Pentecostal Worship, Preaching, and Ministry — Unit 5: Narrative, Testimony, and Oral Theology

Key Verse

"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." (Revelation 12:11, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Explain why story and testimony hold such a large place in the Bible and in Pentecostal life.

2. Describe what is meant by "oral theology" and give examples of how Pentecostals teach doctrine without books.

3. Explain Kenneth Archer's proposal that Pentecostals read Scripture in conversation with the Spirit and the community.

4. State three objections to narrative and oral approaches and give the Pentecostal answer to each.

5. Describe practical ways a pastor can test, guide and preserve testimony and teach through stories, including careful handling of healing claims.

The Voice of This Course

This course is written from inside the classical Pentecostal tradition, for students who belong to it. It is conservative and Trinitarian. Unit 2 spoke of testimony as a part of the service, and Unit 4 of preaching. This unit looks more closely at how Pentecostals learn and pass on their faith. Many Pentecostals, especially in Africa, Latin America and Asia, have not learned their faith mainly from textbooks. They have learned it from stories, songs, prayers and the voices of believers. We honor that, but we also test it, because Scripture commands: "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

The Bible Is Full of Story

God has chosen to reveal Himself largely through events and the telling of events. The Bible has laws, poetry, letters and wisdom, but a very large part of it is narrative: creation, the call of Abraham, the exodus, the kings, the life of Jesus, and the acts of the apostles. Israel was told to hand on its faith by telling what God had done. Psalm 78 speaks of "telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD," and goes on to recount God's wonders. Children who asked the meaning of the Passover were to be told the story of the exodus.

The Gospels give us the life of Jesus as a story, not as a list of doctrines. Luke, who wrote the Gospel and the book of Acts, tells the story of Jesus and then the story of the Spirit's work in the church. Course 2, Unit 2 explained how Pentecostals read Luke-Acts as narrative theology: Luke teaches by what he tells. When we see how the first believers received the Spirit, preached in power and healed the sick, we are learning what God does with His people.

The same pattern appears in Paul's letters. Paul tells his own story more than once. In Acts, he gives it to the crowd in Jerusalem (Acts 22) and before King Agrippa (Acts 26). He does not first argue about the nature of Christ's appearing; he tells what happened to him on the road to Damascus.

Why Testimony Matters

A testimony is a believer's account of what God has done. It is not a lecture, and it is not a speech about the speaker. The Bible shows that testimony is a normal part of faith.

• The man born blind said, "One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see" (John 9:25).

• Many Samaritans believed because of the woman who told what Jesus had done for her (John 4:39).

• Jesus told the man He had freed from many demons to "go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you" (Mark 5:19).

• The apostles told the authorities, "For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20).

• Peter told believers to "always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear" (1 Peter 3:15).

• Revelation 12:11, our key verse, says that believers overcome "by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony."

Notice the order in Revelation 12:11. The blood of the Lamb comes first. A testimony has power because of what Christ has done, not because of the speaker. A good testimony points to Christ.

In Pentecostal life, testimony has several purposes. It builds faith: when a believer hears that God healed or delivered or provided, he or she is encouraged to trust Him. It witnesses to outsiders: a neighbor may hear a story when he would not listen to an argument. It gives voice to every member: in a church where a few pastors speak, testimony allows farmers, mothers, students and old people to speak. And it preserves the church's memory: a church that tells what God has done does not forget it.

Oral Theology

By "oral theology" we mean doctrine that is taught, remembered and passed on mainly by speaking and singing, not by writing. Oral theology is not a lesser kind of theology. It has been the main form of Christian teaching for most of the church's history, since for many centuries few people could read, and it remains the main form for many believers today.

Where does oral theology live in a Pentecostal church?

• In songs. As Unit 3 noted, people remember songs. A chorus about the blood of Jesus, the coming King or the Holy Spirit teaches doctrine.

• In prayers. The words believers pray aloud, week after week, shape what they believe about God.

• In testimony. Each testimony teaches that God hears prayer, heals, delivers and keeps His people.

