Keeping Pentecostals on the right track

Global leader David Wells assesses its energy and restrains its extremes

Who could have guessed, when Agnes Ozman claimed to have received the gift of speaking in unknown tongues in 1901, that 124 years later the movement often traced back to her would be the fastest-growing part of Christianity?

The Pentecostal movement and its charismatic spinoffs—that is, people emphasizing tongue speaking, prophecy, miracle healings, and expressive worship in denominational or independent church settings—claimed an estimated 644 million followers by 2020. Today, Pentecostalism takes many forms, from wild to subdued, but it has transformed the church in every part of the globe.

Most Pentecostals are theologically evangelical, but the movement is distinct enough to deserve separate recognition (partly because some evangelicals want no association with it). At Global Christian Forum events, the Pentecostal World Fellowship is one of the four “pillar” organizations, alongside the Vatican, World Council of Churches, and World Evangelical Alliance.

All too often, Pentecostal exuberance has often been accompanied by controversy over authoritarian tendencies, spiritual abuse, or bad theology. As a scholar of Pentecostal and charismatic movements in my early career, I used to say that when Satan is unable to stop a revival movement, he gets behind it and gives it an extra push into extremism.

Pentecostalism has infused great energy into the church, and it’s not going away. How can we learn from it, embrace it, and help it stay on track as a contributor to the global body of Christ?

David Wells, vice chair of the Pentecostal World Fellowship, kindly offered to answer those questions. Wells, also general superintendent of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, has ministered in 90 countries and has decades of experience in interacting with other Christian streams. He has also been a chaplaincy organizer for multiple Olympic Games.

Q&A with David Wells

How would you describe what Pentecostals have uniquely brought to the body of Christ?

Theologian James K. A. Smith talks about the “enchanted worldview” in which Pentecostals live with a continual sense of God’s presence, openness to hearing the Spirit’s voice, and experiencing the Spirit’s leadership and empowerment.

Our righteousness in Christ is not just factual but experiential, rooted in what Jesus taught regarding the Holy Spirit, which is reinforced through the New Testament. We believe that the Spirit is with us as Jesus promised, helping us to become disciples.

Majority World people tend to have an enchanted worldview, so the Pentecostal sense of being filled with the Spirit does not throw them off. It doesn’t always have to be spectacular, but whenever we gather, we expect God to be in our midst.

How do you deal with the wide and sometimes unsettling diversity of Pentecostal expression?

Denominations have moved from what I would call the franchise model, where their churches looked very similar and had certain programs and structure, to a “center set” model that holds to certain core principles but with great diversity. Having worked broadly with many Christian groups by the time I became a senior denominational leader in the 2000s, I’d been at too many tables with different people to be drawing strict boundaries and retreating from the people at those tables. I’ve learned so much from my colleagues in those shared moments.

In the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, we went through a seven-year interactive process to review and revise our statement of essential truths. You must have a center that enables you to ask hard questions when engaging cultural or theological differences. At times I am willing to engage with the edges of the Pentecostal-charismatic world, unless I feel we’re moving toward the heretical. When I see something that, by scriptural definition, qualifies as heretical, abuse of power or as demeaning, it is not hard for me to sound the alarm bells.

I have African colleagues I trust who are treated like kings and queens in their own environment, because that is their cultural tradition. When I’m preaching in Africa, someone carries my Kindle to the pulpit for me. In my home church, the lead pastor doesn’t even identify himself as the senior leader; in the Ghanaian church where I’ll be on Easter, the lead pastor will be clearly identifiable. In these various contexts, I choose not to be judgmental on what is contextual.

When I was a district superintendent, we had controversies about the “fivefold gifts” described in Ephesians 4. Some have a balanced approach, viewing these gifts in a functional and applied manner, not in a hierarchical, power-based one. But others declared that “until you recognize my apostolic authority, you can’t grow.” We had churches being influenced by “prophetic” ministry in ways that raised alarm. In some cases, people were shepherded into back rooms and the “prophet” was given free rein to denigrate them. It was clearly spiritual abuse. Anyone can see that in retrospect. But you need someone willing to intervene. When I did that, I took flak from people who thought I was resisting the Lord’s work. It didn’t take long after that for the damage to become apparent.

I am sometimes stretched by the high level of triumphalism I often see in parts of the global church, but when it is accompanied by a strong theology of suffering, there is a wholeness that is needed.

What have you learned from your interaction with high-level secular leaders as a chaplaincy representative in the Olympic movement?

John 1:14 has never been more important to me. When Jesus came and lived among us, he was full of both grace and truth. I am a Pentecostal with strong convictions, but I try to communicate truth graciously. The world is hungry for people who can get that combination right—people who can let grace and truth, not judgment, be their leading edge.