Is Pentecostalism Dead?

Yes. But it's a good thing. For too long the Pentecostal church has trained people how to act in church rather than helping them be Christ's disciples in the world. We're going to explore what it means to be a "pentecostal" in a post-modern world. I'm going to do this by interacting with articles from mainstream Charismatic magazines as well as my own insights into the Charismatic and Evangelical movement.

My heart's desire is that the Charismatic movement would continue to emerge and become a missions organization to the united states. However, if this is to happen much of the way we "do" church and even think about God and Jesus must change.

It is my core belief that the church must return to preaching Christ and Him crucified. This must be our central message. Not prosperity. Not speaking in tongues. Not latter rain. Not even salvation from damnation. I know these are radical statements. But I think in order for us to engage our culture and society into conversation about Christ we must return to the discussion of the foolishness of the Cross.

I think it's only appropriate in my first post that I put in a disclaimer. I'm a pomocostal. I believe in Christ. I beleive in the gifts. I believe in speaking in tongues. I do it frequently. I'm an experiental learner. This is why the former charismatic movement struck such a chord with me. Because, I am an experiental learner I will often say things that I don't really believe, but i must say them for me to discover that I don't really believe them. With that being said, I'm sure there will be many times that I will seemingly disagree with myself. I will seemingly contradict myself. Don't worry. I'm just figuring things out. Also, I beg you to realize that you are just figuring things out as well. Hopefully your theology and understanding of God has changed over the years. ESPECiALLY if you consider yourself a "pentecostal" or "charismatic". If it wasn't for a group of crazy holy rollers in Kansas, and Azusa who had a new understanding of God...I probably wouldn't be blogging about this whole deal in the first place. But we are and so I encourage you also to approach your theology with humility understanding that, "we know in part and we prophesy in part."

I look forward to seeing where this is all going to end up. But until then I'm just going to have fun.