Family in Different Religions: The Pentecostal Family

Among the significant phenomenon that marked the latter half of the Twentieth Century is the unprecedented growth of the Pentecostal movement throughout the world.  It is estimated that Pentecostalism now has adherents reaching 750 million.  This is truly remarkable given its humble beginnings around the turn of the century.  Birthed in revival with flash points in western North Carolina and Los Angeles, Pentecostalism has risen as a major force in the Christian church in less than 100 years.

Pentecostalism had its origins among what some have called the “deprived.”   From its earliest days, common folk, embraced “The Word of God rightly divided” as the standard for doctrine and behavior.  This has meant a fundamental valuing of the family as a divine institution and as the basic unit of the church and society.

Evangelism has been a hallmark of the Pentecostal tradition.  In fact, some Pentecostal faith groups based in the United States have constituencies outside the U.S. that far exceed their numbers inside.  The vision has always included reaching households with the Gospel.  Therefore, it is not uncommon to have families that trace their linkage to Pentecostalism through several generations.  That is to say that the natural family is a global concern for Pentecostals.

Pentecostals value marriage and the family as significant aspects of the creation story.  Marriage was the answer to the “not good” of Adam’s aloneness (Genesis 2:18-25).  The pronouncement of “very good” by the Creator over the creation was not made until Adam and Eve were united (Genesis 1:27-31). Family was the divine plan for nurture, procreation, and companionship (Genesis 4).  From there the Scriptures can be read as a story of God’s dealing with families.  As the Psalmist declared, “God sets the solitary in families” (68:6).  The “household” of the people of faith finds its fulfillment in the institution of the Church where everyone is welcome as a part of the family of God. Therefore, Pentecostalism warns against lifestyles and habits that tend to trap persons in their aloneness and systems that oppress and encourages marital bonding, familial fidelity, and other healthy relationships that foster wholeness.

Historically, Pentecostalism has affirmed that marriage is a covenant between one man and one woman (Genesis 1: 27-28; 2:21-23; Malachi 2:14), intended to last a lifetime (Matthew 19:3-7).  Its purpose is both creative and complementary (Genesis 1:28; 2:20-22).  Sexuality is a sacred gift of God (Song of Solomon).  Marriage is the only divinely approved context for sexual expression (Genesis 1:28; 2:25).  Any cohabitation outside marriage is sinful (Exodus 20:14; I Corinthians 6:18) and any same-sex coupling is perversion (Romans 1:26-27).  Covenant marriage is to reflect the mystery of Christ’s love for the church (Ephesians 5:22-32).  Therefore, Pentecostalism cautions against self-centered libertinism and upholds the sacredness of matrimony, sexuality, and disciplined autonomy.

Children are gifts from God and are to be esteemed highly (Psalm 127:3-5).  They are to honor and obey their father and mother (Ephesians 6:1-2).  Parents are the primary nurturers, protectors, and disciplers of their own children (Deuteronomy 6:4-7; Malachi 4:26; Proverbs 22:6; 2 Corinthians 12:14; Ephesians 6:4).  The home is to be a place of blessing and example (Genesis 27:27; I Timothy 5:4).  Therefore, Pentecostalism advises against radical cultural redefinition of the family and values the sanctity of persons, parental rights, and domestic tranquility.

It is from this theological understanding that Pentecostals consider urgent social issues confronting the natural family. Pentecostals believe that issues confronting the Twenty-First Century family are best countered by applying First-Century principles.  The spiritual bankruptcy of humanistic secularism and radical individualism must be countered by a demonstration of genuine agape.  Divine guidance, marital permanence, family stability, life protection, respect for personhood and compelling state interests are the foundations for civil society.  In short, Pentecostals hold that forces seeking to disrupt, divide, and redefine the family and marriage are spiritual in nature.  Therefore, cultural turnaround is facilitated by spiritual renewal first and foremost.  Societal transformation flows from the inside out.  Only houses built on rock ultimately stand.  Fundamentally, for Pentecostals, this means discerning the Word of God, submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and laboring in the power of the Holy Spirit to effect Kingdom living in the here and now.  Being salt and light at home translates into being salt and light in the work place, at school, and in the community at large.  While educating, influencing, lobbying, and voting are vital, spiritual renewal is essential.  It is this combination that fosters growth, development, and freedom for the natural family and fortifies the future of nations.

