Wesleyan Pneumatology, Pentecostal Mission, and the Missio Dei: Renewing the Spark of the Spirit through a Latin American Case Study

by Jody B. Fleming

Overview

In Wesleyan Pneumatology, Pentecostal Mission, and the Missio Dei, Jody B. Fleming argues that missiology in a Wesleyan context has been heavily influenced by the Western worldview and needs renewal. Spirituality is central to living in many non-western cultures, integrated with the physical world of everyday life. Wesleyan traditions may need to renew and strengthen the pneumatology found in their mission theory and praxis. As the center of Christianity is shifting to the global south, Pentecostal and charismatic expressions of the faith are becoming more prominent. Without forfeiting their solid foundations, what might the Wesleyan traditions learn from their theological cousins about engagement with the Holy Spirit? How might pneumatology be renewed in order to address spiritual beliefs found in other cultures in both global and local settings? Renewal also includes the indigenous voice as essential for understanding cultural dynamics and spirituality. Contextualization is not new to missiology and so mission theory is explored from Latin American scholars as another point for renewal. Partnerships in mission and the role of the Holy Spirit are highlighted in the of field work conducted in Venezuela. In Renewing the Spark the author suggests that a fresh look at pneumatology will more effectively articulate the gospel in holistic and spirit-centered non-western cultures.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781793611970
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	05/18/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	170
File size:	467 KB

About the Author

Jody B. Fleming is lecturer in practical theology at Evangelical Seminary and a faculty mentor for the Kairos Project with Sioux Falls Seminary.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 – The Holy Spirit and Mission: Pneumatology and the Mission Dei

Chapter 2 – Go and Preach the Gospel: Wesleyan Missions

Chapter 3 – The Spirit Poured Out: Pentecostal-Charismatic Mission Methodology

Chapter 4 – Same Mission, Different context: Latin American Missiology

Chapter 5 – The Spark Ignites: Renewed Involvement of the Spirit

Chapter 6– The Gospel and The Spirit: The Venezuelan Context

Conclusion – Renewing the Spark

Editorial Reviews

The best phrase to summarize Jody Fleming’s work is ‘comprehensively inspiring.’

Meticulously studied, the volume will allow novices in the area of Wesleyan and Pentecostal/charismatic pneumatology to comprehend the subject with intelligence, and with contextual relevance to Latin America and their own cross-cultural ministry context.

Robert L. Gallagher

Historian David Hempton, in Methodism: Empire of the Spirit, remarked that Pentecostalism carries the impulse to continue the energy and mobility of early Methodism’s global expansion. Does this mean Wesleyans will be left out of this missional endeavor? Jody Fleming’s book suggests a way forward, embracing both traditional Wesleyan identity and a renewed Pentecostal power in missional engagement. Providing a helpful survey of intercultural and theological concepts around the work of the Holy Spirit in Latin contexts, Fleming offers a needed dialog around a pneumatology of holiness and witness; one to spark renewed effort across Wesleyan and Pentecostal traditions.

Dean G. Blevins

Jody Fleming’s Wesleyan Pneumatology, Pentecostal Mission and the Missio Dei:

Renewing the Spark is a passionate plea for North American Wesleyan churches to become more attuned to the Pentecostal/Charismatic dimensions of global missions. Based in part on her own experiences in Venezuela, this book is a refreshing blend of personal insight and scholarly analysis.

Douglas Jacobsen