Page 180 - tesis
P. 180
as a \u2018renewal movement within the denominations but also with their own institutional life\u2019 (Amat & P\u00E9rez 1997: 13).\u000A3. Academic background\u000AThe majority of the NPS have university degrees and theological education. Some have done postgraduate studies in religious studies while others are self-taught bible students. This level of training distinguishes them from the Pentecostal pastors who, generally speaking do not have a great deal of academic training although during the last decades some pastors have done post graduate studies in theology and Christian ministry. These churches do not follow the model of the pastors of historic churches. They follow the Pentecostal model84, but they have a higher level of studies especially at university level. Among the pastors interviewed, some came from higher middle class families while others were from poorer families.85 Some carried out studies in the United States and others in the local universities and seminaries. The ESH senior pastor graduated as a lawyer from the Catholic Francisco Marroqu\u00EDn University which is a stronghold of the values of market economy, while the IVF senior pastor studied economy in the Universidad Nacional de San Carlos usually identified with left ideological thinking (Table 4.4).\u000AThis educational background helps one to understand the way they think as well as how they administer the churches. This explains their more managerial perspective and their familiarity and inclination for the North American culture as a model of prosperity and democracy. Within this context it seems natural to them to connect with and relate to evangelists, prophets, apostles, churches and the media of the neighbouring Neo- Pentecostal world in the North and the South\u000A84 Generally the Pentecostal pastors have not undertaken much either secular or theological education. The majority entered the ministry convinced of their call to the pastor, and sent out by their churches to different areas of ministry. In many ways this was why they successfully grew and expanded. Now there are more theological recourses and prepared pastors.\u000A85 The senior pastor of FCG of whom it is said: \u2018He was born into a humble family which meant that in his infancy there were many privations, they lived in a rented house, with a mud floor, cooked with coal, and had no portable water\u2019 P2FCG .\u000A 167\u000A