Jesus Camps and the Pentecostal Church. Q&A

[Shahaku]

For a few years in my youth I was caught up in this particular storm.

I think I'm mature enough now that I can answer questions regarding that particular time and group fairly. If anyone's curious for an ex-insiders view...

[Malflick]

Re: Jesus Camps and the Pentecostal Church. Q&A

I've always found these things super creepy. Super super creepy. I guess the first question is, have you seen the movie "Jesus Camp" and how much like that was your experience?

[Shahaku]

Re: Jesus Camps and the Pentecostal Church. Q&A

I've seen some clips, but I never watched the movie. I think when it first came out I still felt some loyalty to the church and didn't want to see it because of that. Eventually that kind of turned to disgust and I still didn't want to see it. I should probably watch it. It's been more than a decade since I was in the camp I went to.

My experience? It was extreme. And they caught you up in it all. I mean, you were there all day for a week and that's all you heard. I was in sermon for probably six hours a day.. if not more. An hour before breakfast, a couple hours after that, break for a couple hours for lunch, some rec activities, etc, then a few more hours until dinner and a final sermon after dinner. There was a huge pressure to be saved and born again, etc.

I remember that they did a laying on of the hands thing with the friend I went with who had scoliosis and had us completely convinced that God had healed her even though you could still see the curve in her back. She had been told she would need surgery within a year, it was that bad, and even her parents were hopeful that she had been healed.

We did the whole receiving the Holy Ghost so that we could speak in tongues... and spoke gibberish so we could fit in... and even though we were faking it we still believed it because hell, just because we couldn't understand and thought we were making it up didn't mean it wasn't inspired by the Holy Ghost, right?

The music they used was upbeat pop sounding music and it was easy to get caught up in, but all the lyrics were very Christian. And encouraged everything they were teaching us. They made it fun and exciting. But at the same time, they sent a very clear message that if you didn't change, here and now, you were doomed.

And we were told about the dangers of backsliding and how it was so much worse to return to bad habits after we had had this experience and how if we did we would definitely be going to hell and so we needed to avoid anything that could tempt us because we were young and susceptible. The only contact we could have with the opposite gender was like a half shoulder hug and it wasn't much more with the same gender. We couldn't swim with the boys. In fact, we couldn't walk to the pool in our bathing suits. We weren't allowed to read anything other than the bible and were encouraged to read only that or nonfiction once we left. And if we read fiction it definitely should not be anything that wasn't firmly rooted in reality. Lurline McDaniel was one of the few approved authors for young adult books... These were the people burning Harry Potter books....

Once I left, I was encouraged to pray for hours a day and listen to only Christian music. I was strongly encouraged to try and convert my parents, and I was desperate to because I was completely convinced that they would go to hell. I went to church at the local Pentecostal church with my friends family... once on Wednesday and twice on Sunday. This completely filled my focus for nearly a year, until my parents wised up and forbid me to continue going to that church. Then I started going to one in a nearby town with the help of a church member and denied that it was the same thing to my parents.

There I actually experienced the laying on of the hands thing you see, where people fall over backwards, etc. I honestly can't account for that. Accept I was so deep that something subconsciously probably occurred. All I remember was hearing the world "glory" over and over though the sermon had continued and people were singing, etc. I was completely out of it.

Extreme? A little.

[Malflick]

Re: Jesus Camps and the Pentecostal Church. Q&A

That sounds a lot like the documentary... And pretty messed up. And yes, extreme.

I can't imagine being in an environment like that for that long. I have my own bad experiences with those sort of churches, but nothing as extreme as that.

Also, the whole "Christian Subculture" thing is weird. Especially in a culture that is already, you know, Christian.

[Shahaku]

Re: Jesus Camps and the Pentecostal Church. Q&A

Yea, what's worse is my parents didn't really know what they were getting me into. This was before the documentary and they just figured, Christian camp? Can't be too bad right? This church basically turned me against them and once I got out I never really trusted their judgment after that.

