The 700 Club with Pat Robertson


Dave Bruno

Credits

Editor, Spirit-Empowered Christianity in the 21st Century (Charisma House Publishers 2011)

Dean Emeritus, Regent University School of Divinity

Chairman, North American Renewal Service Committee

Former Superintendent, Pentecostal Holiness Church

Ph.D & MA, University of Georgia

BA, University of Richmond



GUEST BIO

Dr. Vinson Synan: Spirit-Empowered in the 21st Century

By The 700 Club

CBN.com -THE 21ST CENTURY AND SPIRIT-EMPOWERED CHRISTIANITY
The Pentecostal/Charismatic movement’s terminology is changing to “the Spirit-empowered movement,” which now numbers 600 million people worldwide, second in size to the Roman Catholic Church as a family of Christians. 

One of the reasons is word “empowered” appeals to the younger generation, which is not interested in denominational labels.  In April 2010, the Empowered21 Global Congress on Holy Spirit Empowerment in the Twenty-First Century was held.  This intergenerational congress brought together Christian scholars, church leaders, and next generation participants from all over the world to converse about the current manifestations of the Holy Spirit throughout the world’s cultures, church denominations and generations.  They acknowledged the historic roots of the Spirit-empowered movement in order to focus on the future. 

Dr. Synan was asked to gather top scholars from America and other nations to address different topics regarding the future of the Charismatic/Spirit-empowered movement and write a book.  What resulted is Spirit-Empowered Christianity in the 21rst Century, a reference book with the goal to challenge the next generation, or “nextgen” with its own outlook and spiritual understanding. 

It has become a passing of the torch from current spiritual leaders to a fresh generation.  One-third of the book has essays written by Regent professors and it is already being adopted as a textbook at Oral Roberts University and Gordon Conwell Seminary.  Dr. Synan says, “It is my desire that future generations will see this book as an important marker of the Pentecostal/Charismatic Movement at the beginning of the 21st Century and a visionary guide to the future.”

Pat Robertson has been in the middle of the whole movement and has played a major role.  Regent University will be holding the next Empowered21 leaders meeting in 2012.  Dr. Synan sees Regent as an intellectual and spiritual center and it is the first and only university that offers Renewal Studies.

POINTS ON THE FUTURE OF SPIRIT-EMPOWERED CHRISTIANITY

Here are a few key points about the future of Spirit-empowered Christianity:        

1. The Charismatic Renewal After Fifty Years – Vinson Synan

The Charismatic Renewal movement began on April 3, 1960 when Dennis Bennet, the Episcopal priest of upscale St. Mark’s Church in Van Nuys, California told his congregation about the morning in 1959 when he was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues.  This marked the beginning of what is now known as the Charismatic Renewal that has spread to nearly every denomination and congregation in the Christian World.

The year 2010 marked the fifty-year jubilee of the movement.  The high point of the renewal was in the late 1970s.  The movement exploded worldwide.  Oral Roberts and Pat Robertson drew millions of followers through television.  Many conferences were held by various denominations.  The word Charismatic started to be used synonymously with Pentecostal.  By the 1990s scholars began to speak of the “Pentecostal/Charismatic movement” to describe the whole phenomenon.  In 2006, researcher David Barrett found that Pentecostal Charismatic Renewal appeared in three major phases: the Pentecostal wave beginning in 1901, the Charismatic wave in 1960, and the neo-Charismatic wave in about 1980.                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                   
2. Finding the Holy Spirit at a Christian University – Amos Yong

Renewal marks a distinct mode of Spirit-filled lifelong teaching and learning that has been the legacy of Pentecostal and Charismatic institutions of higher education in the twentieth century.  Its central idea is that the earlier concept of renewal is essential to the success of the Christian university in the global context of the twenty-first century because it promises to differentiate Pentecostal and Charismatic institutions of higher education from those that are religious, or even evangelically Christian through Spirit-inspired teaching, learning, service, and scholarly activity.  Regent University is given as an example of renewal-based education because it is representative of institutions affiliated with the Pentecostal and Charismatic tradition and has undergraduate and a variety of graduate programs that reflect the major university model.

3. The Demographics of Renewal – Todd M. Johnson

The Demographics of Renewal can best be understood by its three waves: Pentecostal, Charismatic, and Neo-Charismatic.  Each of these waves has various strengths in different countries around the world.  This research has shown that Renewalists are abundant in China, Brazil, and USA; there are few Pentecostals in China; Charismatics are prevalent in Brazil; and there are the most Independent Charismatics (neo-Charismatics) in China and the USA.

4. The Future of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal – Matteo Calisi

A new commitment that the Lord entrusts to Catholic Charismatic Renewal is the recovery of Christian unity in observance to the will and prayer of Jesus before He left this world.  The Lord wants unity of nations to be realized through Christian unity.  The Holy Spirit baptism is the tool used by the Lord for Christian unity, and Catholic Charismatic Renewal is represented by the baptism in the Spirit.

5. Future Issues in Social and Economic Justice – David D. Daniels III

There are several suggested frameworks that show Pentecostal-Charismatic congregations and believers socially engaged.  These frameworks exemplify biblical texts that orient congregations and believers towards the community.  According to several theorists, the Pentecostal-Charismatic framework of social engagement includes relief and reform initiatives within a project of restructuring.

6. The Future of Women in Ministry – Estrelda Alexander

Early in the Pentecostal movement, women’s roles were limited but vibrant.  To understand the future, we must know the present situation.  There seems to be a decrease of women in Pentecostal leadership.  At the same time there is pressure for more openness toward women in leadership on all fronts.  Pentecostal congregations will be forced to either tap into this unused pool of capable women or risk losing them to other Evangelical, as well as mainline denominations, that are more open to their leadership.  Women are rediscovering an aspect of Spirit empowerment that they have long neglected which is the freedom to operate in ministry as the Spirit, rather than any hierarchical system, wills.

7. The Future of the Next Generation – Ron Luce with Stefan Junaeus

The Holy Spirit’s work never ceases.  The older generation must hold to its obligation to communicate the essence of the work of the Holy Spirit to the younger generation and to find a means of bridging the gap between different thought, vernacular, and ministerial practices.  No matter how much confusion and strife are created due to the church’s brokenness, the Holy Spirit is still living and active in the life of the church.

8. The Future of Healing Ministries – Thomson K. Matthew & Kimberly Ervin Alexander

More comprehensive theology of wholeness will undergird healing ministry in the 21rst century.  The whole-person concept of healing (as taught by Oral Roberts) will influence the Pentecostal/Charismatic theology of healing in the new century.  There will be a wider acknowledgment that although faith is required for divine healing, the burden of faith is not on the patient; it is on the community of faith.

MORE THOUGHTS ON THE MOVEMENT
Dr. Synan says the future looks tremendous for the renewal of the Church.  He believes over half of Christians will be Holy Spirit baptized - currently 25-30% are Holy Spirit baptized.  Globally, there are mega churches with healings, tongues, and prophecy.  For example, Nigeria has a mega church with 50,000 members, as does India.  Renewal is growing rapidly.  All over the U.S. the largest growing groups in the Holy Spirit are: 1) Hispanic Catholics, 2) Haitians, and 3) Koreans.    The Independent Charismatic Churches are growing, like Lakewood Church pastored by Joel Osteen with 45,000 weekly attendees. 

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