Society for Pentecostal Studies 2008

Just returned from the meeting at Duke University. I always enjoy the joint meeting with the Wesleyan Theological Society. Corky and I drove to Durham on Wednesday evening and the rest is a blur! The program highlights, at least for me, were:

• hearing Jurgen Moltman
• a panel discussion on peacemaking with Stanley Hauerwas
• Randy Maddox discussing Wesley's relationship with science
• Terry Cross' presidential address
• Corky's presentation

(These lists are not exhaustive.)

The event highlights, as always, were seeing old friends and colleagues, some of whom I don't see but once a year [Frank Macchia, Allan Anderson, Blaine, Charette, Jennie Evert Powers, Mel Robeck, David Reed, et al], making new friends [Terry LeBlanc], meeting scholars I haven't met before [again, Terry LeBlanc, Joel Halldorf, Bernie van der Walle].

The good and frightening (and humbling) news is that I was elected 2nd Vice President of the Society. This means that in 2010, when I am 1st Vice President I will plan the program which will be at North Central Bible College in Minneapolis and in 2011 I will be President, delivering the presidential address.

The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity

We are not unaware of the power of narrative and story. After all, it is through narrative God chooses reveal Who He is. It is Narrative that tells us how God has acted in history. And it is how my story intersects with God's story which I reflect upon as a Believer. One form of story which we don't often teach in Seminary is the novel or fictionalized story which may convey how God communicates and communes with us. There are obvious examples in Christian history: Pilgrim's Progress, The Chronicles of Narnia, Hinds' Feet on High Places. I vividly remember a lecture on the Incarnation by Dr. Gause in which he read a Walter Wangerin parable from The Ragman and Other Cries of Faith. One recent contribution is The Shack by son of missionaries, William P. Young. For the theology student who is put off by the idea of reading fiction, let me tempt you with the profound discussions of Trinity, Christology, ontology, theodicy, etc. For the counseling student, this is CPE in a little over 200 pages. For the missiology students, missio Dei is an undergirding theme. For my female students...well, just read it! This work may pull together much of what we've all been trying to say for over 20 years. Visit the website, read the forums, read Young's biography. Most of all....read The Shack!

Excellent Resource: Theology Topics

Click on the post title to link to an extremely helpful Wesleyan theology resource.

Lessons From Down Under by Lee Grady

Lessons We Must Learn From the Aussie Church

Jack and Carol Hanes were forced to make lots of cultural adjustments when they arrived in Australia in 1987. The couple moved to the Sydney area from Arizona to start a church, knowing that the Christian population was tiny. They soon learned that if they were to be successful in this very secular society they would have to modify their American style and do things the Aussie way.

As it turned out, the Aussie way worked pretty well.

Today, Jack Hanes is the director of missions for the Assemblies of God (AOG) in Australia, and the group has become the largest Protestant denomination in the country. Currently the AOG is planting one new church every four days in the country—an impressive statistic when compared to the sluggish growth of churches in the United States.

Hanes' own congregation, Penrith Christian Life Centre, located 40 miles north of Sydney, has grown to 2,000 members since he and his wife started it 21 years ago with a handful of believers meeting in a hotel. Meanwhile, the massive Hillsong Church, also affiliated with the AOG and located in Sydney, has grown to 20,000 members and is one of the most influential churches in the world because of its popular worship recordings and TV broadcasts.

This week I asked Hanes, who is 55, what he believes American pastors could learn from the Aussies' out-of-the-box approach to church. He gave these seven reasons why churches are growing Down Under.

1. Christians aren't religious. The typical Australian is a lot more earthy and irreverent than his formal British counterpart. Because the country was started as a penal colony, it doesn't have a churchy culture. Hanes says this can be an advantage when you are trying to reach unbelievers with the gospel. People don't dress up, they don't wear hypocritical masks and they tend to be bluntly honest. "It's refreshing," Hanes says.

2. They have a wild, daring spirit. Americans fell in love with Aussie wildlife expert Steve Irwin, the infamous Crocodile Hunter who died in 2006, because of his playful and audacious taunting of dangerous reptiles. Hanes says a similar willingness to take risks characterizes the Australian church, which is less mired in tradition than American church groups. "Aussies don't have to be safe and secure. We know God wants us to risk everything. We could not do that if we weren't crazy," Hanes says.

