Pentecostalism and Emergence: Discerning the Spirit

More about my reflections in advance of the Society for Pentecostal Studies at which I am presenting a paper on what emergence and Pentecostalism have to learn from one another.

Time is winding down for my presentation at the end of the week, and I’m honing in on my main point.  I think it’s this: Emergents, more than other versions of American Protestantism, seem to share with Pentecostals a robust pneumatology.  But, whereas Pentecostals are good at listening for the revelation of God’s Spirit on an individual level (personal words from the Lord while in prayer or reading scripture, for instance), Emergents have focused on corporate discernment of God’s Spirit (like, for instance, the collective sermon process in my faith community) (a bit like Quakers).

Thus, Emergents can learn how to listen to God from Pentecostals, since they’ve been at it a long time.

And Pentecostals can learn from Emergents to move that discernment into a communal setting.

Your thoughts?