The International Lutheran Pentecostal Dialogue
1
The International Lutheran – Pentecostal Dialogue:
Some Reflections on Its Past and Future
Cecil M. Robeck, Jr.
On this, the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Institute for Ecumenical Research, I have been invited to provide a brief introduction to the preliminary work done for the upcoming International Lutheran – Pentecostal Dialogue, and then to look ahead to some of the future tasks and challenges that this important dialogue faces. I am very grateful for the role that the Institute for Ecumenical Research has played in bringing this Dialogue into being. Personal thanks go to Professor Dr. Theodore Dieter, Professor Dr. André Birmelé, and Professor Dr. Kenneth Appold.
In a sense, this Dialogue has been in preparation since at least October 22-24, 1996 when the Secretaries of Christian World Communions met in Oslo, Norway. At that meeting, Gunnar Stålsett, former Bishop of Oslo and General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) approached me and asked me to consider establishing an international Lutheran-Pentecostal Dialogue. When I asked him why he thought we needed such a dialogue, his immediate response was that while on the whole, Lutherans were not very open to charismatic manifestations such as speaking in tongues, healing, miracles, and prophecy, there was a rapidly growing LWF member church that was highly charismatic – the Ethiopian Evangelical Mekane Yesus Church. He told me that many of the LWF churches did not know how to relate to this now 5.6 million member church and he thought that the nearly century of experience that Classical Pentecostals had had with these same manifestations might be helpful to the LWF as it sought to understand better this otherwise provocative member church. I was very happy to support such a dialogue.
At that time, however, the LWF was deeply involved in completing its work on and planning to celebrate the upcoming release of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification with the Catholic Church.[1] Furthermore, Dr. Ishmael Noko had been elected the LWF General Secretary, so establishing such a Dialogue would be in his hands. Dr. Noko reaffirmed his personal interest and the interest of the LWF in pursuing this Dialogue, but he also explained the existing LWF commitments that he needed to shepherd, and he asked that Dr. Sven Oppegaard, then Secretary for Ecumenical Affairs in the LWF and me to continue talking about future implementation. Each year, Dr. Oppegaard met at the annual meeting of the Secretaries of Christian World Communions and reaffirmed our mutual interest in the project, but the time for dialogue had not yet come.
During the week of July 4-9, 2003, the World Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Standing Commission met in Strasbourg. We took the opportunity to visit the Summer Institute then being offered by the Institute for Ecumenical Research. I was invited by then Faith and Order Director, Dr. Alan Falconer, to explain the work of Faith and Order and to say something about Pentecostalism to the students and faculty of the Summer Institute. It was at that time that Professor Theo Dieter introduced himself to me. We began a conversation that has since developed into a rich and fruitful friendship.
During that conversation Professor Dieter asked me whether I thought it might be possible to open a Lutheran – Pentecostal Dialogue and I told him about the ongoing conversations between Gunnar Stålsett, Sven Oppegard, Ishmael Noko and me. Subsequently, he followed up on the idea with the LWF. In 2004, Dr. Theo Dieter and Dr. Kenneth Appold invited me to put together a small, exploratory team to pursue the question further. This “study group” led by Dr. Appold, who was on the staff of the Institute and me, gathered at the Institute December 3-4, 2004, where participants introduced themselves and their traditions to one another and made recommendations for the future.
That meeting brought three results. The first was an eagerness expressed on both sides to continue discussions. Participants readily agreed that they would meet annually over the next five years. Second, they agreed on a series of topics that focused on how and where these two global ecclesial traditions encounter Christ. Third, and perhaps most surprising was the fact that the team members recognized both deep personal and spiritual kinship right from the beginning, to which their time spent in Bible study, prayer, and worship together greatly contributed. I have wondered since that time whether it was because both of our traditions share a strand of Pietism that was birthed within Lutheranism that led us to that conclusion.[2] Whatever it was, members on both teams looked forward with great anticipation to all future meetings and in the end, there was a level of commitment to one another achieved in those meetings that I have seldom experienced in over 30 years of ecumenical work.
From 2004-2008, the Study Group addressed itself to five themes. In 2004, the group identified the history and characteristics of the Lutheran and Pentecostal traditions, lifting up important aspects of these two global traditions, and addressing various misunderstandings that each held regarding the other. At the end of that first session, I invited Dr. Jean-Daniel Plüss[3] of the Swiss Pentecostal Mission to serve as the Pentecostal co-chair in all future meetings. He readily agreed to do so, and he has since provided outstanding leadership to the Study Group as well as the process leading up to the formal Dialogue that will begin in 2016.
