Theology of PCPJ

PCPJ is made up of and targeted towards Pentecostal and charismatic Christians on a global level. As such, we place ourselves in the theological mainstream of Pentecostals and charismatics.

We believe in the trinitarian God and salvation through Jesus Christ, as the Christian faith is expressed in the Apostolic and Nicene Creeds. We believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God. We believe that all followers of Jesus can be filled with the Holy Spirit and be bestowed with supernatural gifts.

We firmly believe that one can be a faithful Pentecostal or charismatic Christian and also be a great activist for peace and justice. Thus, contributors should avoid motivating our positions on peace and justice by advocating for uncommon theological ideas that are held by a minority of Pentecostals and charismatics. Doing so is usually ineffective and unnecessary. PCPJ has a unique opportunity to convince Spirit-filled believers that peace and justice are integral to the faith they already have.

Positions of PCPJ

PCPJ has five focus areas: nonviolence, economic justice, racial justice, gender equality and creation care.

Nonviolence

We take Jesus seriously when he commands us to love our enemies and turn the other cheek (Mt 5:38-48). Like the early Pentecostals, we’re taking a pacifist stance on war and view nonviolent action as the best and most effective means to bring peace. We support conscientious objectors and want to promote reconciliation and peace negotiations in all conflict areas around the world, including Israel/Palestine.

Economic Justice

We’re inspired by how the Biblical Pentecostal church had everything in common so that nobody was rich and nobody was poor (Acts 2:44-45). We believe that it is God’s will that there is equality (2 Cor 8:14). We support generous aid giving, simple living and the end of mass consumption and economic oppression. As Pentecostals and charismatics, we’re critical to how the prosperity message of “health and wealth” has distorted the Biblical message of being content and putting others first.

Racial Justice

We believe that the Holy Spirit empowers and acknowledges people of all nations, races and cultures as people made in the image of God (Joel 2:28). We stand firmly opposed to all sorts of racism, xenophobia and discrimination. We want to stand with the oppressed and allow them to express their situation. We are critical to how tribalism, nationalism and patriotism isolate rich nations from poor and force refugees and migrants to suffer from persecution and poverty without opportunities to flee to safety.

Gender Equality

We acknowledge that women and men are created equal by God, that he loves them equally and that they are equally capable to live, work and be filled by his Holy Spirit. In Christ, there is no male and female (Gal 3:28); both genders are capable of leadership inside and outside of the church. We are saddened by how women have been oppressed, marginalized and silenced even in our own movement, and we recognize that a world with peace and justice for all is impossible without global women empowerment and gender equality.

Creation Care

We read in Genesis that God created the earth by his Spirit, and he saw that it was good (Gen 1:2, 31). He commissioned the human race to steward it, but in the last few centuries we’ve been on the path of destroying it. We affirm that it is impossible to secure peace and justice for people if their environment collapses, and we acknowledge the reality of man-made climate change, extinction of species, deforestation and other environmental crises. We want to promote sustainability and resilience in all aspects of life, including food, travel, housing and consumption.

Communication Guidelines for PCPJ

The peace and justice values at the core of PCPJ’s vision should be visible in the way we communicate our message. This implies that our tone should be peaceful, respectful and kind (1 Pet 3:15-16). Use no cuss words, no inflammatory or hateful language and do not ridicule others. Do to others as you would have them do to you (Mt 7:12)

PCPJ has historically had scholars and educated Christian leaders as a target group. We still want to be relevant to them, while also broadening our movement to include Pentecostals and charismatics with lower education. Because of this, academic texts should be applied to a popular level, explaining technical terms as much as possible.

Articles ought to be between 500-1,000 words. Longer articles might be split into several parts.

Keep in mind that PCPJ is an international organization with a global audience. Make sure your article doesn’t assume that all readers are from, for example, the United States. Try to explain phenomena and events that aren’t well-known outside of your country or even continent.

Use gender inclusive language when writing about hypothetical persons. Use ”they” or ”one” rather than ”he”. Use ”brothers and sister” rather than just ”brothers” or ”brethren”. However, you don’t need to avoid using ”He”, ”Father” etc. for God.

Before your article is to be published, make sure that the grammar and spelling are correct. Use correct punctuation, capitalization etc. If unsure, get a free Grammarly account and analyze the text at their website.

All PCPJ articles use Featured images that are at minimum 700 pixels wide – preferably larger. Apart from using photos you have taken yourself, you can find free-to-use high quality images at pexels.com and unsplash.com.

Either send the article and image to micael@pcpj.org, or upload it yourself as a draft directly to pcpj.org if you have a WordPress account. The latter is recommended since it  makes the editing process much easier.

When writing a draft at pcpj.org, follow the instructions provided at pcpj.org/instructions.

Thank you for being part of this movement!

/The PCPJ Leadership