Developing the Scholarship of Ecclesiastical and Ecumenical Engagements in African Pentecostal Studies
Mookgo Solomon Kgatle 
Issue: Vol.6 No.15 Article 14 pp. 4398 – 4408
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.202561514| Published online 30th December, 2025
© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Engaged scholarship (also known as scholarship of engagement) is an approach to developing knowledge that values the interactions between the academy and the relevant communities. This article uses this approach to develop the scholarship of the ecclesiastical and ecumenical engagement (EEE) framework as an approach to Pentecostal studies in the African context(s). This paper argues that knowledge systems in African Pentecostal studies cannot be developed without taking into cognizance the relevant Pentecostal communities, such as churches and ecumenical organisations; otherwise, such studies become disengaged with reality or simply become epistemologies of the ivory tower. The contribution of this study is that the EEE framework can enhance African Pentecostal studies through knowledge developed from the local churches and African Pentecostal ecumenical bodies =. The study makes further propositions on the possibility of using the EEE framework for the development of Pentecostal union in the African context. The aspects of engaged scholarship are studied using a literature review in qualitative research to apply them to ecclesiastical and ecumenical engagement within the broader context of African Pentecostal studies. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate that the EEE framework plays an important role in ensuring that knowledge systems are informed by experiences from the churches and ecumenical bodies within the context of Pentecostal studies in Africa. The study found that the EEE framework can play a role in bridging the gaps between the practitioners of faith and the academy through engagement with African Pentecostal churches and ecumenical organization within African Pentecostal studies.
Keywords: engaged scholarship, Pentecostal studies, Ecclesiastical and Ecumenical Engagements, ecumenism, ecumenical organisation
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Mookgo Solomon Kgatle is a Professor of Missiology at the Department of Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology, University of South Africa (UNISA). He has published several peer-reviewed articles in the Pentecostal tradition, particularly New Prophetic Churches in South Africa. He is an NRF rated scholar in the area of African Pentecostalism. He won the Vision Keeper Award at the University of South Africa (2020- 2022).
Kgatle, Mookgo Solomon. “Developing the Scholarship of Ecclesiastical and Ecumenical Engagements in African Pentecostal Studies,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 6, no. 15 (2025): 4398 – 4408, https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.202561514.
© 2025 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
