Part 1: Structure and Context of the Research
Chapter 1:
Introduction to the Thesis
Entrance Story: Filling a Gap in Evangelical Theology
Throughout the last two decades, increasing numbers of
spiritually gifted
The personal cameos[1] which introduce this study reflect my thirty years of involvement in developing communal theologies. For the roots of theology are autobiographical, though theology is not an autobiography. The autobiographical is in community.
At times between 1976 to 1984, I was back in
I spoke
concerning the progression of renewal to revival, teaching from Luke 4: 18: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because the
Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. It is a declaration
that wherever the anointing of the Spirit occurs, it is for the purpose of
preaching the good news of the
This theme of the
Ten
years on, moving on from pioneering in
This had changed radically by the end of the century. In giving guidance to two global city leadership networks around these themes, I have seen such ideas and concepts multiplied in a number of cities.
By 2001, urban mission leaders were writing articles like Ten Paradigm Shifts Towards Transformation (Swanson, 2003). George Otis Jr., leader of the Sentinel Group which researches spiritual phenomena in cities and countries and who was part of the AD2000 leadership, subsequently developed a video demonstrating the theme, simply called “Transformations” (1999). Over 8000 sold within a few months.
As part of modelling this in the
local context, in January 1996, I invited an ad hoc group of fifteen
These leaders had emerged during the charismatic renewal
which swept through most churches in
From Theology
to Prophetic Call in
At a hui[3]
following two years reflecting with the Vision
for Auckland Action Group, the following challenges were made to seventy
leaders of the
1.
The call to unity:
networked leadership infrastructure
with common visions.
2.
The call to redefine the soul of the
city
from bicultural reconciliation
to a multicultural church and city.
3.
The call to Kingdom transformation
of values and institutional
directions of major sectors of society in the
midst of decline of Western (Pakeha)
civilisation.
4.
The call to a progression of public
events
that transform public perception
of Christianity.
6.
The call to waves of repentant,
broken holiness
that release evangelisation of
the unchurched 80% and lift
church attendance from 16% to 20% to 25%.
I began this thesis as a reflection on these six calls but
then focussed on the theological elements of the call to transformation of
values in sectors of
In 1982
as I had founded
The Thesis
The
outcome of this study is a missions theology underlying both process and goals
of “Citywide Transformative Revival.” This has been grounded in local realities
of
Global processes among urban missions strategists and
theologians have provoked the question, “What
is the relationship of the Spirit of Christ to the transformation of a
postmodern city?” I have examined this in a limited manner by using two
local indicators, the NZ revival (for the work of the Holy Spirit) and
To accomplish this within an evangelical perspective I propose as a research framework, a new hermeneutic of “transformational conversations”, an interfacing of faith community conversations and urban conversations.
I use this to develop a new theory of “citywide transformative revival” as an expansion of revival
theories, a field within pneumatology. Citywide transformative revival is a
concept of synergistic revivals in multiple sectors of a mega-city. This
results in long-term change of urban vision and values towards the principles
of the
I develop a theology of transformative process from apostolic and prophetic themes. These are outcomes of gifts released in revival. Transformative revival results in new transformative apostolic and prophetic structures that engage the postmodern city soul.
Transformation implies goals. I explore the results of
revival, the transformative visions
for the city, from themes of the City of
Overview of the Content
Part 1: Frameworks
The present chapter surveys content, the genre of urban missions, steps in the research process, definitions and presuppositions. In Chapter 2, I develop the hermeneutic framework in a theory of “transformational conversations”. Chapter 3 lays a foundation from historical trends in the literature on social transformation and its relationship to pneumatology.
Part 2: A Theory of Transformative Revival
In Part 2, I develop a theory of “transformative revival”
examining the cradle of citywide revival — the church in
In Chapter 8, I move beyond engagement to a theory of
“transformative revival” in examining the release of prophetic roles in
transformative revival (9) and apostolic engagement in multiple sectors of
Part 3: Conversing with the Post Modern Urban Context
Part 3 moves from a theology of revival process to a
theology of end-goals for transformative revival. It focuses on discerning the
vision for the city, beginning with reflections on a biblical theology of the
ideal city of
I link this ideal nature of the city with items derived from
modern urban social theories (13). Then expand this with a second conversation
between postmodern urban exegesis and its implications for
Definitions
I define revival as the experience of the person of the Holy Spirit falling on groups resulting in a dramatic transformation of their Christianity, caused by or resulting in repentance, accompanied by boldness in evangelism, power, love and unity.
A revival movement occurs when the Holy Spirit falls on multiple groups, as those initially touched by the Spirit, go in power and take his presence into related social groups.
