To continue from the previous blog, I believe it is no doubt that we must be reminded of the heritage of the classical Pentecostalism which started in Los Angeles—its African American spirituality, interracial fellowship, equality, ecumenical origins and ethos, the earnestness for evangelism and mission and so forth. These lessons shall continue to inspire us for the theological and spiritual renewal of our day.
On the other hand, we must also extend the historical research to the revivals that broke out in many parts of the world. These revivals took place independent of the Azusa Street and in some cases even predated it, like the accounts of Sadhu Sundar Singh of India (1889-1929) and John Sung of China (1901-1944). Besides, it is often that the native charismatic leaders led these revivals or expand it independently after the initial contact with missionaries. Many “indigenous Pentecostal churches” arose due to the sovereign move of the Holy Spirit and the nature of Pentecostalism which emphasizes on the supernatural encounter with God. Therefore, a more extensive revision of the history will inspire us in Asia to not overemphasize on the American forms of Pentecostalism as normative, but to learn from the local pioneers, and to better comprehend the contextualization of Pentecostal gospel in our region. These are the gems of our history.
No comments:
Post a Comment