{"title":"Pentecost Mission, Eschatology, and the Embodiment of the Full Gospel in a Wounded World","authors":"Peter Laughlin","doi":"10.1163/15733831-12341967","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Pentecostal mission activity was initially motivated by a commitment to the premillennial return of Christ. This eschatological basis for mission was driven by a number of factors, not least being interpretations of Matthew 24:14, in which the gospel needed to reach every nation before the end would come. But a focus on the next world also led Pentecostal mission strategy away from this world concerns, and Pentecostals have long been criticized for a history of mission that involved proclamation of a future hope without any form of present-day relief. In an increasingly wounded world, such an approach becomes less and less palatable, which is why there has now been a significant shift towards social justice and welfare aspects of mission within Pentecostal efforts. However, it has been argued that the relegation of eschatological motivation to the periphery of mission has detrimental consequences for Pentecostal mission as a whole and therefore needs to be rethought (Ma and Ma 2010:280). This article endeavors to contribute to this discussion by drawing together theological and missiological reflections on the Pentecostal full gospel to reflect on whether such relegation is inevitable, or whether an amended eschatological vision is still helpful for mission efforts in a wounded world.</p>","PeriodicalId":42383,"journal":{"name":"Mission Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Mission Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733831-12341967","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"RELIGION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Pentecostal mission activity was initially motivated by a commitment to the premillennial return of Christ. This eschatological basis for mission was driven by a number of factors, not least being interpretations of Matthew 24:14, in which the gospel needed to reach every nation before the end would come. But a focus on the next world also led Pentecostal mission strategy away from this world concerns, and Pentecostals have long been criticized for a history of mission that involved proclamation of a future hope without any form of present-day relief. In an increasingly wounded world, such an approach becomes less and less palatable, which is why there has now been a significant shift towards social justice and welfare aspects of mission within Pentecostal efforts. However, it has been argued that the relegation of eschatological motivation to the periphery of mission has detrimental consequences for Pentecostal mission as a whole and therefore needs to be rethought (Ma and Ma 2010:280). This article endeavors to contribute to this discussion by drawing together theological and missiological reflections on the Pentecostal full gospel to reflect on whether such relegation is inevitable, or whether an amended eschatological vision is still helpful for mission efforts in a wounded world.
五旬节派宣教活动的最初动机是对基督千禧年前再来的承诺。这种末世论的宣教基础受到多种因素的推动,其中最重要的是对《马太福音》24:14的解释,即福音需要在末日来临之前传遍每一个国家。但对来世的关注也使五旬节派的宣教策略偏离了对现世的关注,五旬节派长期以来一直受到批评,因为他们的宣教历史只宣扬未来的希望,而没有任何形式的现世救济。在一个受伤日益严重的世界里,这种宣教方式变得越来越不可取,这也是五旬节派的宣教工作现在明显转向社会正义和福利方面的原因。然而,也有观点认为,将末世论动机置于宣教的边缘会对五旬节派的整体宣教产生不利影响,因此需要重新思考(Ma and Ma 2010:280)。本文嘗試對此討論有所貢獻,將五旬節全福音的神學與宣教學反思結合起來,以反思此種退居次要地位是否無可避免,或修正後的末世觀是否仍有助於在受傷世界中的宣教工作。
期刊介绍:
The aim of Mission Studies is to better enable the International Association for Mission Studies to expand its services as a forum for the scholarly study of biblical, theological, historical and practical questions related to mission.