A place of prayer

The Global Evangelical Movement

by

Evangelicalism is a broad Christian movement that includes many different denominations and organisations. No one organisation or denomination represents all evangelicals, but there are several key beliefs that are shared.

Chief among these is the belief that salvation comes through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ (Krause 2015; Yannick 2015).

Evangelicals also tend to emphasize the Bible as the sole authoritative source of religious truth (Coleman and Hackett 2015).

Another significant theme is the concept of conversion, a personal story that emphasizes the process through which the person embraced Christianity, and which becomes a fundamental part of their identity as a Christian (Chong 2015).

The largest evangelical organisations in the world include the National Association of Evangelicals, the World Evangelical Alliance, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  

There are also many smaller evangelical churches and denominations.

A Blueprint for a Congregation

One of the key characteristics of the Evangelical movement is the fact that many worshippers set up their own congregations rather than join an existing denomination (Elisha 2015; Pelkmans 2015; Ruy 2015; Yannick 2015).  

This has led to a great deal of diversity within the movement, in terms of both beliefs and practices.

The movements manage to be both small and particular on the one hand, and part of a global movement, sharing broad characteristics, on the other.

The growth of Pentecostal congregations worldwide has been linked to the fact that these Christian denominations provide a blueprint that can easily be reproduced in various communities worldwide, while providing leeway for the local interpretation of doctrine (Bean 2014; Chong 2015; Corten & Marshall Fratani 2001 as cited in Van Dijk 2002; Csordas 2012; Pelkmans 2015; Ruy 2015; Yannick 2015).

Flexibility in Interpretation of Core Theological Issues

The flexibility in interpretation of core theological issues was studied by Bean (2014), who conducted a multi-sited ethnography comparing a Baptist and a Pentecostal Church in the US, where 25% of the population is evangelical, to two equivalent churches (demographically) in Canada, where 10% of the population is evangelical.

‘In both countries, evangelicals maintain strong subcultural boundaries based on a shared set of theological beliefs and “strict” moral standards, and are similarly opposed to abortion and homosexuality’ (Bean 2014: 164).

Yet, US evangelicals and their Canadian counterparts differ considerably when it comes to their views about poverty and the welfare state.

In the US, poverty was seen as the manifestation of someone’s undeserving status, while welfare was seen as morally corrupting and a barrier to the poor taking personal responsibility for their situation –

“You are talking about people that, more than anything, have an issue prioritizing necessities. They have the satellite cable hooked-up to the back of their house and they are having us do their roof … I don’t have cable and that’s because I made a choice … I prioritize other things, and mostly it’s putting food on the table,” according to Charles, an evangelical youth pastor in the US (Bean 2014: 173).

In Canada, on the other hand, the talk was about the plight of their fellow Canadians, and welfare programmes run by the state were viewed in a positive light –

“… as a country you have to govern both [the rich and the poor.] You have to have things that help the poor, and you have to give the rich opportunity to conduct business. …” said Cindy, a Canadian Pentecostal (Bean 2014: 178).

Bean (2014: 164) concludes that

‘constructions of national identity worked as an anchoring mechanism for religious talk about poverty, leading U.S. and Canadian evangelicals to use their shared theological tools in very different ways.’

The result is evangelicalism with a distinctly national flavour.

Rapid Growth

Pentecostal, Evangelical and Charismatic movements have received particular attention within the anthropology of Christianity, due in no small measure to their rapid growth and globalisation in recent years, which has been linked to their legitimisation of a belief system based on the individuality of each worshipper, while also encouraging entrepreneurship and the accumulation of wealth (Cannell 2006; Coleman and Hackett 2015; Robbins 2006).

These denominations highlight the Weberian nature of the link between Protestantism, capitalism, and individualism in their focus on health, wealth and success (Daswani 2013; Van Dijk 2002; Weber 1963).

There is also a strong sense of unity among evangelicals worldwide because of a commitment to spreading the gospel message and sharing their faith with others (Yannick 2015).

Conversion as Strategy

There has been considerable interest in recent years in the phenomenon of the shift of Catholics and Protestants towards Evangelical and Pentecostal movements, particularly when seen in the context of global migration flows and the establishment of local churches within the diaspora.

Research has linked the soaring rates of conversion from Catholicism to Protestantism, and more specifically to evangelicalism and Pentecostalism to pragmatic motivations, as opposed to solely spiritual.

The reasons for the shift vary, but include:

(1) gaining support to overcome alcoholism and other forms of substance abuse;

(2) extricating oneself from a life of violence and crime;

(3) getting help to overcome marital and family difficulties,  and

(4) gaining access to tangible support, in the form of advice, help with getting a job, or financial loans, migrating to another country or moving from a rural location to the city (Smilde 2007; Hardy 2022; van Dijk 2002; Chong 2015; Oosterbaan 2015; Pelkmans 2015; Ruy 2015; Yannick 2015).

In this scenario, conversion to evangelicalism becomes ‘a cultural strategy’ (Mariz cited in Smilde 2007: 5) deployed to improve one’s life because of ‘the perceived economic, social and personal gains’ (Smilde 2007: 4)

This gave rise to an interesting phenomenon, where people first went to the ethnic church for the abovementioned cultural and pragmatic reasons, but then found that their attendance led to a revival (or conversion) of their Christian faith. 

“I used to go to church, nominally though, when I was growing up, but when I went to college I decided not to hang around with any Koreans. But I found that friendships with Americans were shallow and not very satisfying. So I ended up spending a lot of time with Koreans. In church, I found God. Although I have some problems with Korean churches, I get a lot out of it. In church, I felt my ethnicity affirmed. There, it was OK” (Chong 1998: 268).