Transformation, in
the text on Social Transformation of the Wheaton 83 Consultation is:
The
change from the condition of human existence contrary to God’s purposes to one
in which people are able to enjoy fullness of life in harmony with God (World Evangelical
Fellowship, 1983: section 11).
I use transformative revival for a consummated revival movement. It may cause a cultural revitalisation, beginning with engagement in the public domain.[6] Then as major paradigm shifts occur within a generation or so, progressively transforming the values and vision of major cultural sectors with the values of the Kingdom. The public domain is that space of conversation about vision, values and structure between diverse ethnicities, interest groups and corporate structures in sectors of the city.
The Movements
Evangelicalism
includes traditionally orthodox[7]
Protestants from many denominations and includes Pentecostals, charismatics,
conservatives and fundamentalists. The term was popularised during the Great Awakening
in
The Pentecostal
movements[11] grew in
multiple indigenous movements parallel to Evangelicalism, involving those who
by their own definition, have passed through two determining experiences in
their relationship to the God of the Bible.[12]
The first experience is conversion based on repentance and receipt of
forgiveness through the atoning work of Christ on the cross. The second is a
concomitant or subsequent experience of the “baptism of the Spirit” which may
signify receipt of the Holy Spirit, extra empowering, anointing or a host of
other existential experiences.[13], Global
researcher,
Christians who are members of Pentecostal
denominations… whose major characteristic is a rediscovery of and a new
experience of the supernatural with a powerful and energising ministry of the
Holy Spirit in the realm of the miraculous that most other Christians have
considered to be highly unusual (1988:124).
Generally, Pentecostals identify these experiences as the release of spiritual gifts and in particular, the gift of speaking in tongues (glossolalia). In practice, only half of Pentecostals actually speak in tongues.[14] The specificity of these doctrines results in the establishing of independent Pentecostal churches although these rapidly form into some form of denominational structures.
In comparison, charismatics tend to have had similar experiences of the Holy Spirit but to have chosen to remain within their older denominational structures, forming organised renewal groups. As a result, their interpretations of cause and effect tend to be different. Catholics, Anglicans and Lutherans, for example, do not necessarily see the need for a “conversion” experience prior to a “baptism of the Spirit” experience, but rather understand that baptism as an affirmation of their being part of the faithful, born into the church and confirmed into their faith.
Many charismatics do not see “speaking in tongues” as the necessary sign of the “baptism of the Spirit”,[15] recognizing that the Scriptures teach of multiple giftings for individuals. Many would also consider the work of the Spirit as contiguous with multiple experiences along the pathway of discipleship. The “baptism of the Spirit” as a sign of conversion is not highly differentiated from the “baptism of the Spirit” as a sign of spiritual power and anointing. Charismatics do not see a common doctrinal agreement on these issues as essential – but the reality of the experience and ongoing power in ministry is.
Evangelicals also include Fundamentalists,[16] who tend
to be more literal in their understanding of the genesis and use of the Scriptures,
to reject many charismatic and Pentecostal experiences of the Holy Spirit and
to hold rigid commitments to doctrinal positions with strong emphasis on
end-time scenarios. However, many Pentecostals would be fundamentalistic in
their view of the Scriptures and attitude to truth. Important within this
stream is the century-old teaching of dispensationalism which divides history
into seven dispensations each possessing different God-human-state-creation
relationships. Significant for this study is their rejection of the “sign
gifts.” Many believe these “ceased with the early church.” Thus, they reject
renewal, revival and associated phenomena, while working in uneasy alliance
with Evangelicals, Pentecostals and charismatics because of sharing other
underlying values. The Brethren assemblies, Salvation Army and Churches of
Christ, among others, tend to be fundamentalist in
The Genre of Urban Missiology
This is an urban missions’ theological study. Missiology is well defined as a relatively new[17] but eclectic discipline,[18] accepted across the spectrum of Christian denominations (as best shown perhaps, in the diversity of one of its major journals, The International Review of Missions). It is eclectic, integrating perspectives from four major fields: theology of mission, cultural studies and linguistics, aspects of sociology of religion (particularly movement growth, leadership and church growth) and mission history (related to, but distinct from, church history). A theology of mission cannot be developed independent of these fields.
Within missiology, the field of Urban Missions is well
defined. It expands the evangelical mindset into handling heterogeneity,
spirituality within the urban environment and a holistic integration of
evangelism with response to structural evils (Conn, 1993:96-104). Urban
In this kind of research, I cannot look at the development of mission theologies without referring to the actions they produce — their structural outworking. This, however, differs from development of a comprehensive strategic study in business, as it is an analysis of the theology underlying such strategies. Analysis of theology-based actions is included as illustrative.