I was in and out of their church for over two years. I was never fully accepted because of the couple of times that I "backslid" into Pagan beliefs. Thankfully, though I wanted to be, I was never actually baptized, which is a different ballpark and another level of dedication

Even being out, it's had lifelong effects. It took me years to get past the fear of hell, and not a few Christians documenting that hell and the Christian afterlife weren't all they (the Pentecostal church) made it out to be. At least not exactly. And I still have to remind myself that I don't believe that the Christian Heaven/Hell is the only path, that even if it were, I'm not necessarily destined for eternal torture just for my beliefs. And my understanding/acceptance/belief of the supernatural has been affect pretty harshly, making that particular part of my beliefs very complicated for me. The everything not of God is evil viewpoint was really pounded home. They took that very seriously. I actually believed that I was talking to an angel once, one that told me I was destined to be a martyr, and they still told me to be careful, it could be a demon speaking to me... And these people revered martyrs... ugh.

[Raphaeline]

Re: Jesus Camps and the Pentecostal Church. Q&A

Thank you for starting this thread! It's been an interesting read so far.

I don't have any questions at the moment, unfortunately, but I'll be back when I do

[Azvanna]

Re: Jesus Camps and the Pentecostal Church. Q&A

As someone who currently attends and is in active ministry for a Pentecostal church, I want to put a disclaimer out there. Pentecostal churches are predominantly independent. Therefore, an experience or teaching encountered at one church may not happen at another. There are many organizations that affiliate with the Pentecostal movement, each with a slightly different emphasis, or just a different leader. However, the common thread is the emphasis on the manifestation of the individuals baptism in the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in other languages. Some don't even push this anymore, but focus on a corporate experience of the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Those are probably the two definitive aspects. As you can imagine, this allows for a wide spectrum of service style.

[Shahaku]

Re: Jesus Camps and the Pentecostal Church. Q&A

As someone who currently attends and is in active ministry for a Pentecostal church, I want to put a disclaimer out there. Pentecostal churches are predominantly independent. Therefore, an experience or teaching encountered at one church may not happen at another. There are many organizations that affiliate with the Pentecostal movement, each with a slightly different emphasis, or just a different leader. However, the common thread is the emphasis on the manifestation of the individuals baptism in the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in other languages. Some don't even push this anymore, but focus on a corporate experience of the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Those are probably the two definitive aspects. As you can imagine, this allows for a wide spectrum of service style.

I experienced two of their churches and one of their camps in Eastern Iowa. Yes, my experience is limited to those groups. However, it was pretty much the same at all of them. Are all Pentecostal churches like the ones I attended? Probably not. But I wanted to provide an inside view of the Jesus Camps and... extreme side... if anyone was interested. The Pentecostal churches I know around here (Midwest America)... would ostracize someone learning Druidry as your tag says you are. I don't know if it's different where you're at, but it's beyond unacceptable to the groups around here. I actually had one of the leaders of one of the churches I attended mention the do not suffer a witch to live verse... followed with "the law doesn't allow that anymore, but that doesn't mean we have to be accepting." or something along those lines.

[toxicyarnglare]

Re: Jesus Camps and the Pentecostal Church. Q&A

Hope you don't mind me chiming in with my experiences.

I've grown up with Assembly of God church camps. The denomination as a whole, while charismatic, is not on the far extreme end of the spectrum. My experience there for the most part was... well everyone pretty much went to find a date, and I've dated many people I met at camp, though I am still friends with the majority of them.

We had an hour service in the morning and about 3 to 4 hour services at night, but usually at night there was a period of time you could leave when you wanted to. They played your typical Hillsong type music, pop rock which as times wasn't admittedly that bad. People would run to the front and jump up, raise hands and when the slower music came on, it seemed like everyone should be crying and worshiping and whatnot. Service came around and the preachers were usually legit people with legit stories and whatnot, followed with becoming more spiritually strong or converting others. After service there was more music, where people would often engage in gifts of the holy spirit and whatnot, and that was the time where people could leave early if they wanted.

