When our two boys were just about to hit their teens we looked around our Corps and realised that there were very few kids in their age group. Taking our job as Christian parents very seriously, we believed that helping get our kids through the difficult teens by involvement within a thriving church was a priority. So we looked for greener pastures.
In retrospect we could have simply transferred to another Corps, but even the thought of that from where we came from was tantamount to high treason, so it was easier to attend a local Pentecostal mega-church.
Over the next five years we had a fantastic time, indulging in extended worship sessions, soaking up the world class teaching (even though some of it seemed a little off kilter with what we’d previously believed and lived) and most importantly seeing the kids learn how to seriously “plug-in” to the Holy Spirit (something that just wasn’t a big part of their previous SA existence). In many ways it’s unfair to compare a mega-church with a suburban corps just because of the critical mass of resources, but having seen it up close I now wonder why so many Salvationists hanker after almost anything Pentecostal in deference to what the SA has to offer.
I’m not in the habit of bagging other denominations and I met and am still friends with some wonderful penties, but I offer the following perceptions of the adventures of a lapsed salvo in Pentecostal world. These are my personal perceptions from our direct experience as a family.
On the surface it’s all very entertaining and inspiring and the people seem friendly enough but if you think that the Pentecostals have got it all together then you’d be very wrong. I believe that when you set yourself up as an all-singing, all dancing, action packed, hoopla show there is always the danger of things unravelling.
There is a lot of emphasis on the individual “ecstatic experience” and often an expectation that if you are a “tongue-talkin’ bible believing, spirit filled” Christian that you’ll be pretty happy with your life most of the time. If you keep your part of the bargain, (i.e. baptism, church membership, speaking in tongues and tithing) you will prosper beyond your wildest dreams and God will keep you and your family protected from all of the nasty bits of life. Now there’s an offer!
Unfortunately I have seen Pentecostal people become irreconcilably devastated and even lose their faith completely when “real life” encroaches on their utopia. For example when a child dies or is born with a disability, there is often a blind panic and even a shunning. When Nick Vujcic, a young Australian preacher and motivational speaker was born without any limbs to his Pentecostal pastor parents, the church fell apart because parishioners believed it was the result of his parent’s sin. They had obviously not read their Bibles about what Jesus had said to the man born blind.
Speaking of the Bible, I’ve found that Pentecostals tend to be a bit fast and lose when it comes to applying non-contextual scripture to a given situation, especially somewhat obscure verses and passages from the Old Testament.
In Penetecostal circles the senior pastor and the worship leader are kings or queens of the charismatic castle. Their every word is taken as gospel and hero worship abounds. Of course along with that often comes the triune disaster pit for any ego-fuelled leadership - GOLD, GLORY or GIRLS (as a pastor friend of mine so delicately expresses it).
There are also a large number of Pentecostal churches who boast a worldly-like obsession with youth, to the point where they actively or passively discourage anyone over 30 from participation in the church.
Pentecostals generally believe that they don’t need to be concerned with much of what is happening in this world because we are living in the “End Times” and it’s all going to be over soon enough. I’ve witnessed this thinking to have a profound influence particularly on young people, where it sometimes manifests in a lack of diligence in study or making long term careers plans. This is a very dangerous practice which I have seen result in groups of disillusioned, rudderless, young Pentecostals, many of whom eventually become disengaged from the church and God. I have also seen an almost perverse celebration of ignorance and a rampant anti-intellectualism which disturbs me deeply.
There is another problem which I call the “Pentecostal Shuffle”. This sees people staying on average 2 ½ - 3 years maximum with one congregation before they shuffle off to another. I believe that this is partly to do with the desire to continually re-experience the buzz that comes when you are a “new person” in a congregation. It’s also a direct indication of an obsession with prosperity teaching which indicates that if things aren’t going so well it’s because God isn’t blessing you where you are.
So the grass is not necessarily greener or lusher in the Pentecostal paddock. Their churches are full of enthusiastic, sincere, inspiring Christians but there is no merit in Salvationists sighing sycophantically in their direction. What’s even worse is when we emulate Pentecostal practices and pop theology that does not belong in our movement.
The journey back to the Salvation Army for us was fuelled by a re-calling via Matthew 25 that Christianity isn’t just about me and God and our ecstatic experience, but that reaching out to others by being the hands and feet of Christ is our reflexive response to God’s love.
We are now safely back inside the bosom of the SA, older, wiser and fired up for the mission and for what the Army was raised up. We have learned much from our collective experience but we are not looking back over our shoulder at the supposed greener grass.
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