Seek and You Will Find: Understanding a Trans- Parochial Charismatic Community

Abstract

This paper is a study on a trans-parochial community (TCC) in order to obtain an accurate and holistic picture of itspractices and beliefs. It attempts to answer one main question: What is it doing and why? In light of the absence of scholarlyresearch on the trans-parochial dimension of charismatic communities, it provides an insider’s perspective of how theinner domains of parish life are experienced and understood by the members of one highly popular local TCC. These domainsare 1) community, 2) worship, 3) leadership, 4) formation, and 5) stewardship. Using ethnographically informed sources andmethods to gather data, it is found that the TCC in this study embodies an alternative style of worship and programming:contextualized, experiential, multi-sensory, and participative. Inside an unconventional space, it allows members to experiencethe spiritual and psychosocial goods that they seek and desire. The parishes may hold this TCC as a mirror of what they want toachieve and what it can and must do to reinforce the quality of pastoral attention that their parishioners receive. 
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