• In sermons. Preachers repeat key themes. In many Pentecostal churches, the core message is called the Full Gospel: Christ as Savior, Sanctifier, Baptizer in the Spirit, Healer and Coming King, as Course 2 explained. Many believers can state it though they have never read a book on doctrine.

• In shared phrases and responses. "Amen," "Hallelujah," and the answers of the congregation help people take part in the message.

Because oral theology is spoken, it depends on community. Truth is held in the memory of the congregation, and the congregation can correct itself when it hears something strange. That is a strength. It is also a weakness, because the community's memory is only as sound as its teachers.

Land and Archer

Two Pentecostal scholars help us think about this.

Steven J. Land, whose work Unit 1 introduced, argued that Pentecostal spirituality joins right belief, right practice and right affections. Doctrine for Pentecostals is not only held in the head but sung, prayed and lived. Land's work helps us see that worship and testimony are themselves forms of theology.

Kenneth J. Archer, in A Pentecostal Hermeneutic (2004), proposed that Pentecostals interpret Scripture in conversation among three partners: Scripture itself, the Holy Spirit, and the community of believers. In other words, Pentecostals read the Bible together, in prayer, expecting the Spirit to illuminate it, and testing what they hear against the experience and judgment of the church. Not every Pentecostal scholar accepts every part of Archer's proposal, and a conservative reader will insist that Scripture holds the first and final place. Yet the idea is helpful. It reminds us that Scripture is not read in isolation, and that the community has a role in discerning what is true. We cite Archer as a scholar to weigh, not as an authority equal to the Bible.

Objections and Answers

Objection 1: Testimonies are subjective and cannot establish truth.

Critics point out that a personal account of a healing or an answer to prayer cannot be checked and may be exaggerated or mistaken. They argue that doctrine should rest on Scripture, not on experience.

Our answer. We agree that doctrine rests on Scripture. A testimony never establishes a doctrine; it illustrates or confirms what Scripture already teaches. The Bible itself, however, makes room for the witness of experience: the blind man's "now I see" was true and convincing. Our task is to hold testimony in its place. We rejoice in it, we ask whether it agrees with Scripture, and we do not build doctrine on one person's story. The commandment against bearing false witness (Exodus 20:16) also applies: a testimony must be truthful.

Objection 2: Theology needs written, systematic reasoning, and oral theology is unexamined.

Some scholars and pastors argue that a faith passed on by song and story, without careful written study, is open to error. A wrong idea, once sung or told, can spread quickly.

Our answer. This is a serious warning. Oral teaching can carry error, and a pastor must listen closely to what the people actually sing and say. But writing is no guarantee of truth either: false teachers have written books, and the early church faced error in letters and speech alike. Our answer is to join the two. A church should keep the oral life of testimony and song, and also teach Scripture carefully, train its leaders, and write down its doctrine. That is the purpose of seminary courses such as these. Oral and written theology serve one another.

Objection 3: Pentecostals build doctrine from stories in Acts.

Critics ask whether a narrative can teach a doctrine. They say that what happened in Acts describes the early church but does not command the church for all time. Course 2 examined this debate in connection with Luke-Acts and Spirit baptism.

Our answer. We agree that not everything described in Acts is a command. A careful reader asks what Luke intends to teach and whether the pattern appears elsewhere in Scripture. Yet Luke wrote history in order to teach (Luke 1:1-4), and Jesus' own words in Luke 11:13 and Acts 1:8 support what the narrative shows. Narrative is a legitimate way that God teaches, provided the reader pays attention to the whole of Scripture.

Guiding and Testing Testimony

A pastor should welcome testimony and also guide it. These practices help.

1. Prepare people. Teach members what a good testimony is: short, truthful, centered on Christ, and without boasting or attacks. A pastor may ask to hear a testimony beforehand, especially from visitors or from people who are not well known to the church.

2. Ask three questions. Does it agree with Scripture? Is it honest and, where checkable, true? Does it lift up Christ and build up the church? Paul's rule applies: "Let all things be done for edification."

