Reviews (15) Wineskins

Pentecostalism by Walter Hollenweger (Hendrickson, 1997)

Pentecostal pastor and then Reformed minister, Dr Walter Hollenweger, retired professor of Missions at Birmingham University in England, pioneered research on Pentecostalism for 40 years.

He published The Pentecostals in 1972, which is still a classic survey of the worldwide Pentecostal movement. His recent book, Pentecostalism is in many ways a sequel. Hollenweger assesses the origins of the fastest-growing religious movement in the world. He describes the theological stories of the pentecostal movement within its Black oral root, Catholic root, evangelical root, critical root, and ecumenical root.

Cecil Robeck of Fuller Theological Seminary says, “I know of no one else who has the breadth of knowledge, the depth of understanding, or the grasp of such a broad base of scholarship to be able to write this book. … This fascinating book is at times playful, at times deadly serious, and at times simply informative. It will stretch the thinking of all who care to be taught, and challenge the hypocrisy of those who think they know it all. And it will help us all to understand better than we have before, the roots that have nurtured one of the most vital Christian movements in the twentieth century.”

Harvey Cox of Harvard University and author of another investigation of Pentecostalism, Fire from Heaven, adds, “Pentecostalism is the fastest growing and most vital Christian movement on the globe today. What great news that the esteemed elder statesman of Pentecostal studies has now given us this comprehensive and absorbing account of how it started and why it is growing.”

Almost 500 pages, it is not light reading, although it is peppered with vivid stories of Pentecostalism. If you want a light-weight paperback summary, look elsewhere. If you want a thorough, academic and fire-filled examination of this astounding movement, you have it in this book.

An increasing number of postgraduate and undergraduate students will mine this rich ore for profound insights and quotable quotes. (GW)

The Transforming Power of Revival edited by Harold Caballeros and Mell Winger (Peniel, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1998).

This collection of 18 articles by 16 authors from five continents gathers insights from the World Congress on Intercession, Spiritual Warfare and Evangelism held in Guatemala City in October 1998. It provides a global picture of recent developments in Spirit-filled prayer and evangelism.

Chapters include:

It’s worth it to pay the price, by Omar Cabrera.

The purpose of the anointing, by Carlos Annacondia.

The Agreement of Heaven and earth, by Cindy Jacobs.

Soulwinning, by T. L. Osborn.

The New Apostolic Reformation, by C. Peter Wagner.

The Road to Community Transformation, by George Otis Jr.

Almolonga the Miracle City, by Mell Winger.

In the sixties and seventies, renewal was sweeping the churches and independent churches and movements abounded. By the eighties and nineties, revival movements gained increasing prominence. Now he vanguard of revival movements is reporting on whole cities and even nations experiencing powerful Spirit-filled awakening and transformation.

This book from Latin America will inform and inspire you with some of those latest current accounts of God’s mighty purposes and actions in the world today. It is the forerunner of many current books emerging to lead us into city-wide transformation and revivals which are beginning to impact nations.

Videos:

A few Christian videos grab your attention and expand your horizons. These do.

Transformations 1 (The Sentinel Group, 1999)

George Otis Jr. takes you on a mind-blowing journey to four cities, two in Latin America, one in Africa, and one in North America. All of these cities have been radically transformed by united Christian prayer and witness. Crime has dropped dramatically. Christians really love one another and God answers their prayers, to the astonishment of the government and civic leaders. Mayors and police chiefs plead with the Christians to keep praying because it has made so many revolutionary social changes.

One is a community where 92% of the population is born again. The four city jails have been closed for lack of crime. Agricultural productivity has reached biblical proportions, and experts from America are now visiting the city to try and learn the secret of such abundant agricultural productivity.

Another is a city where 60,000 jam the municipal soccer stadium for all-night prayer vigils every three months. There a multi-billion dollar drug cartel has been brought to its knees in answer to united prayer.

Another is a town where local bars have been transformed into churches. Ancestral shrines have been destroyed. Entire family clans have come to faith in Christ.

Another is a city where thriving occult centers have been closed, drug abuse has been significantly reduced and a crime wave has subsided as the churches fill.

Transformations 2 (The Sentinel Group, 2001)

Visit modern-day sites of transforming revival in Uganda and Canada’s Arctic provinces.
Re-visit a true historical revival in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. (75 min)

More stirring stories of whole communities transformed by the presence and power of God.

Available in Australia from Toowoomba City Church, PO Box 2216, Toowoomba, Qld. 4350. Ph. 07 4638 2399.

© Renewal Journal #15: Wineskins, renewaljournal.com
Reproduction is allowed with the copyright included in the text.

CONTENTS: Renewal Journal 15: Wineskins

Editorial: New Wineskins for the 21st Century

The God Chasers, by Tommy Tenny

The New Apostolic Reformation, by C. Peter Wagner

The New Believers, by Diana Bagnall (The Bulletin)

Vision and Strategy for Church Growth, by Lawrence Khong

New Wineskins for Pentecostal Studies, by Sam Hey

New Wineskins to Develop Ministry, by Geoff Waugh

Book and DVD Reviews:
Pentecostalism, by Walter Hollenweger
The Transforming Power of Revival, by Harold Caballeros and Mell Winger
Transformations 1 and 2 DVDs (The Sentinel Group)

Renewal Journal 15: Wineskins – PDF