Prayer, Liturgy, and Sacramentality

Abstract This presentation falls into four parts. First, the author seeks to provide a profile of a typical Pentecostal worship and corporate prayer life, including discussing its standard ‘liturgical’ aspects. This survey is based on sources from early and more contemporary teachers and documents of the movement. The second part of the essay delves into the theology, practice, and common intuitions about the sacraments (‘ordinances’ in Pentecostal parlance). The third part, more constructive in nature, will raise the question whether it is appropriate and useful to call key Pentecostal acts and experiences such as Spirit baptism accompanied with glossolalia , anointing with oil, the ‘altar call’, and foot washing (the distinctive Pentecostal ordinance) ‘sacraments’ as well as whether Pentecostal spirituality represents ‘mysticism’ in the long ancient Christian tradition. Finally, instead of conclusions, some ecumenically pregnant reflections towards facilitating dialogue with the Orthodox theology will be offered as the occasion for this essay was the 2022 Pentecostal–Orthodox Academic Dialogue.