Letters

Pentecostals: Reviving Neglected Emphases

Congratulations on your quality coverage of American Pentecostals [“America’s Pentecostals: Who They Are; What They Believe; Where They Are Going,” Oct. 16]. Pentecostals have revived neglected biblical emphases; as the various Methodist movements cooled, the Pentecostal movement arose.

To avoid spiritual self-indulgence, to avoid being seduced by American individualism and materialism, Pentecostalism needs to add a biblical version of social justice to its distinctives. With the immense power inherent in its emphasis on the Holy Spirit, Pentecostalism has the potential of becoming a great force for social justice in the kingdom of God here on earth, perhaps surpassing the impact of the Wesleyan movement.

LOWELL NOBLE

Spring Arbor College

Spring Arbor, Mich.

I commend you on the excellent articles on the Pentecostal movement. Perhaps unknown to the photographer, the beautiful lady on the cover of the magazine is Roberta Parham Hromas of Rolling Hills, California. It was taken at the Congress on the Holy Spirit and World Evangelization in New Orleans in July. Roberta is the granddaughter of Charles Fox Parham, who began the World Pentecostal Movement in his Bible school in Topeka, Kansas, in 1901. Roberta, a Pentecostal minister, is the daughter of Pauline Parham, who taught for many years at Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas. It is noteworthy that the three generations represented in this pioneering family span the entire history of the Pentecostal movement.

VINSON SYNAN, Chairman

The New Orleans Congresses on the Holy Spirit and World Evangelism

New Orleans, La.

I have been a “classical Pentecostal” since my father became a Christian in 1950. ...

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