Faith-based Humanitarian Aid and Evangelism in Newer Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity in South Africa

Abstract

The newer Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity in South Africa has been experiencing numerical growth in the 21st century. One of the reasons for the development and expansion of this movement is its ability to evangelise and win souls as part of spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth. Contrary to traditional evangelism, these churches utilise humanitarian aid as one of their evangelism strategies. This kind of approach is conceptualised here as holistic evangelism, which is a mission approach that balances the material, financial, social, spiritual, and psychological needs of the potential converts. This article works within the theoretical frameworks of humanitarianism, holistic evangelism, and literature review in qualitative research to develop a Pentecostal holistic evangelism approach in the context of humanitarianism. This is done by first unpacking holistic evangelism as a theoretical framework that is relevant in the study of the intersections of faith-based humanitarian aid and evangelism in the broader Pentecostal movement. The current practices on the intersections of humanitarian aid and evangelism are highlighted using the selected newer Pentecostal and charismatic churches, such as the 3C-church, Christian Revival Church, and the Rhema Bible Church. The finding is that newer Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches can enhance evangelism by considering different aspects of human beings, including the material, financial, social, spiritual, and psychological needs, through a holistic approach to evangelism. 

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