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

current study shows. To put it another way, the emphasis is on the sovereignty of
God the Spirit in mission in a pneumatological Pentecostal missiology.
It seems that the current debate within the pneumatological theology of religions
is centred on the issue of discernment. The most common discernment argued for
is Christological. However, it is argued that a genuine pneumatological theology
should use pneumato-centric Christology for discernment. Roland Allen, a
pioneer thinker in linking pneumatology to missiology, is significant in this
respect. According to him:
We believe that it is the Holy Spirit of Christ which inspires and guides us: we
can not believe that the same Spirit will guide and inspire them [our converts,
new believers, new churches, younger churches]. We believe that the Holy Spirit
has taught us and is teaching us true conceptions of morality, doctrine, ritual: we
can not believe that the same Spirit will teach them. 99
K. Kim’s discussion on the debate of discernment seems to be useful from the
perspective of a pneumatological missiology as the Spirit dimension is clear. She
discusses four useful biblical criteria for discernment, for she affirms that ‘the
Christian contribution to the debate of discernment will always be Christ-centred.’
The first is ecclesial, ‘the confession of Jesus Christ as Lord by the Christian
community,’ with the help of the Holy Spirit. The second is ethical, ‘the evidence
of the fruits of the Spirit… in the up-building of community.’ The third is
charismatic, ‘the practice of the gifts of the Spirit,’ and the fourth is liberational,
‘consideration for the poor,’ as the Spirit anointed Jesus announced (Lk 4:18). She
99 Roland Allen. Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962), 143-
44. He critiques the foreign missionaries’ hesitation to trust the local churches and leaders.
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