‘The Leaning Tower of Mission in a Postmodern Land’ Ecumenical Reflections on Pentecostal Mission in the After-Edinburgh World

Abstract

Following the Edinburgh meeting? I took a trip with my wife touring widely in Southern Europe. One of the monuments my wife always wanted to photograph is the famous leaning tower in Pisa, Italy. What struck me about this tower is that it seems to be leaning in all directions. From whichever angle you are looking at it, it is leaning! Allow me to use that metaphor as the lens through which I seek to offer reflections on Pentecostal-Charismatic mission and spirituality in relation to the Edinburgh process and in the context of the emerging postmodem consciousness not only on the Old Continent but also beyond, globally. My basic contention is that in many ways Pentecostal mission and spirituality is leaning in certain directions familiar to the emerging postmodern consciousness. I think ecumenically and theologically it is critical to acknowledge that but, at the same time to be aware of the fact that, similarly to the famous tower, Pentecostalism's position is far from fixed. It may also end up in opposite directions and often has. The topic of postmodernity of course reminds us of the vast differences between the original mission meeting in Edinburgh and its centennial celebration.3 As is routinely mentioned, these differences include the