Charismatic Worship Research Articles

Exploring five children’s experiences of charismatic worship activities in kids band rehearsals

ABSTRACT Researching children’s experiences of charismatic worship activities was relatively uncharted territory until recently. For the purpose of this intrinsic case study, activities to cultivate children’s own developing worship styles were implemented through engagement with music during kids band rehearsals in a charismatic church. These activities included vocal and instrumental training, immersive activities, spontaneous worship, intercession and reflection on experiences. Data was collected through observations and interviews with five children who reported on their experiences in a children’s band in a charismatic church at weekly kids band practices. The findings suggested that participation in worship activities in kids band rehearsals alongside others could nurture the ways children experience spirituality and connection with a higher power, the music, and each other.

Rethinking the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement: an African ecclesiological approach

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement accepts and practices the beliefs in the gifts of the Holy Spirit without leaving the fundamental teachings of a mainline tradition. Similarly, in the Catholic Church, this is a movement that has embraced the gifts of the Holy Spirit without leaving Catholicism. The movement has been influenced largely by the protestant tradition, particularly the Pentecostal movement, hence some resemblances with Pentecostal ecclesiological practices such as charismatic worship, prophecy, divine healing, and speaking in tongues. Previous studies on this movement have only looked at the various challenges or attacks on the movement such as shifting their focus away from the church ordinances and sacraments. What is new in this article, is a reflection on the practices of the charismatic renewal in offering a relevant African ecclesiology. This will be done by locating this article within an African ecclesiological approach which when applied to the charismatic renewal makes the movement relevant to an African context.

“It’s Your Breath in Our Lungs”: Sean Feucht’s Praise and Worship Music Protests and the Theological Problem of Pandemic Response in the U.S.

In response to U.S. government restrictions imposed as part of a nationwide response to the COVID-19 pandemic, charismatic worship leader Sean Feucht began a series of worship concerts. Feucht positioned these protests as expressions of Christian religious freedom in opposition to mandated church closings and a perceived double-standard regarding the large gatherings of protesters over police violence against Black and Brown persons. Government restrictions challenged the sine qua non liturgical act of encounter with God for evangelicals, Pentecostals, and Charismatics: congregational singing in Praise and Worship. However, as Feucht’s itinerant worship concerts traversed urban spaces across the U.S. to protest these restrictions, the events gained a double valence. Feucht and event attendees sought to channel God’s power through musical worship to overturn government mandates and, along the way, they invoked longstanding social and racial prejudices toward urban spaces. In this essay, I argue that Feucht’s events reveal complex theological motivations that weave together liturgical-theological, social, and political concerns. Deciphering this complex tapestry requires a review of both the history of evangelical engagement with urban spaces and the theological history of Praise and Worship. Together, these two sets of historical resources generate a useful frame for considering how Feucht, as a charismatic musical worship leader, attempts to wield spiritual power through musical praise to change political situations and the social conditions.

‘Worship in the Spirit’ in the Acts of the Apostles

Abstract Pentecostals and charismatics claim that their expressive corporate worship is ‘in the Spirit’. This claim is tested by seeing how Luke in Acts, often taken by Pentecostals and charismatics as providing prescriptions for worship, might respond to the claim. From an examination of those places in Acts where believers’ worship and the Spirit motifs are found together it is concluded that Luke would assume that not some, but that all worship by the followers of Jesus – in the temple or synagogue or homes – was ‘in the Spirit’. For Luke it is not what believers do or experience in worship that would cause him to describe it as ‘in the Spirit’, but what had already been done to them in being filled with the Spirit so that there is nothing about Pentecostal or charismatic worship that would cause him to think it any more ‘in the Spirit’ than other styles of worship.

PENGAJARAN MUSIK GEREJA BERCIRIKAN PENTAKOSTA KARISMATIK: SEBUAH KAJIAN BAGI PENDIDIKAN MUSIK GEREJA MASA KINI

Music in the charismatic Pentecostal church service plays a very important role for it is believed to be the most suitable means to express great joy in celebrating the victory of Jesus Christ from death. This worship model is believed to enable the Holy Spirit to work as widely as possible for the congregation, so that the events of ecstasy, glossolalia, testimony about having a vision are not considered strange any more.Due to the celebratory nature of worship, suitable songs and music are chosen. The songs are contemporary and not hymn-shaped; the musical accompaniment format is a complete band that is supported by sophisticated sound system, the worship procedure is simple and is led by a worship leader (WL). However, to build a musical arrangement which is able to support congregants to sing in a charismatic pentecostal worship is not easy because musicians are required to be able to appreciate songs, have adequate skills, and good musical knowledge.The purpose of this study is to obtain an appropriate method in teaching charismatic pentecostal music to novice musicians.