Steps in the Research Process
The next chapter outlines the hermeneutic and theological research methodology. In this section, I identify research steps taken and identify issues in participant-observer methodology.
Step 1: Literature Search
Throughout the study, I searched for literature in urban missions, focussing on theological issues related to transformative revival. This research covered historic transformational, NZ church-state, urban and revival theologies. As no comprehensive data was available on the transformative workforce or growth of the movements, I collated analyses of the recent growth of the charismatic Evangelical movement (extensive but based on attendance records for some denominations and other available secondary data, such as yearly polls).
Step 2: Networking Analysis of Movement Leaders in Auckland
Over four years, I developed a database of significant
charismatic and Pentecostal leaders. This involved identifying 736 leaders
nationally and 729 mission organisations. These were identified through
networking from leader to leader and included my personal interaction with 150 emergent
Christian leaders in some secular roles in major societal sectors of
Step 3: A Spiral of Action-Reflection
I have used four cycles of action-reflection, following the transformational conversations approach developed in the next chapter.
Cycle 1: Looking Back — Anger at the Loss of a Culture
While the primary cycle of research was in the city
leadership group, I had to go back one cycle to locate their issues in the
context of social disempowerment during the expansion of the revival. From the
action group discussions came a growing understanding of what had forced Evangelicals
into social issues – their sense of disempowerment as
Cycle 2: Participant-Observation in Theological Action-Reflection
I have
been participant-observer in a cycle of action-reflection with the Vision for
The
national VisionNZ city leadership network and theology working groups in their
reflection process, with leadership and theology working group documents
outlining vision, strategy and theology (participant-observer).
The Vision
for
Cycle 3: Redefinition of Themes at City Sectoral Level
This open-ended approach, with initial consultations at
national and city leadership levels, resulted in redefinition, particularly my
re-examination of the city of
The networks and my roles were:
· An ethnic leaders
· A network of intercessors across
· A business leaders’ network, sports
network, legal network, medical network, etc. (as observer, at times theological
integrator).
Cycle 4: The Kingdom in the Business Sector
I created a business leaders’ storytelling process and
publication which resulted in a more detailed analysis of the theological
nuances occurring in that sector and their relationship to the
Step 4: Analysis of Theological Conversations from Among the People
Reflection on the above four cycles enabled me to first develop
a model of revival movement processes, then the transformative revival theory.
I had to anchor it in the context of
Limitations to the Research
I set the following limits to the study:
1.
2. Participant-observation: This study is not a statistical, sociological survey approach to vision change within a city but a participant-observer’s analysis. The observational nature of participant research must also be integrated with the predictive nature of the prophet and strategist in an urban missiology. This requires care to avoid predetermined biases. Fortunately, I have been somewhat blessed to be an ‘exile’ for long periods, so write from a liminal position within New Zealand Evangelicalism, living in several worlds concurrently and thus free to compare the present context under study with parallel universes (Bauman, 2000: 203).
3. A theological focus rather than strategy:
Theology does not predict future effectiveness independent of the social
structure of movements. These issues are too broad to cover in one study so I
have chosen to focus on the theological. In doing so, I recognise the complex interplay
between the social structure of movements and their underlying theology, each
being determinative at certain points. Issues of group mobilisation, the
turning of theology into slogans for the masses, popular appeal,
appropriateness of theological response for the given time and so on, are
touched on in this study. Full development requires a parallel study.
Issues of Style
Seeking the derivation of theology from the people, I have utilised aspects of ethnographic research. Definitions of cultural research, identify particular methodological aspects:
ethnographies
generate hypotheses, focus on context, are written up using thick description,
require participant-observation and use multiple measures for data collection,
that is, triangulation… More recently, definitions explore case-study reporting
and the dual roles of ethnographers in composition…(Bishop, 1999: 18).
This
study carries all these elements. The diversity of disciplines in urban
missiology results in a thick description and a diversity of styles.
Oscillations between biblical thematic studies to theological concepts to
cultural analysis to case study and strategic thinking, at times represent
marked departures from classical historical/biblical theological studies done
in
Role of participant-observer: In the research I have been observer, while at times, I was also involved relationally and emotionally and deliberately active in determining the directions of theological change, particularly in the second research cycle. Dewalt, Dewalt and Wayland talk of the tensions:
Participation involves emotional involvement,
observation requires detachment. Pure observation requires removal from the
object. Pure participation involves “becoming the phenomenon.” In examining
participation, we need to identify both the level of participation and the
level of emotional involvement (1998: 263-4).
