Good News for All? Reflections on the Pentecostal Full Gospel

Abstract

Pentecostals have a gospel to proclaim and yet in the rush to share don't often stop to reflect on the nature of the gospel. This article reflects on the 'Full gospel' that is proclaimed by many within classical Pentecostalism, against historical and contemporary considerations. It suggests that there are limits to who the Full gospel is good news for, particularly given the diversity within pentecostalism.Pentecostals have a gospel to proclaim and are not usually reticent in sharing it! From the start, pentecostal missionaries were 'going out to all points of the compass to spread this wonderful Gospel' and seeing results. 1 They had discovered good news that had to be urgently shared with all people across the world. Now, with an estimated more than five hundred million pentecostals worldwide, it perhaps goes without question that the good news has been effectively shared. Yet there has been little research into how the gospel is understood from a pentecostal perspective, and whether the Gospel referred to at Azusa Street is the one that has continued to be fruitful. Within American classical Pentecostalism, there have been moves towards seeing the so-called 'Full gospel' as distinctly pentecostal and a suitable basis for developing pentecostal theology. The Full gospel has a Christological shape in regard to Jesus as Saviour, Sanctifier, Baptizer in the Spirit, Healer and Coming King. This article uses the Full gospel as a starting point for exploring the pentecostal good news, and whether it is good news for all or just some.The Full gospel has either a Fivefold or Fourfold structure and has its roots in the Fourfold Gospel articulated by AB Simpson in the 19th century. It is an understanding of the gospel that results from a conversation between experience, Scripture and various theological traditions. Thus I would distinguish between 'gospel' in popular usage and the term 'gospel' as used in Scripture. For some classical Pentecostals, the holiness and mission traditions are of particular importance alongside the narrative of Acts and the experience of Spirit baptism. To talk of the gospel is therefore to speak of experienced, contextual, good news that is testified to in Scripture and understood in the light of theological tradition. The nature of the gospel has been taken for granted throughout pentecostal history and it has been the subject of surprisingly little discussion. This may be because

Postdenominational Missiology: Developing an Ecumenical Renewalist Approach

“…There can be a tension between renewalists who start with a holistic understanding of salvation and those who start with a Pentecostal five-fold gospel. I have argued that the former is more representative of global renewalists, although the debate will continue (Lord, 2012a). At the same time, renewalists need to reimagine the gospel as a narrative of the way God’s covenant love approaches a world of sin to bring about transformational salvation.…”