Global Pentecostal Encyclicals
Uneducated Apostles
Orality, Literacy, and Leadership in the Early Church
Orality, literacy, and leadership development is a huge issue today as the gospel spreads across the Global South. I have been arguing for several years that the whole system exported by the West to train oral learners is deeply flawed and is doing great damage to the development of oral learners as leaders. This is a very complex issue and demands careful reflection on the development not only of the illiterate as leaders but the uneducated as well.
The Churches of the First Century
From Simple Churches to Complex Networks
These encyclicals were written in real situations. They were written to our own network of churches, in which I serve as the apostolic team leader. They were written to our own partners in the Global South—complex apostolic networks—that we now have in all nine civilizations. They were written to our partner churches in the USA and to those we are recruiting as partners. And they were written to the Church at large, including denominations, mission agencies, Christian training organizations and NGOs, major donors, and foundations. But they are situational. So as a result, I have left the stories in of how they unfolded—our local stories and stresses and stories of our partners and mentors’ contributions. The Church at large may feel like an outsider at times, but the situational context is important.
Kerygmatic Communities
Evangelism and the Early Churches
The article, though, did not begin here. Specifically, it began a year ago in a seven-week series I delivered at the CityChurch of Ames–Des Moines, a network of twelve churches. The series was designed to address the nature of our twelve churches—a church of churches—as kerygmatic communities.
Global Pentecostalism and the Spirit
The Progress of the Gospel in the 21st Century
Why did I choose this encyclical at this time? I chose it because Global Pentecostalism is in serious trouble; they have a deep misunderstanding of how the strategic Spirit works. With their theology based on Western missions systems, 90% of Africa’s pastors are untrained. There is 70% attrition in India. Most churches in the Global South remain at a “signs and wonders” infant stage of how the Spirit works, failing to mature in their understanding of how the strategic Spirit works in maturing their churches and networks and impacting their cultures. How can the Church in Africa—now believed to be over 50% Christian—have almost no impact on their culture?