When Worship Doesn't Work – Contrasting concepts of transformation for mothers in the charismatic movement

ABSTRACTNew mothers may experience charismatic styles of worship to be alienating because of the competing ways in which ‘worship’ and ‘mothering’ are conceptualised within the Charismatic Movement. In this paper, I illustrate my argument through the theme of ‘transformation’, a key concept in the literature on Charismatic/Pentecostal worship. I examine liturgical utterances from participant observation to argue that charismatic interpretations of ‘transformation’ in worship assume an experience which is: universally accessible, freely chosen, therapeutic and a sign of God's love. I contrast this with examples from interviews to demonstrate that mothers' experiences of transformation in worship are more complex. I argue that their expectations of a charismatic-style transformation through worship has caused them to experience alienation from God and their own spirituality. I conclude with a brief examination of Mary, to demonstrate how a broader understanding of transformation within charismatic worship might be theologically constructed from her story.

Joining the Choir: Religious Membership and Social Trust Among Transnational Ghanaians, by NICOLETTE D. MANGLOS-WEBER

Nicolette D. Manglos-Weber’s Joining the Choir is about how trust works in a transnational Ghanaian evangelical community, Evangel Ministries, between Chicago and Accra. The title is drawn from the opening anecdote in which Manglos-Weber speaks to a “colleague” at church. They are both in the choir together, and they talk about the difficulties of the interviewee’s life in Chicago as someone on leave from graduate school and driving a taxi. This anecdote showcases Manglos-Weber’s positionality as an ethnographer: she is among the trusted, a status that she deftly maneuvers within throughout the book. In so doing, Joining the Choir is not only about transnational migrants between Ghana and the United States and the religious infrastructure by which social networks among them are developed. Following Manglos-Weber on her research journey, it is also about the intellectual discipline that is required to conduct research in networks where only insiders are trusted. With the research question focused on how trust works, Manglos-Weber takes the reader on a very engaging sociological journey that moves from in-group competition to spiritual questions about how faith, as a practice in a realm that is more-than-material, brings people together. The impetus that draws Ghanaians to the United States, she establishes from the outset, is aspiration; they are, as she terms them, “aspirational migrants.” Thus, a culture of competition pervades their communities, both in terms of emphasizing personal economic successes in social interactions and differentiation from the racial formations of African Americans in the city. Evangel Ministries connects this competitive community as a transnational hub, especially for young Ghanaians who aspire toward class advancement through migration. Pentecostal religion gives them a family and a sense of belonging, sometimes a holding zone for temporary setbacks where they can lay claim to a future hope of success. In this way, the community generates social trust by appealing to the aspirations of Ghanaians in their midst, presenting them with personal examples and public advertisements of success as they move as a community toward that future. Indeed, much as Manglos-Weber’s account of Ghanaians in Chicago can feel functionalist, the vivid ethnographic scenes of charismatic worship and inspirational preaching lead to a final chapter that moves beyond functionalism and gestures to the possibility of faith as an ontological state, a site of being where trust is more than a mechanism.

Charismatic Worship and Cosmopolitan Movement(s)

Pentecostal origin stories, it would be fair to say, are rooted in narratives with distinctly cosmopolitan characteristics. Accounts of the events at Azusa Street (just as those told by the writer ...

Hittin’ the Prayer Bones: Materiality of Spirit in the Pentecostal South by Anderson Blanton

