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

a Spirit dimension, ‘deliverance from diseases and demonic powers,’ along with
the second aspect. 31 Later, while discussing Evangelical and Pentecostal
theologies in Asia, Hwa Yung emphasis the importance of the supernatural and
the miraculous aspects in Asian Christian Theology, and he anticipates that ‘in the
future the church worldwide will have to give the gifts of the Spirit … a greater
role in its mission and theology.’ 32 Thus it seems that the contextual as well as the
charismatic aspect of mission seems to be characteristic of an Asian theology of
mission.
Contemporary contextual Pentecostal missiology, as this study proposes, can
serve as a response to this expectation for a contextual as well as a charismatic
missiology, as it has a contextual as well as Spirit dimension. This new model
broadens the horizon of the Spirit dimension of missiology that Jongeneel and
Hwa Yung indicate. The contextual missiology emerging from the current study
on Pentecostalism in Rajasthan recognizes the Spirit dimension as a distinctive
aspect along with the particular context.
It seems that the contemporary Indian context of conversion also indicates the
significance of the Spirit dimension in the development of a contextual
missiology. S. Kim’s study on the issue of conversion in India shows that more
than a ‘socio-political’ interpretation, a ‘spiritual’ dimension of conversion is
required to deal with the problem. According to him, Hindus object to conversions
mainly because it seems to them to be a ‘purely human enterprise and not a
31 Hwa Yung, Mangoes or Bananas, 57-58.
32 Hwa Yung, ‘Mission and Evangelism: Evangelical and Pentecostal Theologies in Asia,’ in
Christian Theology in Asia, 266. For more details, see pp.261-66.
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