Why do young Catholics go Pentecostal?

by Michael Shackleton · July 16, 2008

Why is it that so many young people, including Catholics, are attracted to join the Pentecostal churches such as the Apostolic Faith Mission?

That simple question cannot be given a simple answer. Pentecostal Christians are continuing to show growth in their numbers worldwide at the expense of the mainstream churches. The easiest assumption would be that younger people are generally enthusiastic about loud music and song and, when they share this in like-minded charismatic company, they find it more satisfying than praising God in a conventional congregation with its routine system of worship. But there is not a lot of evidence of this.

The NG Kerk�s newspaper, Die Kerkbode, recently published an interview with the president of the Apostolic Faith Mission, Dr Isak Burger. He explained that his church does not so much appeal to rational, theological �gymnastics� as to the experience of the Risen Christ through the workings of the Holy Spirit. He points out that people today, whom he calls postmodern, are more driven by relationships than by the value of tradition, structures and institutions. They place a high premium on personal experience rather than on doctrines and dogmas.

This insight is probably the most accurate when we look at the reasons why the Pentecostal churches draw so many to their services today. It is easier to believe that the Holy Spirit guides one to follow the practices of the early Christians as described in the Acts of the Apostles, than to ask what the Church teaches in regard to one’s faith and morals in the 21st century. Church teaching is perceived as a set of rules made by an ageing institution only for its unenlightened members.

Yet the Catholic Church�s claim to be an apostolic church is the original such claim. Christ gave his authority to Peter (Mt 16:18) and the apostles as a whole (Mt 28:20), and this authority continues in the succession of popes and bishops since their time. What they teach accords with Scripture and a tradition of more than 20 centuries. It is this tradition that the Pentecostals distrust as theological gymnastics but that the Catholic Church sees as the guidance of the Holy Spirit in history (Jn 16:13).

The Church�s voice has become rather muffled in the postmodern discordance of news and entertainment. The Church is slowly learning to use modern media to communicate its truths, but obviously it needs a lot more effort.