A Geek's Life

Photo by John Price on Unsplash

My Lapsed Pentecostal assertions not withstanding, I have been known to pop into church on a Sunday every so often. Over the years, therefore, I have attended a fair few, from which I think the UK Pentecostal church landscape (dare I say Evangelical-Industrial-Complex) can be considered as been divided in three main groups.

As with any attempt to chunk years of history, tradition and intensely held faith into buckets, I will no doubt have missed/ glossed over something or the other. Well, here goes:

1. The (West African) Ethnic variant: The distinguishing feature of these for me is that they are effectively a transplant of their (usually) Nigerian roots to the UK, complete with long meandering messages and a strong “Daddy” focus. I won’t name names, but I suspect anyone who has rolled in those circles for any length of time would recognise them.
2. The Australian/South African import: These in my view are Hillsong/Planetshakers/Rhema wannabe’s, replete with fog machines, live album quality music and sneaker games to rival their Australian (and American prosperity church) cousins.
3. The Homegrown: These tend to be more prim and proper than most. On the odd occasion they might veer into the wild west that is someone breaking out in tongues from the back but in the main these maintain a sense of propriety. I would include any Evangelical-leaning Church of England parishes in this category.

I will add the caveat that this is all tongue in cheek. I’m certain (from first hand knowledge) that quite a few of these churches are a net good for their local communities.