3. Protect privacy. Some stories involve sin, family problems or illness. A person may wish to tell his or her story, but the story may also involve others who have not consented. Ask permission and take care.

4. Do not demand testimonies. People should not be pressed to claim a healing or a blessing they have not received.

5. Include the hard stories. Pentecostal churches sometimes tell only of victory. The Psalms include songs of sorrow, and many faithful believers remain sick or poor or grieving. Allow members to speak of God's presence in suffering, and to testify to faithfulness when the answer has not come. Course 3 discussed suffering and healing.

6. Record and preserve. Where possible, write or record testimonies, with permission, and keep them. Older believers are a living library. When they die, their stories die with them unless someone writes them down.

Healing testimonies

Healing testimonies need special care. We believe in divine healing, as Course 3 taught, and we rejoice when the sick are healed. But a testimony of healing can harm if it leads a hearer to stop needed medicine or if it claims more than is known. A pastor should never tell anyone to stop taking prescribed medicine on the strength of a testimony. Where a healing is claimed, it is wise to encourage the person to see a doctor and, where possible, to have the healing confirmed. Course 3, Unit 6 treated the pastoral ethics of these matters. Honesty about healing honors God; exaggeration dishonors Him.

Teaching Through Story

Because many people learn best through story, a pastor can teach in ways that fit them.

• Tell Bible stories fully and accurately, in the order Scripture gives, with its details, and then ask what the story shows about God and what it asks of us.

• Use repetition. Repeat key verses and short statements of doctrine so that people can say them from memory.

• Teach doctrine through songs and short sayings. A simple statement of the Trinity or the gospel, sung or recited, will be remembered.

• Include everyone. For members who cannot read, offer listening, group discussion and memorizing. Never treat them as less spiritual.

• Connect the stories. Show that the stories of the Old Testament, the Gospels, Acts and the believers' own lives belong to one story of God's saving work in Christ.

• Tell the church's own story. A church should know how it began, who prayed for it and what God has done.

Pastoral Application

During a Sunday service, a woman stands to testify. She says that God healed her of diabetes and that she has stopped taking her insulin, and she urges others who are sick to do the same. The congregation shouts "Amen." The pastor feels uneasy.

After the service, the pastor does not shame her in public. He thanks her for her faith and asks her to come and talk. He listens to her story and to what the doctor has said. Gently, he explains that he is glad for her desire to honor God, but that he cannot encourage anyone to stop medicine without a doctor's advice. He asks her to see her doctor soon. The next Sunday he teaches briefly on testimony and care, telling the church that it should rejoice in God's work, tell the truth, and never urge anyone to stop treatment because of a testimony. He then invites two elders to help guide testimonies in future, and he starts a notebook in which, with permission, true accounts of answered prayer are recorded.

Summary

The Bible is largely narrative, and God teaches through the telling of what He has done. Testimony is a normal part of faith, as in John 9:25, Mark 5:19, Acts 4:20 and Revelation 12:11, and it has power because it points to the blood of the Lamb. Oral theology, which lives in songs, prayers, testimonies, sermons and shared phrases, is the main way many believers learn doctrine. Land shows that Pentecostal doctrine is sung, prayed and lived, and Archer proposes reading Scripture with the Spirit and the community. Scripture keeps the first place. We answer the objections that testimony is subjective, that oral theology is unexamined, and that narrative cannot teach doctrine. The pastor guides testimony with questions of truth, Scripture and edification, protects privacy, handles healing claims with care, preserves testimonies, and teaches through story.

Further Reading

• Kenneth J. Archer, A Pentecostal Hermeneutic (2004).

• Steven J. Land, Pentecostal Spirituality (1993).

• Wolfgang Vondey, Pentecostal Theology (2017).

• Allan Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism (2nd ed., 2014).

• Jonathan Edwards, The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God (1741), a primary source on testing experience.

• The Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles, 1906-1908), a primary source of early testimonies.

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