c. 1996 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) What does it mean to spread the faith? What are appropriate ways for missionaries to seek converts?

How do people of faith respond to the pressures of a secular society? What is more important: proclaiming the Gospel or pursuing social justice?

Pentecostal and Roman Catholic leaders grappled with these questions during a recent meeting in northern Italy, co-sponsored by the Vatican and a number of Pentecostal groups worldwide.

The weeklong Roman Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue, which concluded July 20 in Bressanone, Italy, drew 18 participants from the United States, Canada, South Africa, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France and England. The Pentecostals represented such denominations as the Assemblies of God, the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, and the Church of God of Prophecy.

It is part of a little-known but continuing conversation that has unfolded for more than 20 years to build trust between two very different branches of Christianity.

There are about 400 million Pentecostals and about 900 million Catholics worldwide. Pentecostal Christianity, whose practices include speaking in tongues and lively worship services, is among the fastest-growing branches of Christianity. In recent years, the emerging Pentecostal movement has attracted significant numbers of Roman Catholics to its churches, creating tensions between Catholic bishops and local Pentecostal congregations.

At this particular session, theological discussions focused on acceptable ways to seek converts.”I think it’s safe to say that both sides agree that the use of force and coercion is inappropriate to the spread of the Gospel … but we have a long way to go as far as how one defines force and coercion,”said the Rev. Cecil M. Robeck, an Assemblies of God minister who is co-chairman of the dialogue.

Robeck, a professor of church history and ecumenics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., cited Latin America as an example of the clash of perceptions about conversion methods.

Pentecostals, he said, argue that many in the Latin American Catholic Church are Catholic in name only and are therefore appropriate targets for Pentecostal evangelization efforts. But Roman Catholic officials consider these Catholics members of the church”in good standing,”Robeck said.

Pentecostals have trouble fathoming the Catholic position, he said, given the Pentecostal tradition of evangelizing across the globe.

Said Robeck,”From our standpoint, the question is, `If they haven’t shown up at the church since they were baptized … how can you say to us don’t touch them?'” Catholics counter by asking Pentecostals to”imagine what it would be like if you had a church for 500 years (and) all of a sudden you had this upstart group that starts taking your people away,”Robeck said.

Differences over evangelistic practices are a matter of concern far beyond Latin America. Robeck said both the World Council of Churches and officials of the Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe have discussed the issue.”This is not a discussion that is being done in isolation from the rest of the ecumenical world,”he said.

The Catholic-Pentecostal dialogue began in 1972. The July meeting in Bressanone, which was co-sponsored by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and Pentecostal churches and leaders from around the world, marks the seventh time the group has gathered to discuss evangelization.

Robeck said the group had hoped to complete a final report on evangelization at this meeting, but it will take another year to finish it.

And while no clear solutions to the evangelization dilemma emerged, a joint statement issued at the meeting’s conclusion indicated the search for common ground would go on.”Preliminary findings suggest that Catholics and Pentecostals have much in common on which they can build, provided they can develop further patience and trust with each other,”the statement said.”Signs of cooperation have already emerged.” (STORY CAN END HERE. OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS).

Although the report is not final, Robeck said,”What is clear to all of us it that we share much more than what we disagree on.” He said both groups are grappling with what it means”to evangelize within a secular culture.” In addition, each group is challenging the other to strengthen certain aspects of their faith.

Catholic participants urged the Pentecostals to work harder on social issues and Pentecostals asked Catholics to address more seriously the personal dimension of faith.”I think both of us are saying that those are legitimate critiques of each other,”Robeck said.

The July meeting marked the third time this year that Pentecostals had been involved in major ecumenical discussions.

In May, the first discussion between Pentecostals and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches was held in Italy. The goal of the five-year dialogue is to build understanding and identify theological agreements and disagreements between leaders of different branches of Pentecostalism and members of the Reformed alliance, which includes Presbyterian, Congregational, Reformed and United churches in 100 countries.

In June, the World Council of Churches organized a meeting in Costa Rica of its Protestant and Orthodox members with representatives of Pentecostal groups in the United States and Latin America. The meeting resulted in statements about how the gathering dispelled some stereotypes and called for the discussions to continue.

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