In its second year, the study group asked, “How do we encounter Christ?” It was readily apparent that Lutherans and Pentecostals share a great body of theological understanding as it relates to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. More importantly, the group found significant agreement on specific topics such as the nature of the Gospel, Christology, and justification, as well as the significance of the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. At the same time, because of the different cultures within which these two global traditions developed and because their subsequent histories seemed to run on different tracks, misunderstandings between them had developed. These facts led to fruitful discussion on several related questions. From 2006-2008, three specific questions were addressed to the theme of encountering Christ. First, how do we encounter Christ in proclamation? Second, how do we encounter Christ in the sacraments or ordinances? And third, how do we encounter Christ in charisms? Each of these questions was explored at a deeper level, leading to helpful suggestions for the Dialogue’s future exploration.
One of the significant points to come from this preliminary round of discussions was the recognition that the Lutheran – Pentecostal Dialogue should spend some time exploring the subject of biblical hermeneutics.[4] Lutherans have spent significant time and study on Scripture, often developing and using methods that are different from those employed by the majority of Pentecostals. Because of their different hermeneutical methods, Pentecostals and Lutherans often sound as though they are working at cross-purposes with one another. In this discussion, however, it became clear that this is not always nor is it necessarily the case. Still, questions remain regarding the relative value that various hermeneutical methods hold for these two important ecclesial traditions.
Both the Pentecostal and Lutheran traditions hold Word and Spirit together.[5] As a result, it was noted once again that there is considerable overlap in the ways that these two traditions speak of proclamation, the sacraments / ordinances, and charisms. To be sure, there are differences. The primary Lutheran understanding of proclamation, for instance, stands with the task of preaching that is undertaken by ordained clergy. For Pentecostals, while the preaching done by credentialed evangelists, pastors, and teachers is held in high regard as the place where the Spirit speaks through the Word proclaimed, there is also broad recognition within Pentecostalism that through their personal testimonies, laity must also be included as legitimate proclaimers of the Word in the power of the Holy Spirit as they share their often wisdom-filled biblical insights.[6]
When the Study Group turned its attention to how Lutherans and Pentecostals encounter Christ in the sacraments or ordinances, it was observed that both traditions have an understanding of the real presence of Christ. This doctrine is abundantly clear in the Lutheran tradition, though it is much less obvious among Pentecostals. Pentecostals affirm that in partaking of the elements, bread and wine (grape juice) in the Lord’s Supper, the people of God encounter Christ. Christ confronts, comforts, and feeds them at that time, the people of God receive forgiveness, the people of God receive spiritual, emotional, and physical healing, the people of God find their relationships restored, and the Body of Christ may be seen for what it is – One Body, in Christ. Such manifestations of the Lord’s grace do not happen in Christ’s absence; He is and He must be understood as present in some way.
It might be said that Pentecostals lack an adequate vocabulary to describe this real presence. It can also be said that this lack of vocabulary has resulted in part from the naïve reliance that many Pentecostals have held with respect to a Zwinglian approach to the sacraments/ordinances. It is clear that Pentecostals would benefit from further reflection on what real presence means, but their current inability to verbalize this understanding is undoubtedly also rooted in the term sacrament that stems from a time when many laypeople viewed sacraments more or less as magical acts. A new generation of Pentecostal theologians, especially those theologians who are currently training the next generation of Pentecostal pastors and leaders, is much more willing to explore both the nature of sacrament, as well as the notion of real presence.[7] Thus, already it is apparent that there is a willingness to pursue greater compatibility between Lutherans and Pentecostals on this subject, and it is a place where Lutherans might positively influence Pentecostal theology in the future.
At the same time, the discussion of how Lutherans and Pentecostals experience Christ in the charisms suggested that the Lutheran tendency to avoid recognizing certain charisms today may be deeply rooted in Luther’s frustration with the 16th Century Schwärmer. When the Pentecostal Movement emerged at the beginning of the 20th Century, many outside the Movement saw what they believed to be strong parallels between 20th Century Pentecostals and the 16th Century Schwärmer. A century of living side by side, however, reveals that Pentecostals would be just as troubled today as Luther was in his day by the likes of Andreas von Karlstadt.[8]
When the Charismatic Renewal first came into prominence in the latter half of the 1950s, many Lutheran groups tended to marginalize or exclude those Lutherans who had received the experience that Pentecostals call baptism in the Holy Spirit as well as any manifestation of certain charisms. As a result, many charismatic Lutherans felt as though they were forced from their ecclesial home. More recently, the issues of baptism in the Spirit and especially the charisms are being re-thought in some Lutheran circles.[9] While the Study Group looked at charisms in a general way, the questions regarding the study of charisms that Pentecostals might offer at a deeper level regarding the use of charisms in the Ethiopian Evangelical Mekane Yesus Church remain unaddressed. If Lutherans continue to study Pentecostals, they may find that Pentecostals are able to offer some important insights into the continuing work and power of the Holy Spirit in the Church of the 21st Century.
