but many are much softer, and find themselves contributing to the main denominational diet. Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism can both point to important and numerically significant groups within the church that shape polity and praxis. Some smaller denominations have become markedly influenced by Pentecostal and Charismatic Renewal practices and insights.
After a century or more of growth, British Pentecostalism and Charismatic Renewal can justly regard itself as a significant stakeholder within a wider ecumenism. Its future looks to be assured. That said, a diversity of trends is beginning to emerge: more ‘alternative’ services that make use of youth culture; there is also evidence of charismatic churches adopting liturgical practices, and moving away from their Evangelical theological roots into a more mainstream position.
A number of scholars could point to some significant early tributaries that paved the way for Pentecostalism’s establishment in Great Britain with key figures promoting a form of charismatic revivalism in the nineteenth century, that enjoyed a significant following. It is worth reminding ourselves of the legacy of David Du Plessis, who stood between the Pentecostal and Charismatic Renewal traditions, and remains a pivotal figure. It was Du Plessis who promoted ‘Pentecost outside Pentecostalism’, and his dream has, to a large extent, been realised. Many Christians can now enjoy some of the fruits of Pentecostalism, but without ever having to depart from their own denomination. Many who
Will Foster’s brilliant study therefore points us towards this growing diversity at ground level. The great achievement of Foster’s study – being concerned with the structural forms of leadership in mature, ‘traditional’ Pentecostalism – is that the book charts the on-going local vibrancy of congregations and churches caught up in Pentecostalism and Charismatic Renewal, even though aspects of bureaucratisation and organisation have also been fully embraced. Foster shows how these new churches continue to survive and flourish in an increasingly diverse and complex milieu of belief and practice, combining free-flowing spiritual openness with sound frameworks of developed leadership and structures of accountability.
Far from being a study about what is happening in one denomination or movement, Foster shines an explorative light on a century-old movement that is continuing to shape all churches. And, moreover, has developed a shape and paradigm that allows it to remain reflexive, reliable and resilient, whilst avoiding the normal fate that besets many denominations. Namely, becoming overburdened with bureaucratisation, usually by over-investing human structures with divine significance and spiritual authority. Pentecostalism is organised, yet avoids becoming stale and dry by virtue of continually making room for the charismatic and the disruptions and intervention of the Holy Spirit.
Pentecostalism is, arguably, one of world’s most successful movements in that regard. Not just the envy of other churches and denominations, but also of other forms of organisation that aspire to combine structure and reliability with radical openness. Those flickering tongues of fire that once manifested in some Jerusalem upper room have set the world ablaze. For Will Foster’s peerless study of grace-filled Pentecostal origins and development, we should all receive – and be truly thankful.
Martyn Percy
Centre for Theology and Public Issues, University of Edinburgh