Although I don’t agree with everything Samuel Lee writes in his book “A New Kind of Pentecostalism”, I think this part of a review by the author himself is pretty awesome:

As a Pentecostal pastor, I have been in this movement long enough to say with assurance that I have seen many Pentecostals who pray in tongues and who experience and perform miracles and manifestations and yet are full of arrogance, racism, ethnocentrism, or denomi-centrism.[1] They exclude others; they are overflowing with prejudices, yet they claim they are “filled” with the Holy Spirit. I wonder to which Holy Spirit they are referring.

The Pentecostalism that I promote is about humility and is not a commercialized, Hollywood-esque Christianity, where the hairstyle of the preacher and his/her wealth attracts the attention or where leadership becomes a pyramid system in which the superstar preachers become the new living icons and idols of the Pentecostal believers. I would love to see a Pentecostalism in which people learn to depend on God and on each other through love. I desire to see a Pentecostalism in which the leaders are servants and preachers of humility and grace.

The leadership that makes people dependent on and fearful of leaders is a dangerous leadership, in which questioning is sin and doubting is a sign of weakness. I do not agree with this type of leadership, which I, myself, unfortunately practiced until I had the revelation of change. Pentecostalism needs a serious reformation in its views on leadership. A radical change is needed or else the current system will cause one of the major tragedies in Church history since the Middle Ages—by creating a group of ignorant believers, narrow-minded daydreamers, money worshiping preachers, war-promoting “prophets”, abusive “spiritual fathers”, and self-enriching “apostles”. These trivial groups, however, do not represent the rest of the Pentecostals.

There are many other topics that I have spoken about in my book, but I want to close this article with my last consideration: Social Justice! The Pentecostalism that I follow promotes Social Justice. This is also found in the book of Acts: caring for the widows, orphans and migrants. I long to see a Pentecostalism that promotes justice and that becomes a voice for the voiceless. I long to see Pentecostals rising, with voices united for justice and grace. I am looking for Pentecostals who will risk their lives to save those in danger, even when they disagree with or disapprove of their ideology or lifestyle.

As a Pentecostal pastor, and a human rights activist, when I see a certain group of people being systematically persecuted by a certain government or institutions, I do all that I can to help them, regardless of who they are. I will try to hide them, like Oscar Schindler or Corrie Ten Boom did. If homosexuals are being persecuted, stoned or killed, it is my duty to stand up for them. If Muslims are persecuted in a certain country, it is my duty to stand up for their rights, and when my fellow Christians or Jews are being systematically destroyed, it is my duty to speak out and help my fellow believers. Even when an atheist is being discriminated by a theocratic system, it is my duty to stand up and speak out against injustice.

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[1] Denomi-centrism is when a denomination claims to be the rightful Christian church and excludes any other Christian denominations of traditions.