Why The Pentecostal Church Is Becoming A Thing Of The Past

Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church tells a very humorous story about an episode early on in his marriage. His wife came home with a brand new bed comforter, having paid practically the price of a mortgage. After the initial shock wore off, Pastor Robert eventually warmed up to the idea of having a nice, new fluffy comforter to crawl into that night. But when evening came and he made his way to bed, he was confused to find their old comforter still there. "Where's the new comforter?" He asked. "That's not for use, that one is for looks." Whether it's towels, dishware, or some other relic in your home, you're likely familiar with the idea of HAVING a thing with no intention of USING the thing.

This is not a far cry from how many Christians have treated the Comforter who is the Holy Spirit. We acknowledge Him in our songs, read about Him in our scriptures, and perhaps even give credit to Him for various revelations in our lives, but do we actually receive the full benefit of walking in fellowship with Him? What a shame to HAVE Him and yet never UTILIZE Him.

THE WORD

"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." -2 Corinthians 13:14

This past week the global Church celebrated Pentecost Sunday. Regardless of whether you see Pentecost as the "birthday" of the Church, when the bride was officially established, or as the empowering of the Church that already existed, either way it holds great significance in history.

Despite what reservations or pre-conceived notions you may have about "pentecostals" (can you believe people still ask if we handle snakes?) the Day of Pentecost was actually an annual festival within Jewish culture in which they celebrated the first of the spring harvest. It always took place 50 days after the Passover which, overlapped with Jesus' death and resurrection. Therefore, on this particular pentecost, while all the normal festivities were underway, the disciples of Jesus were being obedient to His final instructions to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Needless to say, when the Spirit came to rest on them and they spoke in tongues, a crowd quickly formed. After Peter preached the gospel to the masses, 3,000 people came to Christ that day, giving new meaning to THE HARVEST CELEBRATION. But the story of the Church only gets more interesting from there.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHURCH

For the next few centuries the gospel spread like wild fire under the pressure of persecution. Wherever the gospel went, the church went, and wherever the Church went, the gospel went. Christian faith spread all over the Mediterranean region, to Ethiopia and various parts of Africa, to Armenia and regions of Eastern Europe and Asia. Don’t ever buy the hype that Christianity is a "white man’s religion." It belonged to the middle east and to Africa long before much of Europe ever accepted it. The Church was diverse from its beginnings! And for those 300 years, even though the Church was brutally persecuted, yet it gloriously expanded.

But everything changed around 320 AD when Constantine became the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity. This led to the decriminalization of the Christian faith, largely putting an end to the persecution of the Church throughout the empire.

In one sense, this ushered in a beautiful era where people could follow Jesus and not fear for their lives. Councils were set up to canonize the Bible and to carve out basic foundational and orthodox doctrines. But in another sense it ushered in the beginning of a dark age in which casual Christianity was birthed. Now anyone could call themselves a Christian at no real risk to their lives. Following Jesus would no longer mean the literal laying down of your life like it had for so many people for so many years.

THE DARK AGES

The 5th through 15th centuries are often referred to as the dark ages for more reasons than I'm able to explain here. However, one of them is because it was during this time that the Church began to grow corrupt and the presence and work of the Holy Spirit seemed to dwindle.

Allow me pause here for a moment to make a couple of points. First of all, the Holy Spirit has never been fully absent from His people. Throughout all of history there have been movements, outpourings, and instances where the Spirit of God gave insight, visions, and prophetic intervention to His people. However it was also not uncommon for there to be times and seasons where God was virtually silent.

Take 1 Samuel 3 for example. Verse 1 tells us, "In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions." This is likely because of the corruptness of the sons of Eli, the high priest at the time. Though the tabernacle was a sacred place, these two men sat about eating sacrificial offerings and sleeping with women whenever they pleased, thus stirring the anger of the Lord and causing the drought of His voice in the land.

In the same way the dark ages saw the corruptness of the Church at an all-time high. The Bible was not yet available to hardly anyone but those teaching it, which is a formula for deception. Doctrines and theologies strayed further and further from Biblical truth and the Spirit of God seemed to be given very little emphasis in the church or in the lives of believers for that matter.

