Pentecostal Culture, or Pentecost of Culture?: Transformation, Paradigms, Power, Unity

Abstract

This article will explore the relationship between Pentecostals and the broader cultures we inhabit. It will acknowledge that, like all religion, Pentecostalism can tend to create a culture within itself (a “Pentecostal culture”), which at times effects a withdrawal of its adherents from the surrounding world. This necessitates a conscious decision, first to navigate away from that tendency where it exists, and then to define a positive role for Pentecostalism within culture, viz., the transformation of civilization (a “Pentecost of culture”). Thereby the article proposes a more extensive definition of the baptism of the Spirit, looks at how God is already impacting cultures through the contemporary Kingdom-transformation movements of neo-Pentecostalism, and finally, highlights and promotes the specific culturally-transformative contributions already within the essence of Pentecostalism—the ability to change paradigms, the manifestation of supernatural power, and the ecumenical modeling of unity.