The Role of Encounter Within Conversion in Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches and Its Implications for Mission
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THE ROLE OF ENCOUNTER WITHIN CONVERSION IN PENTECOSTAL AND CHARISMATIC CHURCHES AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR MISSION. A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2019 David J. Halls School of Arts, Languages and Cultures LIST OF CONTENTS Title Page 1 List of Contents 2 List of tables and figures 4 List of abbreviations 5 Abstract 6 Declaration 7 CoPyright 8 Narrative introduction to the literature review 9 1. Conversion in Fresh ExPressions 11 Narrative introduction to publishable articles 45 2a. Encounter in conversion 46 2b. Counting conversion: 66 the hidden complexities for church planters Narrative Introduction to methodological review 84 3. The role of encounter in conversion: 85 establishing a methodology 2 Narrative Introduction to thesis 123 4. Situating conversion and encounter 124 5. Individual narratives within a conversion process 147 6. Experiential encounter in lives 170 7. Encounter in conversion: a work of the SPirit 197 8. Towards a praxis of encounter and conversion 226 9. Conclusion 253 ApPendix A: List of ‘New Church’ denominations 264 ApPendix B: RePort on Pilot Study 265 ApPendix C: Ethical ApProval 274 ApPendix D: List of research ParticiPants 280 Bibliography 281 Websites and other sources 302 3 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLE 1: Classic and contemporary conversion paradigms compared 72 TABLE 2: ParticiPants by denomination and church 111 FIGURE 1: Method of Case Reconstruction 119 Word Count: 88856 4 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS (Used after first occurrence) AoG: Assemblies of God BNIM: Biographic-Narrative Interview Method CH: Cranmer Hall CP: Classical Pentecostal FE: Fresh Expressions (the central organisation) FFT: Finding Faith Today Fx: fresh expressions (the general approach, concept and strategy) IN: initial narrative LST: London School of Theology JEPTA: Journal of the European Pentecostal Theological Association JPT: Journal of Pentecostal Theology MsC: Mission-shaped Church NC: New Church P+c: Pentecostal and charismatic PIN: particular incident narrative SQUIN: single question inviting narrative T4V: Theology in four voices TAT: Third Article Theology TQ: theoretical question(s)/(ing) Bible references throughout are to the New Revised Standard Version, 1989. 5 THE ROLE OF ENCOUNTER WITHIN CONVERSION IN PENTECOSTAL AND CHARISMATIC CHURCHES AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR MISSION. Abstract This research is an investigation into the role of encounter in conversion and its implications for mission by Pentecostal and charismatic (P+c) churches within the United Kingdom. Initially, contemporary conversion praxis is explored in literature associated with the ecumenical Fresh Expressions project. Within that broad setting, conversion is now understood more as a pathway than a crisis event, and experiential encounter with God has a generally low profile. Two articles respond to those issues. The first is addressed primarily to the P+c community and in the light of the contemporary missional discussion seeks to suggest directions for the enhancement of P+c theology and the reciprocal contribution that might be offered to Fresh Expressions praxis. The second considers a specific problem within conversion praxis, that of measuring conversion. A separate exploration of research methodologies considers how the encounter within contemporary conversion might be explored among recent adult converts with little or no prior experience of church, with due regard to particularity as well as exposing shared themes. A biographic- narrative method is proposed as being methodologically transparent, allowing practitioners to engage with the data’s relevance and offering potential for replication. The empirical research task has been to gain insight into the frequency, range, salience and context of experiential encounter in the conversion of people attending Pentecostal and charismatic congregations, who have little previous experience of church. It is placed within a multidisciplinary context considering methodological issues from both psychosocial and theological perspectives prior to reporting at length on the narratives of 32 participants. In order to illuminate the particularity and broad themes arising from the data, they are considered from the academic perspectives of P+c pneumatologies and that of biblical studies. Subsequently, the approach of Third Article Theology is engaged to place both theological and experiential data within a missiological framework in order to push towards praxis. Specific attention is given to the possibility of considering developments of missional pneumatology within the P+c tradition in the light of the particularities of the contemporary experience of conversion. As part of considering implications for practice the limitations of the research are noted and several possibilities for further investigation suggested. 6 DECLARATION No portion of the work referred to in this thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or institute of learning. 7 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT 1. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. 2. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such copies made. 3. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trade marks and other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions. 4. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=2442 0), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library’s regulations (see http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/about/regulations/) and in The University’s policy on Presentation of Theses. 8 NARRATIVE INTRODUCTION TO THE LITERATURE REVIEW The purpose of the narrative introduction, placed between each part, is to make clear the relation between the different elements in the portfolio, in particular the way in which the earlier sections developed into the thesis. It is not intended to be part of the formal assessment and also functions as a personal statement. The central concern of this thesis has developed out of my lifetime involvement with Pentecostal and charismatic spirituality, and increasingly reflective missional practice. Brought up within the classical Pentecostal tradition, on the outer edge of east London, I left in my early twenties to lead a house church that had evolved from a youth theatre group, and soon became absorbed into the New Churches. In the 1990s an opportunity arose to ‘adopt’ another small group, this time in rural Wiltshire, which was at the early stages of becoming church. The new forms of church in which I was raised and have subsequently served have only partially engaged with the needs of mission within the contemporary context. Following the experience of both ecumenical evangelistic initiatives, and heightened revivalistic expectations in the last decade of the twentieth century, the route to a credible and sustainable missional strategy for my own church has been less than straightforward. To supplement my own contribution to local reflection, with the support of the church I serve, I took the opportunity to pursue MA studies in Emerging Church. Those studies led to a dissertation that reviewed the emerging church challenge to charismatic spirituality. That challenge had arisen because, within the UK, prominent contributors to the emerging church conversation, who had roots within P+c Christianity, had mounted a sustained critique of the spirituality in which they had been brought up. The dissertation concluded that while there was substance to the critique, it had resulted in functional cessationism, and the resultant praxis had little to contribute to a developed missional practice that sought to respond to change within contemporary society while retaining the central P+c value of encounter with God. During that research, I met with Chris Russell, vicar of St 9 Laurence’s, Reading, a fresh expression for youth and now working part-time as the Archbishop’s Advisor for Evangelism & Witness. In discussing ‘alternative worship’, characteristic of some fresh expressions and some emerging churches, he expressed a view that creative worship ‘without encounter’, it was ‘religious art therapy’. That comment has lost none of its force in the decade since it was made, and seemed to me to encapsulate the dilemma