Reviewed by: Hittin’ the Prayer Bones: Materiality of Spirit in the Pentecostal South by Anderson Blanton Phillip Luke Sinitiere Hittin’ the Prayer Bones: Materiality of Spirit in the Pentecostal South. By Anderson Blanton. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015. Pp. xiv, 222. Paper, $27.95, ISBN 978-1-4696-2397-9.) Hittin’ the Prayer Bones: Materiality of Spirit in the Pentecostal South is a provocative and exciting ethnographic contribution to the broader fields of American religion, Pentecostalism, and southern studies. Anthropologist Anderson Blanton considers how technology, oral communication, material objects, and bodily movements intersect with the spiritual, transcendent categories with which Pentecostals engage the world. He analyzes what Pentecostals see, feel, hear, practice, and perform and thus articulates how this captivating religious movement expresses ideas about unseen realms, divine healing, and the presence of the Holy Spirit. The book’s main title—Hittin’ the Prayer Bones—comes from Pentecostals in southern Appalachia, the geographical focus of Blanton’s research. It is, Blanton describes, “a percussive genuflection that literally sounds an embodied technique of divine communication” where “the Holy Ghost is materialized within the space of charismatic worship” (p. 1). The opening chapter addresses the auditory transmission of divine healing through the material medium of prayers and preaching on the radio. Transcribed radio sermons, the literal voice of Appalachian radio preachers rendered in vernacular form (such as power pronounced as par), punctuate the chapter’s analysis of charismatic healing history (p. 20). Blanton connects this practice to the pioneering work of Oral Roberts who popularized divine healing across radio waves in the mid-twentieth century. Blanton documents how the listeners’ “tactile contact with the radio loudspeaker became a prosthetic extension” of the preacher’s voice and ultimately transmitted divine healing (p. 23). The second chapter assesses prayer cloths, a literal snipped section of cloth typically several inches long by several inches wide, most often associated with figures such as A. A. Allen and Oral Roberts. Blanton explains how for Pentecostals the material dimension of a prayer cloth rendered the Holy Spirit’s work visible through the application of oil, the vocalization of prayers directed toward the cloth’s use for healing or protection, and the activation of the cloth’s power by placing it on the skin. Blanton innovatively observes that the cut cloth, as it circulated in Pentecostal circles, symbolized “the notion of portability and itinerancy” central to the movement’s spiritual improvisation (p. 65). Chapter 3 explains what Blanton calls “the anointed poetics of breath,” a phrase for the vocal performance of Pentecostal preaching (p. 115). The preacher’s open mouth, a “hollow cavity of linguistic potentiality,” is his site [End Page 208] of investigation (p. 156). Blanton links sound, voice, and sonic expression to the microphone and listening audience to explain how Appalachian Pentecostal radio preachers invested meaning in the spoken and performed word through laughing, smiling, or speaking in tongues. The book’s final chapter analyzes prayer—what Pentecostals call “standin’ in the gap”—as both vocal and material aspects of faith and belief. In the studio, Blanton observed southern Pentecostals lay hands on one another during prayer as if to extend the Holy Spirit’s reach through radio signals and send divine power through speakers. This practice capitalized on Oral Roberts’s “point of contact,” the notion of invisible transmission of divine power through material objects and a core belief in Pentecostal experience (p. 22). In sum, dense yet readable prose embodies Blanton’s thick description of southern Pentecostalism. His finely textured study couples ethnographic observation with a unique collection of documentary materials, including cassette tapes of radio programs and sermons, printed publications from Pentecostal ministries, and material objects (such as prayer cloths, microphones, and Bibles). Three “interludes” between the book’s four chapters print sermon transcripts, key textual artifacts for Blanton’s rich analysis. Eight images from Blanton’s research enhance understanding of Pentecostalism’s historical record. Hittin’ the Prayer Bones is a rewarding book, indispensable for scholars of Pentecostalism and religion in the American South. Phillip Luke Sinitiere College of Biblical Studies Copyright © 2017 The Southern Historical Association

Zur Ritualität des Gottesdienstes evangelischer Landeskirchen

Summary On the Rituality of the Sunday Service in Mainline Protestant Churches: Christian Walti’s Study on Liturgical Interaction in the Swiss Reformed Church. The article informs about the results ofWalti’s empirical study published in a 700-page volume based on a new theory of rituality. A comparison with Roman Catholic rituality and that of charismatic worship services further reveals the differences. The article ends with suggestions on what improvements are realistic and possible.

Not in Lofty Speech or Media: A Reflection on Pentecostal Preaching in Light of 1 Cor 2:1–5

Pentecostalism is perhaps best known for its charismatic worship and preaching, which are part of the reason for its continued growth and influence. Sunday services are often an experience of lights, music, multimedia, and inspiring preaching. Such a service is not out of place in a culture that has the highest expectation when it comes to entertainment and media. However, in this pursuit of excellence, we also create the potential for divisions akin to these seen in the Corinthian Christian community. This paper explores modern Pentecostal liturgy, and especially preaching, in light of Paul’s mini testimony in 1 Cor. 2.1–5.

The Spirit <i>and</i> the meal as a model for Charismatic worship: A practical-theological exploration

The purpose of this article is to present one aspect of a larger research project. The Spirit tradition (Charismatic) and its liturgical rituals as well as the Meal tradition (Liturgical Movement) and its liturgical rituals through history were researched as well as the concomitant theology. The aim was to gain a better understanding of whether the future of Charismatic worship can benefit from a somewhat closer integration of aspects of the meal tradition, especially the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. This article will mostly be focused on the empirical research done in this project within three Charismatic churches in Gauteng, South Africa. This research seeks to contribute to Robert Webber’s model of bringing old and new together in synergy. In the end, this article poses a new model for Charismatic worship when liturgical-rituals of the Spirit are combined with the celebration of communion in a way that worshippers experience as being more meaningful.

‘Anglocostalism’ in Nigeria: Neo-Pentecostalism and Obstacles to Anglican Unity

AbstractIn the last several decades, the religious landscape in Nigeria has been transformed by the rise of neo-Pentecostal or ‘new generation’ churches. These churches teach a gospel of prosperity, advance an oppositional view of the world, focus on a supernatural arena of spiritual forces, accord a unique weight to the Bible, and practice a charismatic worship style. One result of the presence of these churches has been to change the face of Anglicanism in Nigeria. Concerned about the possibility of diminished influence and prestige, the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) has responded to neo-Pentecostal churches by adopting more of its rivals’ beliefs and practices. This paper argues that this changing environment explains, in part, Nigerian opposition to efforts at global Anglican unity and argues that it is impossible to address the future of the Anglican Communion without first understanding the on-the-ground religious context in Nigeria.