THE DAWNING ON THE DOOR

Then in 1517 everything changed. A man by the name of Martin Luther nailed a list of questions and propositions for debate onto the door of the church. This 95 Theses became known as Luther's protest against the Church's teachings and those who began to join him became, therefore, known as the Protestants. Luther's driving point? Scripture alone must be the authority over our lives, not traditions nor rituals and salvation comes by way of faith alone, not by works, sacraments, or practices.

The Protestant reformation spread to the ends of the earth, ultimately leading to the founding of our nation and the many denominations that still stand on the street corners of our cities and towns today. Over the next few centuries a stirring of the Holy Spirit began to happen all over the world as God began to raise up revivalists.

The 1700s saw Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, and George Whitfield. The 1800s saw Charles Spurgeon, William and Catherine Booth, and D.L. Moody. Virtually all of these powerful men and women of God began to speak of personal and corporate experiences that they could only explain to be the outpouring of God’s Spirit and power. Which leads us to the 20th century.

THE CHARISMATIC CENTURY

Jack Hayford aptly named the 1900s The Charismatic Century and authored a book by the same title. It recounts the history of the Church in much better detail. I highly recommend it.

In the year 1906, in a little old church on Asuza Street in Los Angeles, a group of people began to gather and seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They had heard about this experience happening not only in many of the great revivals of history but also all through the pages of their Bibles.

Right there, in that little church, God poured His spirit out on them and they began to speak in tongues and encounter the power of the Holy Spirit much like the disciples did in that upstairs room in Acts 2. Over the next several years thousands came through that church and encountered God like never before. From that movement came almost all of the major Pentecostal denominations: The Church of God, The Assemblies of God, Pentecostal Holiness, and many more. 100 years later those same denominations would be among the fastest growing churches in the nation and around the world.

The 1960s saw another peculiar move when a small group of Catholics began to experience the gift of tongues in their private prayer times. Slowly, over the next few years, these encounters began to spread among many Catholics, Lutherans, and Anglicans – what many would consider to be "high churches."

Perhaps, most significant about this move, is that the people having these encounters didn’t leave their churches to join Pentecostal ones. They most often just stayed where they were and continued to practice the gifts. This move became known as the Charismatic Renewal and still continues in the lives of many to this day.

The later part of the century saw a third wave take place with the Vineyard Movement as it became common for many Baptists, Methodists, and other mainline protestants to experience the same things.

PRESENT DAY PRESENCE

The charismatic movement has swept the entire world over. Several weeks ago I read a headline about an Arizona senator praying in tongues on the chamber floor before signing a bill to protect the sanctity of life. The other night Jill and I watched an American Idol contestant lead millions of viewers in a gospel song then struggled to contain himself from speaking in tongues at the end. We're living in the age of the Holy Spirit!

I remember growing up in the pentecostal church and being afraid to invite my friends to church. We were the holy rollers, the weirdos and the crazy people... yet it has now been estimated that pentecostal and charismatic churches comprise roughly twenty-five percent of all Christians in the world, with estimates as high as 600 million adherents as far back as 2005 (and that doesn't include the many who have embraced the gifts of the Spirit and remained in other denominations). I even heard someone estimate that tongues may rank as high as the fourth most spoken language in the world.

THE END OF THE PENTECOSTAL CHURCH

So why do I say the pentecostal church is coming to an end? Because it has become apparent that the CHURCH is PENTECOSTAL. I long for the day when we no longer have to label a church as"pentecostal, charismatic," or any other label for that matter because we will have entered into an era where the Church embraces everything Holy Spirit has made available to us.

The reality is, most all denominations are fading, but that's not the point of this blog. This is not a commentary on the role or function of denominations. The beauty of God's Church is that there is only ONE. We may meet in separate buildings at separate times in separate places and we also may have different ideas about how God should be worshiped, the Word should be preached, and our gatherings should be operated. But make no mistake, there is only one Bride and Jesus is preparing her to be without wrinkle or blemish.

CONCLUSION

The Word tells us that God will pour out His Spirit in the last days. If we are in the last days, we also have to believe His Spirit is being poured out and we should desire to be a part of it.

Remember, pentecost has always been about the harvest. If that remains to be true, then there is no pentecostal church; the Church must just simply be pentecostal. This isn't about our doctrines, practices, or church culture, it's about our mission to go and make disciples under the power of the Holy Spirit.