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Church of God in Christ This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Shades of Faith Formation Black Christian Faith Formation within Holiness/Pentecostal Churches in the UK Fenty, Esther Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 26. Sep. 2021 Shades of Faith Formation: Black Christian Faith Formation within Holiness/Pentecostal Churches in the UK by Esther Dolores Fenty A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Doctorate in Theology and Ministry. King’s College London, 2016 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to the following for all their time, patience and support: Dr Anthony Reddie who first encouraged me to pursue this journey; supervisors Dr Philip Barnes, Dr Andrew Wright, Dr Clemens Sedmak and external supervisor Dr Robert Beckford; Bishop Alvin Blake, the Executive Board and participants in this research from the Calvary Church of God in Christ UK; friends and families especially Pauline, Sheila, Glendine, Maureen, Jonathan, Rachael, Matthew, and of course my husband and soul mate Clevere who continues to be a tower of strength. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements 2 Abstract 6 Chapter 1- Setting the Scene 7 Introduction 7 Research Questions 10 Faith Formation 12 Scriptural Premise 15 Methodology 16 Theoretical Work 22 Interviews 23 Project Outline 28 Chapter 2- Church of God in Christ (COGIC) 29 COGIC USA 29 Black Pentecostal Theology 34 Agencies for Children and Young People within COGIC USA 38 COGIC UK 43 Agencies for Children and Young People within COGIC UK 46 Summary 50 Chapter 3- James Fowler: Faith Development Theory 51 Fowler’s Definition of Faith and his Stages 53 Critique of Fowler’s theory and interrelation with project 60 Summary 73 3 Chapter 4 - Thomas Groome: Shared Christian Praxis 76 Premise 80 Shared Christian Praxis – The Approach 86 Critique and Interrelation with project 89 Summary 96 Chapter 5 – Anthony Reddie- Black Christian Education of Liberation 98 Premise 102 Curriculum Materials 105 Issues and themes from the Pilot 112 Critique and Interrelation with Project 116 Summary 122 Chapter 6- Starting the Spiritual Journey 124 Background of participants 124 First Steps on the spiritual journey 125 Growing in Faith - A Steady Walk 130 Support in Growing in Faith 135 Maturing and flexing the muscles 139 A Mature Walk 142 Statement of Faith and Doctrines of COGIC 143 Roles and responsibilities in Church 144 The Church’s role in supporting issues in wider world 145 Future Actions for the church 146 4 Summary 148 Chapter 7 – Faith Formation in COGIC 151 How is faith formed? 152 Pentecostal Faith Formation 156 Faith formation within COGIC UK 159 Themes 161 Summary 170 Chapter 8 – Planning for Faith Formation in COGIC UK 171 A British Black Pentecostal Pedagogy 175 Recommendations 184 Summary 187 Bibliography 190 Appendix 1 202 Appendix 2 205 Appendix 3 206 Appendix 4 208 Appendix 5 226 Appendix 6 272 Appendix 7 274 Appendix 8 275 Appendix 9 276 Appendix 10 281 Appendix 11 284 5 Abstract Although much has been written about Holiness/Pentecostal churches established by Caribbean settlers to Britain since the 1950s, the issue of faith formation has not been addressed. Therefore, this thesis, set within the domain of practical theology is an investigation into the faith formation of children and young people within one such church; the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) UK. It identifies two research questions; 1) how is faith formed within Holiness/Pentecostal churches in the United Kingdom and 2) is there an effective intentional strategy which is theologically valid to support this. Key concepts in faith formation, a subsidiary of Christian education were examined from the theoretical work of three interlocutors; James Fowler, Thomas Groome and Anthony Reddie. In addition, ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with adult members who had attended church from a very young age and could reflect on their experiences. Along with the literature, thematic analysis of these interviews identified contributory factors in faith formation and also areas for further development. It was observed that there are some specific departmental documents within COGIC outlining strategies for promoting the particular departmental vision, but there is no overall plan in terms of faith formation. Like most Pentecostal denominations, COGIC has not articulated a Pentecostal theology or pedagogy, thereby making an overall formalised theological strategy impossible. Nevertheless, due to the nature of Pentecostalism, there is faith formation through the liturgical practices and agencies of the church evidenced by second and third generation members of COGIC who are now involved in ministry. Furthermore, the interface of culture and Pentecostalism within the British context contribute to the faith formation of children and young people in COGIC, (an exemplar of a Holiness/Pentecostal church) making it a unique experience. Yet faith formation can be intentional within COGIC by the promotion of a British Black Pentecostal pedagogy as recommended by this research. 6 Chapter 1- Setting the Scene Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts; let them proclaim your power. (Psalms 145: 4 NLT) Introduction From the time of their inception in Britain in the 1950s, churches started by Caribbean people have been the subject of analysis by sociologists and religious commentators. External investigators have included Malcolm Calley1, (Pentecostal Sects among West Indian Migrants), Clifford Hill2 (From Church to Sect – West Indian Religious Sect Development in 3 Britain), and Roswith Gerloff (A Plea for British Black Theologies - The Black Church Movement in its Transatlantic Cultural and Theological Interaction). In contrast a number of insider researchers have written through their own lens; Joel Edwards et al4, (Let’s Praise Him Again, An African-Caribbean Perspective on Worship), Robert Beckford5, (Dread and Pentecostalism – A Political Theology for the Black Church in Britain), 6 Mark Sturge (Look What the Lord has Done! An exploration of Black Christian Faith in Britain), and Joe Aldred7 (Respect: Understanding Caribbean British Christianity). Whilst these researchers have been concerned with issues such as the history, theological, social and political impact and styles of worship, none have addressed the issue of how faith is handed down to each generation. In an unpublished PhD thesis, Maxine Howell,8 (Towards a Pneumatological Pedagogy: An Investigation into the 1 Calley, Malcolm J Pentecostal Sects among West Indian Migrants Race and Class Vol. 3 No 2 1962 pp 55-64 2 Hill, Clifford From Church to Sect – West Indian Religious Sect Development in Britain Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion Vol. 10, No. 2 (Summer, 1971), pp. 114-123 3 Gerloff, Roswith A Plea for British Black Theologies- The Black Church Movement in its Transatlantic Cultural and Theological Interaction ( Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang) 1992 4 Edwards, Joel (ed.) Let’s Praise Him Again, An African-Caribbean Perspective on Worship (Eastbourne, Kingsway publications Ltd) 1992 5 Beckford, Robert Dread and Pentecostalism – A Political Theology for the Black Church in Britain (London: SPCK) 2000 6 Sturge, Mark Look What the Lord has Done! An exploration of Black Christian Faith in Britain (London: Scripture Union) 2005 7 Aldred, J.D. Respect: Understanding Caribbean British Christianity (Peterborough: Epworth) 2005 8 Howell, Maxine Towards a Pneumatological Pedagogy: An Investigation into the Development 7 Development and Articulation of a Theological Pedagogy by and for Marginalised African - Caribbean Women), has investigated formation from a womanist perspective but not from an overall theory of education within Pentecostal churches. The motivation for this project came from involvement with young people through work in secular and voluntary Christian education. From a Christian perspective, I grapple with reports that suggest that church background has a positive effect on the performance of young people in school in Britain, yet I still read about the underachievement and high exclusion rates of children, especially boys of African/Caribbean heritage. Although this notion of underachievement of Black children is challenged by researchers like Yvonne Channer9, (I am a Promise - the School Achievement
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