From the Valley of the Kidney Stone: Recapitulation

Why Then How

I begin all my courses by answering the “why” question before moving on to the others–who, what, when, where, how–especially how. If one adequately answers why, passion will fire the imagination and creative methods and materials will emerge.

Can You Require Appreciation?

Some years ago, I was invited to participate in a summit meeting to revitalize Christian Education in the Assemblies of God (particularly Sunday school). One person suggested requiring all candidates for credentials to complete a course in Christian education. How do you require people to appreciate anything? My response then and now is: “One cannot mandate interest. However, if someone with ‘fire in the belly’ can help pastors see the urgency for discipleship and Bible-based instruction, the pastors will find ways to make it happen in their congregations (SS, small groups, JBQ, Bible Quiz, seminars, retreats, workshops, conferences, church-based Bible institutes, devotional materials, evotionals, podcasts, catechisms, whatever). They may even ask HQ for curricular materials or write their own.”

Where Have the “True Believers” Gone?

Pentecostalism has arrived at that point when visionary leaders (Eric Hoffer would call them “true believers.”) are dying and being replaced by third and fourth generation leaders who inherited their tenets and practices without spilling blood in the crucible of revolution.

Who were the “true believers” who founded the Pentecostal Movement? Many Pentecostal pioneers experienced radical conversion as they responded to the “full gospel” message. The foremost doctrines of the “four square” message were: Salvation in Jesus Christ, Divine Healing through the atonement, the premillennial return of Christ, and the baptism in the Holy Spirit (with the initial evidence of speaking in other tongues. Some added sanctification by faith as a second definite work of grace as a fifth fundamental of the full gospel.

John Wannenmacher of Milwaukee (my former Senior Adults Pastor) used recall how his father Joseph (an early leader in the Assemblies of God) frequently started his sermons focusing on some distinctive topic, but always worked the sermon around to expound the “four cardinal doctrines.”

For pioneers like Joseph P. Wannenmacher becoming a Pentecostal was a decisive step. They tearfully and passionately testified to the validity of the Pentecostal teachings. They boldly battled foes within and without over the distinctives. They were true believers.

Even the second generation of Pentecostals demonstrated passionate loyalty for the movement. Perhaps they personally witnessed or knew of the radical transformation that occurred in the lives of their parents. John Wannenmacher vividly tells the story of the dramatic healing that his Hungarian, violin-playing father experienced in the “faith homes” in Zion, Illinois (started by John Alexander Dowie). Whether he was aware of it or not, each time John preached for me, his sermon became a four pointer—just like his father’s.

From the Valley of the Kidney Stone: Recapitulation

It is a privilege to challenge young pministers to cherish the foundations while being open to anything new God wants to do in and through His Church. While it is an honor, it is not always easy. They frequently say they are “sick of hearing about the good old days.” They want to experience the good days for themselves. Perhaps this is a need for curricular changes—or at least changes in instructional techniques.

Pondering this difficulty while under the influence of powerful painkillers prescribed for a kidney stone, the idea came to me—recapitulation. Although it long had been discredited as ridiculous, unscientific and fraudulent, Ernst Haeckel’s “concept of recapitulation” (also called the “Biogenetic Law”) was still being included in high school biology books as recently as 1999 as a “proof” for the Theory of Evolution. “Recapitulation” taught that at different stages in human embryo development the organs of supposed evolutionary ancestors appear—chicken sac, lizard tail, and fish gills. Simply put, during gestation, every human being allegedly experienced the sweep of supposed evolutionary history.

What does a fraudulent theory have to do with training Pentecostal ministers? It might be possible through social system simulations, drama, discovery-learning and other participatory techniques to help young Pentecostals “experience” the sweep of history and doctrinal development that led up to the urgency for cleansing and empowerment felt by the Pentecostal pioneers.

Through such “recapitulation training,” it might be possible to recapture some of the passion of the true believers.

With Fire in the Belly,

Dr. David Arnett, Professor/Church Planting Pastor