Pentecostal Developments in Rural Uganda

Abstract

In this paper I look at the relationship between Pentecostalism and development through a series of encounters over the past two decades in a rural community in eastern Uganda. Part of the paper looks at the correspondence between a Pentecostal Assemblies of God church leader and “born again” Christians from Australia and South Korea. Part of the paper also looks at the story of a Protestant community based organisation that was becoming increasingly Pentecostal in character, and its relationship to an evangelical Christian Norwegian NGO. In the analysis two points are made. First that the language of both Pentecostalism and the development sector tends toward a sort of global uniformity. Following Appadurai's distinction, they are both "hard" cultural forms, in that they are not easily pulled apart by people. Second that it is difficult to predict the relationship between this hard language and the daily practice of churches or faith-based organisations.