Agency as Projects and Power in a Pentecostal Colombian Family

This paper investigates the disrupted expectation within Pentecostal Colombian families that their children inherit and reproduce their Pentecostal religious practices and beliefs. Using Sherry Ortner’s theory of moral agency and in-depth interviews as ethnographical tool, the paper explores the evident intergenerational change in function, understanding, significance, and practices of Pentecostal traditions between pre-millennial generations (grandparents and parents) and post-2000 generation (Gen Z) and the conflict-tensions that such changes produce in a Colombian family. The results focus on the factors that influenced Gen-Zs to re-interpret or abandon the core worldviews of Pentecostalism, factors such as 1. the formation of personal identities in the information/technology era, 2. unfulfilled expectations when participating in Pentecostal churches and 3. drastic changes in the meaning of Pentecostal theologies and practices amid the Colombian context. The paper concludes that Pentecostal traditions might serve as a source of both agency and constraint according to the functions assigned by each generation.