Singapore: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, 2018. xii, 243 pp. (Tables.) US$29.90, paper. ISBN 978-981-4786-88-1.
This edited volume describes Pentecostal megachurches that have been growing rapidly in Southeast Asia since the early 1990s (6). Reportedly, this Christian denomination is now second in size only to the Catholic Church (71). Despite their influence, Pentecostal megachurches have not been well-documented (viii), perhaps due to two assumptions: that Pentecostal megachurches are not indigenous, but “the by-products of colonization and foreign missionaries” (viii), or that they are exported wholesale from other countries.
However, the central argument woven through this book is that Pentecostal megachurches are both indigenous and transnational institutions that, in the process of interacting within local contexts, actively create institutions that provide meaning for their congregations (1). As editor Terence Chong says, the megachurches researched in this book raise “a theological discourse that is responsive to the impulses of mass consumption and entrepreneurship as it negotiates for a place in the national civic space” (viii). Based on detailed and thorough ethnographic fieldwork, the chapters substantiate this argument by documenting how a variety of Pentecostal megachurches in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore have adapted the essential Christian message to local beliefs and practices. Pentecostalist megachurches in these countries differ significantly; their creative adaptations amid differing local contexts yield “different Pentecostalisms” (1). Some of the key forces that can give rise to differences in church structure, ethos, and practice are social influences like entrepreneurialism, diverse ethnicities, and mass consumption.
As mentioned above, the authors use an ethnographic approach to uncover themes they find in their case studies. Two themes the book spends significant time on are the prosperity gospel and the factors that attract people to join a Pentecostal church. In the case of the prosperity gospel, Christians have grappled with enjoying wealth when some verses in the Bible indicate that putting a high priority on wealth may draw people away from a love of God (e.g., 1 Timothy 6:10). For most of the congregations discussed in this volume, largely composed of a bourgeoning middle class, the prosperity gospel offers a theological explanation that links wealth and faithful Christian service. The authors move beyond the reductionist argument that people join a Pentecostal church because they want God to give them material possessions. As Chong puts it, “Material accumulation is, it is believed, a tangible measure of one’s obedience to God; less of a reward but a by-product of faithfulness” (vii). Not only does material accumulation indicate one’s faithfulness to God, but it also “allow[s] the middle class and the aspiring middle class to demonstrate conspicuous consumption without moral awkwardness” (6); thus, the prosperity gospel provides a path for believers to incorporate consumerism and their Christian faith.
The second theme that runs through most of the chapters is why people are attracted to join a Pentecostal church in the first place. In general, the answer lies in the way that churches are able to frame their Christian message in a way that meshes with ideas and values held by people rooted in particular classes and economic realities. Specifically, the church adapts to and remains relevant within the local context through the use of indigenous motifs and frameworks, the portrayal of a dynamic and vivid spirituality through technology and media, the desire to experience the supernatural in light of a felt “ecstasy deficit” (3), and the increased effectiveness arising from employing marketing strategies.
Besides these two themes discussed above, the authors discuss the use of multimedia, social media, and other digital technologies to communicate the leaders’ messages in a dynamic and exciting way, the importance of a leader who has experienced a radical transformation from a sinful past, and the intentional and sometimes aggressive focus on evangelism.
Occasionally, some statements were unattributed, and I could not determine whether they came from an author or an interviewee. In one case, the author writes that Pentecostal megachurches “offer false hope and misleading spirituality” (170) while another writes that a pastor is known as “a celebrity pastor with obscene wealth earned on the back of his church’s labour” (201). The chapters would have been stronger if either these statements were tempered, attributed to someone who was interviewed, or were acknowledged as the author’s perspective, coming from a certain ideological position.
In conclusion, the authors insist that Pentecostal megachurches in this region are not “hollowed out” (198) institutions exported from other countries, but that they give meaning and purpose as people navigate their daily lives. The Pentecostal churches mentioned in the case studies are embedded in local historical, political, economic, and theological contexts, and are actively involved in helping their adherents “see the divine through the local” (2). As Chong explains, “Pentecostalism’s ability to adapt practices and theologies to local conditions has seen the faith emerge in a multitude of expressions while retaining enough common characteristics for global coherence. Its global spread … has hinged on its simultaneously indigenizing and transnationalizing nature” (1). This volume is a welcome and needed collection of studies of an under-researched and yet vibrant and active Christian denomination operating in a field of diverse contexts and challenges. It will be useful for specialists in Christianity and the countries of Southeast Asia, as well as those interested in an ethnographic description of Pentecostalism in general.
David Troolin
University of Adelaide, Adelaide
Summer Institute of Linguistics, Ukarumpa