I prefer
to see these as integrative aspects of truth seeking. This is something I have
developed in missiological research over the last two decades. While I have
sought full engagement with the processes under study; in my analysis I have
sought to be objectively detached. This involved defining my biases without
necessarily rejecting them and identifying emotional and volitional elements
that affect my evaluations. In wanting Evangelicals to move in the directions
proposed by the study, I have had to also evaluate hindrances to those
progressions. In proposing a certain theological path ahead, I have had to
deduce why other possible theological configurations (some held aggressively by
those studied), will not achieve the ends proposed. In part, I also modified my
relationships to the core group of leaders in the study, moving back from being
instigator to observer, after an initial period as catalyst.
Presuppositions
The Locus of Authority
This study is within an Evangelical and canonical tradition, which would understand that the knowledge of Christ, the living Word, is through the Scriptures as “the Word of God.”[21] They are seen in total as “truth,” or as the Westminster Catechism puts it, “the only rule for faith and practice.” This tradition holds that “all Scripture is inspired by God” (II Tim 3:16), including the sum total of Old and New Testament canon, as defined by the early church.
Personally, while this belief in the authority of the Scriptures may be rationally justified, it seems that all such logical arguments are circular and supplementary to experiential dynamics. Consistently, through the years, I have found myself agreeing with each rational step but with an intuitive sense that the mode of dogmatic or reductionist rationalism used to justify such an approach (e.g. Packer, 1976) itself is flawed.
Brueggeman helps here when he depicts the struggle for control of interpretation between the orthodox, who defended Reformation doctrine, the rationalists, who sought an autonomous learning space and the pietists who resisted the hardening of both orthodoxy and autonomous rationalism (1997:5,6). The pietistic impulse, that sense of the Holy Spirit’s leading, while applauding the rational affirmation of the Bible’s authority, sees rationalism as a secondary source of affirmation. This is as old as the monk Anselm of Canterbury’s notion of “faith seeking understanding.”. This contrasts with Descarte’s “appeal to reason through doubt.”
Evangelicalism also tends to ignore the relationship of the human to the divine in the development of the Scriptures and in the decisions defining the canon. This involves blind faith in the sovereign hand of God on these processes, ignoring issues of oral history and form criticism.[22] Numbers of evangelical scholars (Hagner, 1998) have moved to a wider acceptance of these fields and greater appreciation of the human traditions in the biblical manuscripts, particularly at the interface with postmodernism (Dow, 2005). The basis of my commitment to a classical Christian and evangelical view of the whole of Scripture as being the Word of God is thus largely a pragmatic, pietistic understanding that recognises these human elements in the communication of the divine. This is not illogical but also not watertight.
Reality of the Person of the Holy Spirit
Commonly, in the rationalist analysis of religion, religious
experience is relegated to psychological realms. However, this study begins
with evangelical a priori assumptions
of the Bible as authority and thus, secondly of an external God revealed in the
Scriptures as supernatural and personal. The Scriptures show development as to
the personality of the Holy Spirit. This begins with the wind of God (ruach), the Spirit, involved in a
three-way conversation within the Godhead, in the work of creation. It extends
to the teaching of Jesus about the personality of the Spirit as guide (Rom.
8:14), counsellor, teacher and the one who speaks, convicts and bears witness
to truth (John 14:15,26; 16:8,9). This contrasts with the understanding by over
a third of those identifying themselves as Christians in
Given the scriptures as source of authority, the logical extension of these statements is to presume that when people speak of personal encounters with God the Holy Spirit, they may reasonably be speaking truth (i.e., they are not deluded). Alternatively, these experiences can be logically tested against the biblical data as to the nature of God and his encounters with men and women in redemptive history and the nature of the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures themselves give guidelines for judgement of the validity of prophecy and other supernatural phenomena.
The study presumes some missiological background in the literature of pneumatology and phenomenology of religion. For those coming from another faith community, helpful foundations may be found in anthropologist Paul Hiebert’s “Flaw of the Excluded Middle” (1982), or the sympathetic analyses of the Pentecostal movement in Harvey Cox’s Fire from Heaven (1995). Morton Kelsey’s works analysing Christian supernatural phenomena from Jungian psychological perspectives (1977; 1991; 1995) could follow. Or within charismatic evangelical literature, John Wimber’s exegeses (1985) on the miraculous in the life of Jesus and church history and its implications in terms of theological interpretation of phenomenology are useful.
Summary
I began this
introduction with stories framing the topic of this research. I have then
outlined the topic, content, processes, presuppositions and limitations. Some
essential definitions have been documented. I will develop the hermeneutic
theory underlying this study in chapter 2.
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