When the results of the Study Group were published in 2010, several suggestions were made regarding the future. Among them was an agreement that a serious study of the hermeneutical methods used by Lutherans and Pentecostals should be undertaken. Thus, the first official round of the International Lutheran – Pentecostal Dialogue will undertake a study of Luke 4:18-21.[10] This passage is important because it spells out the tasks that Jesus understood to be His own. As followers of Jesus, Lutherans and Pentecostals understand also that this passage provides a clear message about the ways that they might share in the Holy Spirit-anointed work of our Lord Jesus Christ. The dialogue plans to give special attention to verses 18-19, which are often understood or interpreted in ways that at first glance appear to be mutually exclusive.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (NRSV)
On the one hand, the Messianic actions expressed are suggestive of literal and physical actions, the preaching of Good News to those who live in poverty, emancipating those who are in prison or are otherwise held as captives, providing educational and other opportunities for those who currently are not able to see or imagine a more fruitful future, and working on behalf of oppressed or marginalized people everywhere. This sounds much more like a Lutheran agenda than it does a Pentecostal one, one that is aimed at systemic issues.
On the other hand, these tasks may also be viewed largely in spiritual terms, whereby we proclaim the Gospel to those who need the Good News of salvation, that is, to the poor in spirit. We provide release to those who are held spiritually captive by the enemy. We pray for the healing of those who are literally blind as well as those who are spiritually blind. And we provide freedom or liberty to those who are spiritually oppressed by Satan. This sounds much more like a Pentecostal agenda than it does a Lutheran agenda, one that is aimed at personal issues.
Must the one approach be viewed as the correct approach and the other as incorrect? Is it essential that these two understandings be viewed as mutually exclusive? As James A. Sanders pointed out three decades ago, Scripture evidences both adaptability and stability.[11] That is why it is possible to have such a variety of sermons on a single text.[12] Is it not possible for Lutherans and Pentecostals to gather insights together that will through various hermeneutical methods help Lutherans and Pentecostals as well as all other Christians to appreciate the richness of Scripture using the various hermeneutical methods that represent different cultures, histories, or situations? And how might these new insights help Lutherans and Pentecostals to appreciate one another as fellow members within the one Body of Christ? Is it not possible that the experiences of encountering and following Christ may be shared with one another in ways that are mutually edifying, encouraging, and comforting on the one hand while at the same time urging one another to greater openness or provoking one another to greater faithfulness to all that Scripture calls us to live out? It seems to me that this is what the adaptability of Scripture makes it possible to address.
The first meeting of this official Dialogue is scheduled to take place, September 17-23, 2016, at the Asia Pacific Theological Seminary (Assemblies of God) in Baguio City, Philippines. Since the members of the two teams have little acquaintance with one another and will benefit from learning more about their ecclesial traditions, the first meeting will focus on introductions as well as the identity that Lutherans and Pentecostal believers have in Christ. It will focus on the claim that “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” or upon us.
In its second year the Dialogue will meet in a European venue (2017) where the Gospel has been proclaimed for millennia around the theme “He has anointed me to proclaim”. Experience and tradition will play a role in this discussion, but the discussion will also focus on such things as the “priesthood of all believers” as well as “common witness”.
During its third year, the Dialogue intends to address what it means to bring the “Good news to the poor”. Plans include discussion on the nature of the “Prosperity Gospel” along with “diakonia” within a Latin American venue (2018), where the rich as well as those who live in extreme poverty often live side by side with little regard for the other, a place where the prosperity churches of Neo-Pentecostalism have grown rapidly. Such questions as, “How are we called to serve?” and “What does the ‘prosperity’ teaching offer to those in such diverse economic and social locations?” may offer greater understanding as well as suggestions for how best to accomplish the tasks set forth in Luke 4:18-19.[13]
The subject of “Healing” will be addressed when the Dialogue convenes its fourth meeting in an African venue (2019), where plagues such as HIV/Aids, Ebola, Malaria, and Dengue Fever still kill millions, where health insurance and medical treatment is under-available, and where reliance upon spirits and witchcraft is common. It will address the themes of freedom, recovery, and release.
The Dialogue teams will focus on “the year of the Lord’s favor” as it finalizes their report and make their recommendations from a North American venue (2020). That report should contain recommendations for the continuation of Pentecostal / Lutheran contact and/or Dialogue as well as some recommendations regarding “best practices”. It is hoped that an interim report on the activities of this Dialogue can be presented on the occasion of the Lutheran commemorations during 2017.