3. They are aggressive about church planting. Several years ago AOG leaders in Australia began to focus on multiplying their movement rather than just maintaining churches. They did this by eliminating useless denominational bureaucracy. Today every major leader in their organizational structure in Australia is a working pastor who is involved in a hands-on way in church planting. There are no "fat guys sitting behind desks in denominational offices making $300,000," Hanes says with typical Aussie frankness.

Hanes makes a painful comparison between Australia's lean church-planting machine and the multilayered AOG hierarchy in the United States. He says one Aussie minister visited the AOG's headquarters in the U.S. four years ago and learned that leaders were celebrating the fact that they had millions of dollars in the bank—even though church planting was flat. "Can you imagine if Jesus came back and we had millions in the bank?" Hanes asks. "I'd rather we had no money in the bank because we had used all the money for missions."

4. Their worship is fresh and vibrant. Worship from Australia has dominated the Christian music scene since the mid-1990s, after Hillsong Church's band, led by Darlene Zschech, first released their popular chorus, "Shout to the Lord," in 1993. Today Hillsong music encircles the globe, its annual worship conference attracts 40,000 people and their youth band, Hillsong United, is setting trends for Christian teens. Hanes' wife, Carol, says she believes God's anointing has stayed on this Aussie music because it is based in a local church—not in a music industry that is driven by sales, profits and concert schedules.

5. They give sacrificially. Unlike those in the United States, contributions made to churches in Australia are not tax-deductible. Yet many Aussies give extravagantly to missions and church-planting ventures. In 2007 Hanes' church gave more than $1 million to missions and started more than 700 churches in India. "And church leaders here don't ask the people to give what they are not willing to give themselves. We lead by example," Hanes adds.

6. They focus on youth. Australia is a young nation, and Hanes' church mirrors the population: The average age in his congregation is 27. "I don't know of one church in Australia that is filled with old people," he says, "except some of the mainlines." Aussie Christians see the potential of giving young people ministry credentials so they can pioneer churches.

Hanes points out that in Iraq today, 19-year-old soldiers lead squads of 48 men. They are trusted to fight battles for us. "Yet we won't let people that age preach in our pulpits until they are 'proven.' Something is wrong with that," Hanes says.

7. They release their women. "There is a recognition here in Australia that if a woman has a gift, you make room for her in the church," Hanes says, noting that the AOG has many ordained female pastors. The growing list of prominent women ministers in Australia includes Margaret Court, a pastor in Perth; Christine Caine, a Bible teacher based in Sydney; Donna Crouch, a lead pastor at Hillsong; Royree Jensen, a pastor in Brisbane; and Zschech, the Hillsong vocalist who is arguably the most recognizable worship leader in the world.

Hanes dreams of a day when the same innovative approach to ministry that is transforming the churches of Australia will one day sweep across America. After spending this week in Sydney and seeing these innovations with my own eyes, I share his enthusiasm.

Lula Jones, Church Planter

Lula Jones was a pioneer in the early Church of God, planting numerous churches in Florida. Visit the University Church website to view a short video which tells the story of Sister Jones' revival and her arrest for "disturbing the peace". Those who've taken my Women in Pentecostalism class will remember the story and her daughter, Bonnie Brannen's own story of evangelistic work in Tennessee and Louisiana.

Religion and Healing in America

I've been working through this fascinating volume for the last couple of days. It is an interesting collection of scholarly articles on varieties of healing views, practices and theologies within the US. The views/practices represented come from traditions as varied as Pentecostalism, Catholocism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Wicca, Judaism and Native American Religion(s). The practices are as varied as the backgrounds. What has emerged is that in almost all of these traditions, the role of the community is vitally important and the healing itself is often communal in nature. I'm not surprised. In spite of our "rugged individualism" in America, we realize, especially at our most vulnerable postion (as illness often is), how much we need others for our survival and well-being.

21st Century Politics and the 19th Century Protestant Divide

An insightful piece by Diana Butler Bass.