The Missionary Self-Perception of Pentecostal/Charismatic Church Leaders from the Global South in Europe

by Wahrisch-oblau, Claudia

• ISBN13: 9789004175082
• ISBN10: 9004175083
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-04-30
• Publisher: Brill Academic Pub

Summary

In a situation of growing interest in the religion of migrants, there are still few publications dealing with pentecostal and charismatic Christians from the global South and the churches they have been starting all over Europe. This ground-breaking study, based on extensive interviews conducted during a nine-year research period encompassing more than 100 churches, describes how pentecostal /charismatic migrant pastors live out their pastoral role, how they construct their missionary biographies, and how they conceptualize and practice evangelism. The result is a comprehensive portrait of an immigrant group which does not define itself as victimized and in need of assistance, but as expatriate agents with a clear calling and a vision to change the continent they now live in.

Author Biography

Rev. Claudia Whrisch-Oblau, Dr. theol. (Heidelberg University), is a member of the Management Team of the United Evangelical Mission and heads its Evangelism Department. She has published a number of articles on pentecostal / charismatic migrant churches in Europe.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. ix
Methodological reflections	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
The UEM Program for Cooperation between German and Foreign Language Churches, 1998-2008	p. 8
Other European Protestant church responses to migrant churches: A short overview	p. 12
Description of my research	p. 18
Reflecting my own role as agent and researcher	p. 22
Interpretative paradigms	p. 25
The field of study	p. 33
Terminology: "Migrant churches"	p. 33
Delimiting "pentecostal / charismatic"	p. 36
Constructing a pentecostal / charismatic discourse field	p. 39
Migrant churches: Categorizations	p. 47
Historical dynamics: Foundation and development of migrant churches	p. 53
Migrant churches as part of a globalized discourse network.	p. 56
The role of the pastor: The relationship to one's own congregation	p. 61
The pastor as father and shepherd	p. 62
The shepherd: Mediator between God and the congregation	p. 62
The authority of the shepherd	p. 65
"To stay with God always"-The spiritual life of a shepherd	p. 70
Sacrificing oneself for the congregation and living as a role model	p. 74
Becoming a shepherd: Call, training, ordination and gifts of the Spirit	p. 77
Defending one's call: Biographical stories as legitimation narratives	p. 83
Call narratives in a pentecostal / charismatic context	p. 84
No legitimation narrative: Observations and possible reasons	p. 87
Legitimation narratives I: Called by a prophetic word	p. 90
Legitimation narratives II: Deciding for the ministry after a miracle experience	p. 94
Legitimation narratives III: Called by visions and dreams	p. 98
Legitimation narratives IV: Woman pastors	p. 104
Mediators of divine power in a market situation: Observations and analysis of the pastoral role	p. 116
The market situation: Undermining pastoral authority	p. 117
Asserting pastoral authority	p. 122
Growing into authority: Calling and ordination	p. 127
Summary: Mediators of divine power in a market situation.	p. 130
Following the call: Expatriation narratives	p. 133
Theoretical framework: Some considerations	p. 133
Intertwined call and expatriation narratives	p. 143
'Circular' stories: How the call was realized after all	p. 144
'Oscillating' narratives: How the call became clear over time	p. 158
Called after expatriation	p. 168
Struggling to understand call and expatriation	p. 172
Concluding remarks: Intertwined call and expatriation narratives	p. 177
Expatriation as consequence of the call	p. 178
Independent charismatic missionaries: Success stories	p. 178
Missionaries sent by pentecostal churches	p. 198
Concluding remarks: Expatriation as consequence of the call	p. 208
Pastoral call and expatriation not connected	p. 208
V.K.: For me it was so wonderful to go to Germany	p. 208
A.M., P.S., I.A.: Asylum in Germany	p. 215
Spiritual interpretation instead of expatriation narrative	p. 219
Expatriation narratives: Some final observations	p. 220
Being on a mission: The relationship to the outside world	p. 225
"What is your mission?" Observations from the short interviews	p. 225
Missionary practice: Evangelizing Germans	p. 229
Street evangelism	p. 229
Tracts	p. 232
Gospel music	p. 234
Other means	p. 234
Conceptualizing evangelism in interdenominational dialogue: The long interviews	p. 236
Locating oneself globally: Sent to the world	p. 237
Describing one's message	p. 243
Reflections on contextualization	p. 248
Imagining Germany and Europe	p. 254
Restoring a ruined church	p. 255
"Bringing back" the Gospel	p. 259
The German nation in the economy of salvation	p. 262
Territorial spirits	p. 267
Summary notes: Imagining Germany and Europe	p. 269
Conceptualizing evangelism in the global pentecostal / charismatic network: The 'spiritual warfare' paradigm	p. 271
Evangelism in the framework of spiritual warfare: The anglophone West African Example	p. 272
Evangelism in the framework of 'spiritual warfare:' Concretizations	p. 286
Conclusion: Evangelism, inculturation and clashing paradigms	p. 301
Consequences	p. 305
The current situation	p. 305
Dialogue fields: A description	p. 311
Ministerial authority	p. 311
Immigration	p. 313
Mission and evangelism	p. 318
Ecclesiology and the politics of difference: Who defines Christianity in Europe?	p. 323
The functional question: Does a missionary self-image further or hinder integration?	p. 329
The theological question: Are European churches ready to be evangelized?	p. 334
Appendix. Expatriation narratives	p. 337
Bibliography	p. 409
Subject Index	p. 425
Index of Names, Places, and Terms	p. 427
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