Research Project: Romanian Pentecostalism

Background 

During the years following the disintegration of Ceausescu's regime, I became concerned with how the church could become more relevant in the post-communist society. At that time, my particular concern was limited to finding methods of bringing people into the church and into a living faith. My horizons in the subject of missions widened during my studies at the Evangelical Theological Seminary, Osijek, Croatia and I am indebted to missiology professors at Osijek who have helped me understand that mission lies at the heart of the church. I gained fresh insight into the connection between mission and the church in the post-communist Romania while I was working on my Diploma topic of "Mission and Proselytism: Missiological Perspectives in the Romanian Context." I noticed then that Pentecostals in Romania were facing serious challenges for which they were ill prepared. Further, during my years in the Graduate programme researching the ecclesiological practice of the Romanian Pentecostals I became even more convinced that they have not developed an adequate theology to help them engage with their context in a missionary way and their ecclesiological praxis has not always been contextual. As a result I became interested in undertaking research which may assist Romanian Pentecostals develop a relevant theology for their context.

Aims and Objectives

The study seeks to answer this central research question and sub questions:

Why be concerned for an effective Pentecostal mission in Romania? What kind of competence does the church have in the development of a post-communist culture? How does Romanian Pentecostalism fits into this picture and in what ways it can contribute to the understanding of Christian identity in the contemporary culture, when there is no chance that it will ever be more than a marginal minority?

The Research Problem 

The academic investigation of Romanian Pentecostal mission praxis has not been possible before 1989 due to limited resources, restricted freedom, and the superficial training of the Pentecostals ministers and pastors. Even though the fall of communism has provided a way for such studies to be done, after more than a decade the outcome is still very modest. There are only few works written about Romanian Pentecostalism, and even those contain largely a devotional trait, at times with accentuated and exaggerated personal nuances. Nevertheless, they prove to be essential in attempting to construct a past out of limited and incomplete data, for the sake of current issues and questions. The present researcher will focus on the Romanian Pentecostal church to investigate their struggle in coming at terms with their past experiences, and their endeavour to engage with their society as they seek to build a democratic social order. The researcher seeks to show how the theological legacy and activity of Pentecostals in the contemporary context needs to be transformed in the light of current missiological trends and as a response to the needs and objectives of the process of democratic reconstruction.

Significance of this Research

The communist regime of Romania has inflicted lasting damage in the political, social, and economic sphere, as well as at a personal level. The collapse of the regime left the society with the gigantic task of social, political, economic, and moral reconstruction. Thus, Romanian Pentecostals, along with other Christians, find themselves at present in a different and challenging situation, in which they can make a significant contribution to the society, which is struggling to build a new social order based on democratic principles. Yet, confronted with a wide range of issues which they have never encountered or considered before (such as business and market ethics, nationalism, and the role of the church in politics) Romanian Pentecostals tend to deny not just the duty but also the right of the church to interfere with political issues and intervene into social problems. Romanian Pentecostals regard experiencing a spiritual awakening as the only legitimate way of solving social problems. In their theology, mission is understood as providing the fundamentals of moral reform and the subsequent transformation of self. Moreover, the Pentecostal identity transcends the barriers of belonging to particular national community, which inevitably leads to certain marginalization. My own constructive proposal will aim towards an integrative approach to mission which seeks to confront such reductionist views by attempting to link mission with the broader cultural context.

Field of Study: Theological/Applied 

The proposed research topic will be interdisciplinary, involving missiological, and theological analysis. I will give due attention to the historical background of the Romanian Pentecostal church, the reason for its early success, its mixed fortunes under communism, and its failure to engage with the post-modern culture after the collapse of communism. I will examine the difficult relations with the Orthodox Church, and evaluate the common perception that Pentecostals are overly influenced by the West and fail to speak to the culture and concerns of Romania. I will investigate the church's failure to address the current corruption in Romanian society, and will examine the church's social, moral, economic, and cultural irrelevance.

Scope

The research is officially focused for Romanian Pentecostals pre 1990 and post 1990 and their theological re-equipment for mission in Romania today. 

Methodology 

The research will be conducted by consulting publications and written sources as available; by archive data, questionnaires, and interviews with key leaders in the Romanian Pentecostal movement, and by surveying and participating in group discussions and experiments, which are struggling to respond to the issues I shall address in my thesis.

Research Outcomes

We will aim to develop an appropriate mission strategy for the church which will include developments in the ecclesiology and practice of mission, so that the isolation of the Pentecostal church from society and its evasion of involvement in the political and social context can be overcome.