Even though participating in the long history of the Judeo-Christian tradition, Pentecostals have been slow to understand the implications of the scriptural notion of covenant.  Covenant is the bedrock upon which healthy homes and vibrant marriages rest.  The strength of covenant is that it undergirds the call to connect, the call to care, and the call to commitment.  Inherent in the notion of covenant is the call to connect.  Spouses are to be one-fleshed.  Children are to be cherished.  Parents are to be honored.  Elders are to be respected.  Relatives are to be remembered and cared for.  Families are to be nurtured.  Covenant leads to connection.

Inherent in the relationship of covenant and within the nature of the human creature is the yearning for connection.  As articulated in the recent report from the Commission on Children at Risk, Hardwired to Connect, humans have been created with the need and propensity for connections to other people and to moral and spiritual meaning.  Therefore, nurturing “environmental conditions” must be promoted and protected in order that the natural and normal human longing not be undermined.   Generally, then, Pentecostals would be supportive of laws, regulations, policies, institutions, education, and rituals that foster a nurturing “bio-psycho-social-cultural model” of human development.  By the same token, Pentecostals would be leery of any political, academic, social, economic, or religious programming that leads to the separating of traditional familial connections.  This includes abortion rights, marriage taxes, same-sex marriage, easy divorce, out-of-wedlock birth, redefining marriage and family, and loosening sexual consent statutes to name a few.

The call to care is also inherent in covenant.  As the report summarized, one of the essential needs for adequate caring is the creation of “authoritative communities.”  Authoritative communities are groups that live out inter-generational/multi-generational connectedness that humans need in order to thrive.  While the report calls for “a wide variety of social institutions” to become authoritative communities, Pentecostals see the Church as a core constituency for such.  As Vining and Seals has pointed out in Family Ministry Frameworks, a “family-centered, church-supported ministry” rather than a “church-centered, family-supported structure” is best suited for this purpose.  Pentecostals, therefore, would eagerly embrace policies and programming that promote caring, which can be integrated into the church’s ministry as an authoritative community.  The faith-based initiative as proposed by the Bush administration is an example.

Finally, inherent in covenant is the call to commitment.  Historically, Pentecostals have been conservative in their politics and social and religious views.  To some degree they have been more concerned about the world to come than the one they live in. Evangelism has taken precedence over social and political action.  However, the moral crises being generated by the “in-your-face” radicalism of feminists, homosexuals, and activists, to mention a few, are causing Pentecostals to understand the need for both earnest supplication and social/political action.  In the words of the Commission’s report, “…what happens to us will depend mostly on us.  Our future in this respect is less an externally structured or preordained process than an event in freedom and an act of choice.”  With adequate leadership, Pentecostals would embrace the goal of deepening “our society’s commitment to those values that build and sustain authoritative communities, and to reconsider our commitment to those values that often replace or undermine them.”  It is at this point that the worth of the World Congress of Families is measured.  The resources and energies of all the participants give us in the Pentecostal tradition guidance and boldness to join hands in the commitment, the fight, the good fight of faith for our families.

In summary, Pentecostals take the question of the Psalmist seriously, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?"  (Psalm 11:3). Pentecostals can and must:

1. Pray without ceasing.

2. Protect family connectedness

3. Prepare congregations for becoming authoritative communities

4. Publish pro-family resources and curriculum

5. Promote community action and civic engagement

6. Participate in the political process

7. Partner with the World Congress of Families and other pro-family groups