Pentecostal Pastoral Leadership and Global Missions — Unit 7: Social Engagement and the Poor

Key Verse

"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor;" (Luke 4:18, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

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

1. Explain why care for the poor belongs to the mission of a Spirit-filled church, using Luke 4:18 and the book of Acts.

2. Describe the historians' charge that early Pentecostals neglected society, and give the Pentecostal answer.

3. Give examples of Pentecostal compassion in history and in the majority world today, including the idea of "progressive Pentecostalism."

4. Explain how a local church can serve the poor without creating dependence or replacing the gospel.

5. Describe a careful pastoral approach to politics, justice and the authorities.

The Voice of This Unit

This unit is written from inside the classical Pentecostal tradition, for pastors who serve in places where poverty is close. We hold that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and that the Holy Spirit empowers the church for witness and for service. We state fairly what historians and other Christians say about us, and then we answer from Scripture. Where Christians of good will disagree, for example about political action, we say so plainly.

The Spirit and the Poor

Our key verse comes from the first sermon of Jesus in Nazareth. He read from Isaiah and said that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him "to preach the gospel to the poor." Luke tells us that Jesus was baptized in the Spirit at the Jordan and began His ministry in the Spirit's power (Luke 3:21-22; 4:1, 14). So the anointing of the Spirit in Luke is joined to good news for the poor. Pentecostals read Luke and Acts as models for the church (see Course 2, Unit 2). If the Spirit anointed Jesus to bring good news to the poor, then a church filled with the same Spirit cannot be indifferent to them.

The Old Testament says the same. God hears the cry of the oppressed, and He commands His people to care for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow. In the New Testament, James writes, "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world" (James 1:27). John asks how the love of God can remain in a person who sees a brother in need and shuts up his heart (1 John 3:17). Jesus said of the least of His brothers, "inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me" (Matthew 25:40).

We should be clear about what we do not say. We do not say that feeding the hungry replaces the preaching of the gospel, or that the gospel is only about this life. The salvation of the soul, the new birth and the hope of eternal life remain at the center. But Scripture does not set preaching and compassion against each other. Jesus preached, and He also fed the crowds and healed the sick. The Spirit gives power for both.

The Early Church in Acts

The book of Acts shows what the Spirit-filled church did. After Pentecost, believers shared with those in need: "nor was there anyone among them who lacked" (Acts 4:34). This giving was free and willing. It was not a law, and Peter told Ananias that his property was his own to keep (Acts 5:4). In Acts 6 the church noticed that widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution, and the apostles asked the church to choose seven men "of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom" to oversee the work. Notice that the seven were Spirit-filled. Practical care for the poor was not a lower task for people without the Spirit. Two of them, Stephen and Philip, also became powerful witnesses.

In Acts 11:27-30, prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them, Agabus, "showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world." The disciples in Antioch decided to send relief to the brethren in Judea, each according to his ability. Here a gift of prophecy led directly to practical help. Paul's later collection for the poor believers in Jerusalem (Romans 15:25-27; 2 Corinthians 8-9) shows that he gave this work high importance. When the leaders in Jerusalem recognized Paul's ministry to the Gentiles, they asked only that he "remember the poor," and Paul wrote, "the very thing which I also was eager to do" (Galatians 2:10).

A Fair Question: Did Early Pentecostals Neglect Society?

Some historians and critics say that early Pentecostals were so focused on the Spirit, on missions and on the coming of Christ that they paid little attention to social needs. The argument runs as follows. The early believers expected Jesus to return very soon. They taught that the world was growing worse and that the church's task was to rescue as many souls as possible before the end. Why wash the outside of a ship that is about to sink? Some writers say that Pentecostals therefore withdrew from social concerns, or that they left such concerns to "liberal" churches that stressed the social gospel.

There is something true in this. Early Pentecostals often put evangelism first, and some distrusted political life. A generation that expected the Lord at any moment gave priority to winning people to Christ. Many Pentecostals also feared that care for society could become a substitute for the gospel, as they saw in some churches that had lost confidence in the Bible. We should say this honestly.

But the picture is incomplete, and our tradition answers it in four ways.

First, the early Pentecostals were themselves mostly poor. They were not outsiders who looked down on the poor. They were the poor. Course 1, Unit 5 told how Azusa Street drew together people of different races and classes. The Spirit fell on "servants and maidservants" as Joel had said, and the movement spread among people at the margins of society.

Second, there is plenty of evidence of compassion. The Mukti mission in India, led by Pandita Ramabai, cared for widows and girls, and it was a place of both revival and practical help (see Course 1, Unit 3). Early Pentecostal churches in many lands ran orphanages, feeding programs, rescue missions and clinics alongside their preaching. Members shared food and housing with one another in hard times.

Third, belief in the soon return of Christ is not a reason to neglect the poor. Jesus told His servants, "Do business till I come" (Luke 19:13), and He said that on the last day the nations will be judged by how they treated the hungry, the stranger and the prisoner (Matthew 25:31-46). Our hope in His coming ought to make us more faithful, not less (see Course 2, Unit 8 on eschatology and mission).

Fourth, healing is itself a ministry to the poor. In much of the majority world, believers had no doctor within reach and could not pay for one. Prayer for the sick, practiced with compassion, was often the only care available, and it is a form of good news to the poor. Course 3, Units 5 and 6 explain that prayer for healing does not replace medicine, and that Christians should use both with thanksgiving.

Progressive Pentecostalism

In their study Global Pentecostalism (2007), Donald Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori described churches that combine evangelism and the Spirit's gifts with social programs. They used the term "progressive Pentecostalism" for these churches. They looked at Pentecostal communities in many countries and found schools, clinics, feeding programs, care for people with addiction, help for the homeless and training for work. They argued that this kind of social service is growing in the Pentecostal world, and that it often grows out of the churches' own sense of calling and not from outside pressure.

