Page 251 - tesis

Burnett (1986, 1989a), Martin (1990, 2002), Stoll (1990), Frigerio (1994), Burdik (1993), Droogers (1998) Dario L\u00F3pez (2000), Gifford (1998, 2004) and Maxwell (2006) (among others) show the push and development of Protestantism and the Pentecostals who are in essence lay movements, within Latin America and beyond.\u000AThe NPCs in Guatemala are a part of this global, lay Christian movement. They follow closely the Pentecostal paradigm of the post reformation concept of the \u2018priesthood of all believers\u2019. The researcher observed the movement of men and women involved in different church tasks, many of them were receiving training to strengthen their faith and were being sent out in mission. This lay movement in both Catholicism and Protestantism deserves to be studied in more depth in the immediate future.\u000AA. GIVING VOICE TO THE LAY PEOPLE\u000AThis part of the thesis focuses on the NPL in order to unravel their vision and social involvement. It is important because there are few studies on Guatemalan Neo- Pentecostals, and those that exist, focus mainly on the pastors\u2019 opinions, leaving aside the key role of lay people in the success of NPCs\u2019 mission. The researcher chose to analyse the thinking and social role of the NPL as a group in Guatemala because they have not received much attention. Ricardo Mariano in his doctoral thesis, \u2018Sociological analysis of the growth of Pentecostalism in Brazil\u2019 claims that Pentecostal growth is due to the work of both of its religious agents, church leadership and active lay people (2001:10). Wilson\u2019s study of Pentecostalism affirms that historians \u2018should not focus solely on the principal players but also on the cross-section of people and personalities who also shaped the character of the movement; none being more important than the unassuming but able men and women who made up the rank and file of almost every Pentecostal congregation\u2019 (cited by Petersen in Dempster et. al 1999: 7). The laity as a collective body has the possibility of setting in motion processes which are able to affect the life of a community.\u000A238\u000A