4. Ethical and Theological Reflections: Liturgical and Ritual Studies method in Australian Pentecostal Contemporary Congregational Worship.

Abstract

Abstract: Increasing numbers of Pentecostal musicians, songwriters and worship leaders are enrolling in graduate and post-graduate courses in pursuit of formal theological and musicological training. As the Pentecostal church has previously eschewed tertiary education, many of these students are studying in non-Pentecostal institutions. For those who are working in the field of worship, the literature is dominated by evangelical, Catholic and even secular frames and methods. The discourse on worship practices is structured according to concerns arising in contexts foreign to most Pentecostal congregations, which drive research questions and available methods. This is true even of research into a core Pentecostal practice – the Sunday worship service. This article addresses the author’s experience of researching Australian Pentecostalism in the United States from within a large evangelical institution, Fuller Theological Seminary. It reflects upon the challenges of living as both an insider and outsider of two worlds - as a Pentecostal worship leader, on the one hand, and a Ph.D. student using ritual ethnomusicology methods, on the other.