We should use their findings with care. Miller and Yamamori are scholars who describe what they saw; their conclusions are open to discussion, and the term "progressive" may mean different things to different readers. Some Pentecostals dislike it, because to them it suggests a move away from the Bible. The Pentecostals we are speaking of are not changing the gospel. They are putting into practice what the gospel already says.

Here are some examples of the kind of work this includes. You will find more in your own country.

• In the United States, David Wilkerson, an Assemblies of God minister, began outreach in New York City to young people addicted to drugs, which became the ministry called Teen Challenge. Its approach combines care, discipline and a call to faith in Christ.

• In Ghana, the Church of Pentecost, a large Pentecostal church, has established schools and a university, Pentecost University. The Church of Pentecost also engages in relief work for people in need. This is a Pentecostal body that has joined a strong tradition of evangelism and mission with education and service.

• In many Latin American and African cities, Pentecostal congregations help members who have lost work, support families in crisis, and receive people who have struggled with alcohol and violence. A pastor's front room may be a counseling office, a food store and a prayer room on the same day.

A reminder: we do not claim that Pentecostals have done more than other Christians. The point is that care for the poor belongs to who we are, and it can be done by large organizations and also by a small congregation of twenty people.

Two Cautions

Do not replace the gospel

Some Christians fear that social action will swallow evangelism. They point to churches that stopped preaching the cross and became only social agencies. This fear is reasonable. Our answer is that word and deed belong together. We do not feed people to buy their conversion, and we do not preach only to those who can pay. We serve people because they are made in God's image and loved by Christ, and we speak freely of Christ as the Lord gives us opportunity. Compassion that is never explained may become mere kindness, and a gospel that is never shown may be doubted.

Do not create dependence

Help that comes from outside can weaken a church. If a congregation learns to expect aid every time it has a need, it may stop giving and working. Many majority-world pastors have seen this. Unit 3 of this course on indigenous church principles taught that a church should govern, support and extend itself. The same principles apply to social work. Wise help builds up people's own strength: training, tools, small loans, school fees paid with the family's participation, and honest management of funds. Paul told the Thessalonians that "if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:10), a rule about those who refuse to work and not about those who cannot. He also told them to "do good" and not grow weary (2 Thessalonians 3:13). A pastor needs wisdom to tell which situation he faces. He also needs clean books: a church that cares for the poor with offerings must be able to show where the money went (see Unit 5 on pastoral ethics and finances).

Justice, Politics and the Authorities

Should a Pentecostal church speak about injustice, corruption or laws? Here Christians of good will differ, and we state three common views.

Some believe that the church should avoid politics altogether and attend only to preaching and prayer. They fear that a church tied to a party will lose its message and divide its members. They remember that Jesus refused to be made a political king (John 6:15).

Others believe that the church must speak against injustice, as the prophets did. They point to Amos and Micah, and they say that silence in front of oppression makes the church share in it. In some countries Pentecostal leaders have spoken for the poor in public, and in others they have supported governments.

A third view, held by many classical Pentecostals, is a middle one. The pastor prays for those in authority (1 Timothy 2:1-2), teaches members to obey the law and to pay what is owed (Romans 13:1-7), and bears witness against sin and injustice when Scripture clearly speaks. But he does not tie the church to a party or a candidate, because the church belongs to all who love Christ. When rulers command what God forbids, believers answer as the apostles did: "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). In every case the church seeks the good of the place where it lives, as Jeremiah told the exiles to "seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it" (Jeremiah 29:7).

Whatever view a pastor holds, he should remember that the influence of a pastor is great. A pastor who threatens members with the judgment of God if they vote the wrong way misuses the pulpit. A pastor who gives his people no teaching on how to live as honest citizens fails them as well.

Pastoral Application

Your town has suffered a long period of unemployment after a factory closed. Many members of your church of sixty families cannot buy enough food. The church's offerings are small. A visitor from another country offers to send money for a feeding program, on the condition that it be run in his way.

A wise pastor begins by praying and by gathering his leaders. He asks what the Bible says (Acts 6 and Acts 11), and he asks what the church can do with what it already has. First, the leaders make a list of needs and of resources, including gardens, skills and space. Second, they choose a small team of trustworthy, Spirit-filled members to oversee the work, as in Acts 6, and they agree to keep written accounts. Third, they begin with what they have: shared meals, a food collection, and help for widows and the sick. Fourth, they consider the visitor's offer carefully. They are thankful, but they ask whether the program could continue if the money stopped, and they do not accept conditions that would make the church answer to someone else for its decisions. Fifth, they keep the gospel at the center. Each meal begins with prayer and thanks, and the church invites those it serves to its meetings, without making food depend on attendance.

Summary

The Spirit who anointed Jesus "to preach the gospel to the poor" fills the church to do the same. Acts shows Spirit-filled believers sharing with the needy, appointing Spirit-filled men to oversee the care of widows, and sending relief after a prophecy. Some historians say that early Pentecostals neglected society because they expected Christ's soon return. We answer that most early Pentecostals were poor themselves, that their history includes real compassion such as the Mukti mission, that waiting for Christ calls for faithfulness, and that prayer for the sick is also good news for the poor. Donald Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori described "progressive Pentecostalism," in which evangelism and the gifts are joined to social programs. A church should not replace the gospel with social work, and should not create dependence. On politics, Pentecostals hold different views, and many take a middle way: prayer for authorities, obedience to the law, witness against clear injustice, and no tie to a party.

Further Reading

• Donald E. Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori, Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement (2007).

• J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, Contemporary Pentecostal Christianity (2013).

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

• Ogbu U. Kalu, African Pentecostalism (2008).

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