Spirit Baptism and Spiritual Formation: A Pentecostal Proposal

The Pentecostal understandings of baptism in the Holy Spirit hold potential for a more substantively pneumatological understanding of spiritual formation, but there are conceptual barriers to overcome before this potential can be realized. Specifically, the emphasis of revivalism on crisis experience and individualistic piety must be set within a larger framework that is more expansively ecclesiological and eschatological. A more expansively eschatological view of Spirit baptism can provide this framework, opening breathing room for prioritizing a pneumatological vision of spiritual formation in the life and mission of the church. Spirit baptism can still refer to new breakthroughs in the life of the Spirit (moments of Spirit filling) but those experiences would be couched within a larger vision of spiritual formation.