Ordinary Theology as Narratives: An Empirical Study of Young People's Charismatic Worship in Scotland

Through a detailed analysis this paper demonstrates the usefulness of investigating public worship events as a site for studying the construction of ordinary theology. By identifying the theological narratives being enacting and affirmed by a specific group in such contexts helps strengthen our understanding of the documentary of a specific community. It also illustrates how the particular of a given culture is linked to and used to situate the larger narrative tradition. We suggest more studies of narrative and flow of worship events would benefit Practical Theology to help reveal new aspects of construction and flow of ordinary theology for evangelical and charismatics groups.

Racially Diverse Congregations: Organizational Identity and the Accommodation of Differences

Racial integration in religious congregations is a topic of keen interest to researchers and religious leaders. Although not common, there are congregations that successfully reach across cultural lines to attract adherents. Prior studies tend to dichotomize congregations into categories of multiracial and nonmultiracial and, thereby, miss a wider range of racial variation. Using nationally representative congregational data, this article paints a more representative picture of racial diversity in U.S. congregations and puts forward a theory of congregational identity to account for why some congregations succeed at accommodating multiple racial groups in a society where religious life remains overwhelmingly segregated. The analysis capitalizes on a numeric scale of diversity, which measures the evenness of racial group representation in a congregation. While the external environment creates opportunity for racial diversification in congregations, findings demonstrate racially diverse leadership, charismatic worship, and small groups as internal congregational features also relevant to diversity.

Affective Alliance or Circuits of Power: The Production and Consumption of Contemporary Charismatic Worship in Britain

Zusammenfassung Das gegenwärtige kirchliche Leben in Großbritannien und überall auf der Welt wird nach Ansicht des Vf. entscheidend durch eine globalisierte charismatische Frömmigkeit geprägt. Charakteristisch für diese spezifische religiöse Kultur sei der Gebrauch und die Produktion gottesdienstlicher Lieder. Der Vf. entwirft in dem vorliegendem Aufsatz eine Theorie der Funktionsweise des charismatischen Gottesdienstes, die die Außenperspektive kultureller Studien und das in der Binnenperspektive artikulierte Selbstverständnis der Gottesdienstteilnehmer miteinander zu verbinden sucht.

Acoustical analysis and multiple source auralizations of charismatic worship spaces

Because of the spontaneity and high level of call and response, many charismatic churches have verbal and musical communication problems that stem from highly reverberant sound fields, poor speech intelligibility, and muddy music. This research looks at the subjective dimensions of room acoustics perception that affect a charismatic worship space, which is summarized using the acronym RISCS (reverberation, intimacy, strength, coloration, and spaciousness). The method of research is to obtain acoustical measurements for three worship spaces in order to analyze the objective parameters associated with the RISCS subjective dimensions. For the same spaces, binaural room impulse response (BRIR) measurements are done for different receiver positions in order to create an auralization for each position. The subjective descriptors of RISCS are analyzed through the use of listening tests of the three auralized spaces. The results from the measurements and listening tests are analyzed to determine if listeners’ perceptions correlate with the objective parameter results, the appropriateness of the subjective parameters for the use of the space, and which parameters seem to take precedent. A comparison of the multi-source auralization to a conventional single-source auralization was done with the mixed down version of the synchronized multi-track anechoic signals.

The Production and Consumption of Contemporary Charismatic Worship in Britain as Investment and Affective Alliance

Evangelical worship songs are of increasing significance in the churches in Britain. They have developed as a popular religious expression. Understandings of popular music within cultural studies may be used to read this popular religious culture. Using the work of Lawrence Grossberg, a theory of worship as affective alliance is developed. Affect locates meaning in the space between production and consumption. From a survey of popular writing within the charismatic movement, patterns of relationship between production and consumption are observed. These are read through Grossberg’s theories of meaning in popular music. It is argued that such a reading allows a nuanced understanding of contemporary worship music.

Renewal and Soul Survivor as Distinction and Subcultural Capital

Charismatic Worship is a mediated religious subculture. The use of popular music in worship has transformed the way that this subculture operates. Using the notions of distinction and subcultural capital, the effect of these changes is discussed by comparing the contemporary charismatic youth festival, Soul Survivor with the early days of Renewal.

Sweet Rapture: Subliminal Eroticism in Contemporary Charismatic Worship

Sweet Rapture: Subliminal Eroticism in Contemporary Charismatic Worship