Pentecostalism has turned out to be a strong basis in terms of renewal and spreading of the gospel. The Pentecostal mission has grown and now has many followers who believe in God, and they just keep growing in number. The Pentecostal community teaches according to what is prophesied in the Bible. These teachings are what the followers believe in especially the second coming of Christ. The second coming of Christ is mostly preached to the unbelievers in a bid to help them change their ways of living and devote their lives to Christ.
Pentecostals lacked the Christian social concern because they all had their minds set on one thing, which is the second coming of Jesus. Hence, spent their time in preaching the gospel to non- believers because this way they would be living in a manner that will grant them eternal life. They follow their eschatological beliefs into believing that by evangelizing to sinners and think this way the social cultures will change.
Although the Pentecostals strongly believed in this, some of the leaders did not live by these beliefs and engaged their churches into social activities most of them involving charity work. This way they showed that the kingdom of God belongs to all. These programs were meant to help those in need grow spiritually as well but most Pentecostals continued with this program as a way of improving the social status of the society.
There is a difference between belief and practice. The Pentecostals believe that Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to the disciples instead of the Spirit empowering the disciples. According to Luke, this means that Jesus’ mission was passed on to the churches, “the disciples spread the gospel and the good news of salvation” (Charles 1998, 31).
Therefore, the church mission should be more than just, sharing, love and helping the needy. Their mission should be, to prepare the people of what life is all about when people follow the gospel of Jesus Christ and practice his ways.
Secondly, the Pentecostals strongly believe in the eschatological coming of Christ in order to avoid having to be the one’s to bring about social change. The fact that they are involved in social work will not grant anyone eternal life but the fact that they are spreading the gospel by evangelizing in these social events and helping people get saved will.
The eschatological belief of the second coming of Jesus like he had before in his mission is what should guide people into putting effort into social service and action as well.
The duty of the church is to spread the gospel of Jesus in a way that people will believe and have new faith in them under the power bestowed in them by the Holy Spirit because this will help the non-believers be saved.
Work Cited
Charles, Rodger. Christian Social Witness and Teaching. Herefordshire: Fowler Wright Books, 1998.