In short, the church might attract adherents for practical reasons, but in the process it leads them to re-engage with their faith.

Studies like this are a reminder that, in the study of religion, the distinction between the sacred and the profane, or the spiritual and the material, must not be assumed by the ethnographer.

The people studied might draw the line differently, or not draw it at all.

The Making of a Christian

Religion can act as an important source of identity for migrants as they navigate the construction of their individual and communal identity in their new home (Chong 1998; Smilde 2007; Hardy 2022).

In an ethnographic study of a Korean-American congregation of evangelical Christians, Chong (1998) found that many of the Korean-Americans who attended the ethnic church said that their primary motivation was not religious, but rather to maintain a connection to their Korean roots and community, not only for themselves but also for their children.

For example:

“Why do I come to a Korean church? Well, it’s not strictly for religious reasons, but cultural. Part of the reason is to keep some contact with the Korean community because it’s our only source of cultural identity. It’s also important to our parents — this is not the most important factor, but one of the important factors. Another thing is that we think about the next generation. Our kids will have the same exposure if we have contact with the Korean community” (Chong 1998: 267).

However, the link to national identity need not exclude its deconstruction.

Van Dijk (2002) studied a congregation of worshippers at a Pentecostal residential prayer camp in Ghana. He found that the belief system of the congregation was based around local culture and ‘travel problems’ experienced by those who wanted to emigrate to the West – ‘… prophetess Grace Mensah provides for prayer sessions over passports, visa and air-tickets’ (van Dijk 2002: 53).

Furthermore, the abovementioned flexibility enables Pentecostal leaders to incorporate elements of local cosmology into their Christian doctrine, transforming traditional beliefs relating to curses and evil spirits into part of the lexicon of worship.

In Ghana, for example, problems such as alcoholism or infertility are linked to ancestral curses (nnomee), which can only be resolved through bodily practices and prayer that adhere to Pentecostal doctrine (van Dijk 2002; Daswani 2013).

Ghanaian Pentecostal churches serve a dual role.

In Ghana they help to deconstruct and change the old ethnic identities and communal values of its members, legitimising and sacralising their desire to leave their kinship group and venture out into the world to improve their lot in life. 

However, they have also set up branches in the West, where their mission changes from deconstruction and change to reconstruction and maintenance, providing Ghanaians in the diaspora with a sense of belonging, where they can talk in their mother tongue, network with fellow migrants, and support each other.

This results in the creation of a form of spiritual kinship, or a sense of family, that is rendered very powerful since it is forged in an atmosphere of sanctity.

Re-Engagement with Faith

Several ethnographers have reported cases where people first go to the ethnic church for the abovementioned cultural and pragmatic reasons, but then find that their attendance led to a revival of (or conversion to) Christian faith (e.g. Chong 1998; Horevitz 2009).

A Theology of Evil and Blessing

In the late twentieth century, global evangelists such as Derek Prince flooded the Pentecostal world with books, audio cassettes and films proselytizing that God wanted Christians to be healthy, wealthy and successful, and pointing the finger at demons and curses when such blessings did not materialise (Coleman, Hackett et al. 2015; Daswani 2013).

The differentiation between God as the source of blessings and Satan as the creator of misfortune means that when evangelicals face trials and tribulations, they frame them as evidence of the constant attempts of the devil to thwart God’s plan and disrupt the constant stream of miracles that God intends to bestow upon them (Coleman, Hackett et al. 2015; Engelke, Tomlinson 2006; Luhrmann 2012).

Congregants view themselves as protagonists in a constant battle with the devil, fighting both on their behalf and on behalf of all humanity (Krause 2015; Lindhardt 2015). This battle occurs in the spiritual realm, where they believe the fate of humanity is decided (Chong 2015; Luhrmann 2012; O’Neill 2015; Yannick 2015).

Prayer Warriors

To prevail in spiritual warfare, a new breed of Christian is required – ‘a powerful man of God’ (Daswani 2013: 249) who prays ‘without rest, as God commanded’ (Chong 2015: 115) and is empowered to intercede for afflicted people and overcome the power of Satan.

Thus emerged the concept of prayer warriors, who pray for several hours at a stretch and are engaged in an unrelenting spiritual war with the devil on behalf of humanity (Engelke and Tomlinson 2006; Krause 2015; Luhrmann 2012).

Attaining the status of prayer warrior requires serious commitment.

Prayer warriors embark on what has been described as an intensive ‘spiritual gymnastics program’ (Coleman 2006: 47) or ‘bodybuilding … prayer warriors practise so that they can pray for long duration, and they also build up specific skills in praying, as one does in bodybuilding when training specific muscles’ (Krause 2015: 85).

A Constant Stream of Miracles

Evangelical Christians believe that it is the Word of Christ, as delivered through the Gospel, that enters an unbeliever’s heart and converts them.

It is thus the mission of each evangelical to spread the Word by preaching and witnessing, in the hope that it will take root in the hearts of people they talk to.

Once the person hears the Word, the Holy Spirit has the opportunity to convert them

‘because they become convinced that supernatural reality is a fact, that Christ is the literal Son of God, that he did rise from the dead and is alive today, that the Holy Spirit is speaking to them, that Jesus will enter their hearts if they acknowledge their sins, that they will have eternal life, that God is really real’ (Harding 2008: 481).

Evangelicals see the hand of Jesus Christ in everything that they experience. They believe that God speaks to them in innumerable ways through everyday occurrences, which become proof, if proof was needed, of his existence and his power.

Thus, their faith permeates every aspect of their lives, from the mundane to the spiritual, becoming a form of interpretative key to decipher their life experiences.

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