These places and the denomination as a whole weren't extremely radical. They encouraged people to listen to christian music, but many people still would listen to "secular" music and not give too much thought, so long as it was relatively clean. Even other forms of media were alright, even if it had magic or swearing or whatnot, but at my church in particular they did not want people to see anything R rated (17+, which I didn't necessarily follow).

If I were still a christian, I'd say the camps and whatnot were okay, but being that now my whole view of Protestant proselytizing has changed, well, anything they do I don't agree with. It's a circular kind of reasoning and brainwashing they force you into, believing "Jesus is the only way" and everything else is because of demons, if you fall away you go to hell, but if you go too far then you'll never be able to be a christian again and you're stuck with hell. It's something that caused great anxiety for me that still lingers to this day. Church camps are just one way to get people to convert to this nonsense and kind of hit them where they least expect it.

Fortunately, I see a lot of teens are starting to realize the problems with this kind of christianity and don't even give it a second thought, especially because of their views on LGBT people. While on the same token, people from rough families do get to get away for a week, which I've known quite a few of those people.

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: Jesus Camps and the Pentecostal Church. Q&A

The only thing I ever got near that was the littlest bit like this was: In 1973, when I was 16, a friend told me she'd been hanging out at a Pentecostal coffeehouse where there were really nice kids from all different area high schools, etc., and I went with her. There were people playing guitars, and some prayer, and everyone was really nice. Until I went into the girl's rest room and overheard a bunch of cattiness/gossip/bullying worse than I'd ever heard in school. So I figured out really fast that these were hypocrites and that was the end of that.

[Medusa]

Re: Jesus Camps and the Pentecostal Church. Q&A

3 to 4 hours?!!!!

Not even Satanists can worship and kill cats in that amount of time. Jesus H Crispy that's a lota jesus time.

I remember Catholic church. Maybe an hour or more. Confess. Repent. Sing. Go home.

[toxicyarnglare]

Re: Jesus Camps and the Pentecostal Church. Q&A

3 to 4 hours?!!!!

Not even Satanists can worship and kill cats in that amount of time. Jesus H Crispy that's a lota jesus time.

I remember Catholic church. Maybe an hour or more. Confess. Repent. Sing. Go home.

Eh, but those are regular services, this is camp so it's kind of like shove it all in your face as much as possible, or just leave a lot of room open to praying for others and worship. So typically the service would start at 7:30 and end between 10 and 11, so maybe it's more like 2.5 to 3.5 hours, but I'm guessing that kind of difference is negligible to you. :P

[Medusa]

Re: Jesus Camps and the Pentecostal Church. Q&A

I one tried to eat the wafers they passed out. My mom fell asleep in church and we finally stopped going.

[Azvanna]

Re: Jesus Camps and the Pentecostal Church. Q&A

I experienced two of their churches and one of their camps in Eastern Iowa. Yes, my experience is limited to those groups. However, it was pretty much the same at all of them. Are all Pentecostal churches like the ones I attended? Probably not. But I wanted to provide an inside view of the Jesus Camps and... extreme side... if anyone was interested.

May I join my voice?

The Pentecostal churches I know around here (Midwest America)... would ostracize someone learning Druidry as your tag says you are. I don't know if it's different where you're at, but it's beyond unacceptable to the groups around here.

I've only survived this long without being ostracized because I've been in it long enough to know not what to say! I don't want to diminish any of your life experience in any way. My experiences have been very similar to yours when I was a teenager.

[Shahaku]

Re: Jesus Camps and the Pentecostal Church. Q&A

May I join my voice?

Of course.

I've only survived this long without being ostracized because I've been in it long enough to know not what to say! I don't want to diminish any of your life experience in any way. My experiences have been very similar to yours when I was a teenager.

Yea, I could see that. But why would you want to stay someplace that would be so unaccepting?