a contextual missiology of the spirit - eTheses Repository ...

denominational journal, as it has become the possession of NMM, and it only
contains the missionary activities of FFCI along with other devotional articles.
5.3. Cultural Dynamics
The intercultural issue is another concern of contemporary Pentecostalism in
Rajasthan. This cannot be seen as a new challenge; rather there has been evidence
of intercultural issues within the community even from the movement’s inception
in the state. It seems that most leaders fail to understand cultural dynamics at least
in the initial period of Pentecostalism. The current research shows that until
recently the Pentecostal movement in the state has been increasingly controlled
and shaped by south Indians, particularly Malayalees. 26 Malayalees do not share
the north Indian culture in various aspects like language, clothes and food and
cultural differences have played a significant role in many ecclesiastical issues,
including the division of churches. Although there are a number of inter-cultural
issues such as the use of jewellery, clothes and language, only the problem of
jewellery is focused on in this study as an example, as it has been a complex issue
that has seriously affected Pentecostalism, particularly in its early years. As
mentioned earlier, a few Pentecostal churches in the state are schisms from other
Pentecostal organizations. One reason for leaving the parent organization was
related to the issue of jewellery. Most leaders who left the parent organizations
were from south India and had a background in classical Kerala Pentecostalism.
Classical Pentecostals from Kerala do not allow their followers to wear ornaments
of any sort. They made non-usage of jewellery part of their doctrine, an external
26 People from Kerala, whose mother tongue is Malayalam, are called Malayalees.
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