Pentecostalism

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Pentecostalism is a movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on the direct personal experience of God through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as shown in the Biblical account of the Day of Pentecost.

Pentecostalism is similar to the Charismatic movement, but developed earlier and separated from other denominations. Charismatic Christians, at least in the early days of the movement, tended to remain in their respective denominations.

There are two major groups of Pentecostals: Trinitarian Pentecostals and Oneness Pentecostals. Many Pentecostals are also Evangelicals, and many consider themselves Protestants, though some are Restorationists. Examples of some trinitarian Pentecostal denominations include the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), the Assemblies of God and the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. Examples of Oneness Pentecostal groups include the United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI) and most churches that call themselves "apostolic."

Contents 1 Beliefs 2 Theology 2.1 Oneness 3 History 3.1 Europe 3.2 North America 3.2.1 African-Americans 3.3 Charismatic movement 4 Denominations and adherents 5 Church growth 5.1 Geographical distribution 6 Leaders 6.1 Precursors 6.2 Early history 6.3 Theologians 7 See also 8 Notes 9 Further reading 10 External links 10.1 Academic centres and journals

[edit] Beliefs

The majority of Pentecostals believe in order to be saved, one must repent of sin, believe in Jesus as Savior, and accept His Lordship. Some Pentecostals also believe you must be baptized in water and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in order to be saved. Pentecostals also typically believe, like most other evangelicals, that the Bible has definitive authority in matters of faith. There are two large streams of Pentecostal churches.

To the first group, speaking in tongues is the sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but is not necessary for salvation. In these churches, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is viewed as a second work of grace in the believer's life, which occurs subsequent to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which occurs at the moment of salvation. This is reported to create a 'spiritual hierarchy' in the church which often resembles early forms of Gnosticism which the Apostle Paul described extensively in his epistles^{[citation needed]}.

The second group emphasizes a salvation message based on Acts 2:38 which says that a person needs to repent and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and then receive the Holy Spirit. To these Pentecostals, receiving the Holy Spirit is necessary for salvation and is accompanied by speaking in tongues. In these denominations, it is widely assumed that a person who has not spoken in tongues is unsaved. Also, this group of churches teaches that the Trinitarian baptismal formula is invalid. Because these groups hold firmly to the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, a person who has been baptized with the Trinitarian formula according to Matthew 28:19 (in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit) is unsaved.

Pentecostals have different views on the idea of what "tongues" actually means. Some believe tongues is a prayer language in which they themselves do not understand what they are saying. Others believe tongues is an actual language and the ability to speak the mysteries of God unto the unsaved using their language. In both views the ability to speak and the ability to interpret are separate gifts. One may be able to speak in a certain language but will lack the ability to interpret any other language they have not been gifted with the understanding to speak. Both generally believe there must be an interpreter present so the listeners will understand when a different language, or tongue, is spoken unto them.

Because many Pentecostal denominations are descended from Methodism and the Methodist Holiness Movement, Pentecostal soteriology is generally Arminian rather than Calvinist.

The Pentecostal movement finds its historic roots in the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, California, USA from 1904 to 1906. Several years earlier, in 1901, Bible college students at a school founded by Charles Parham in Topeka, Kansas prayed to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues (other languages). Parham moved to Houston, Texas, where in spite of segregation, William Seymore, a one-eyed African-American preacher was allowed to listen in to the Bible classes. Seymore went to Los Angeles, where his preaching helped spark the fires of the Azusa Street revival. Most Pentecostal denominations can trace their roots to the Azusa Street revival or were strongly influenced by it. This teaching was soon brought to Hong Kong in 1907, and to Shanghai in 1910.

Oneness Pentecostalism traces its roots to the The World-Wide Apostolic Camp Meeting in April 1913 where one of the preachers started teaching Oneness doctrine.

Pentecostal services are usually very lively. They are characterized by spontaneous expressions of praise, either in the vernacular or in tongues. Pentecostal worshipers are also known for raising their hands in the orant style common in the early church. Some Pentecostal services have been known to run for hours in cases of particular excitement, which is viewed as the Holy Spirit "moving." Pentecostals have sometimes been labeled as "holy rollers" because of their lively worship style.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s Christians from mainline churches in the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world began to accept the teaching that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is available for Christians today. Charismatic movements began to grow in mainline denominations. There were Charismatics Episcopalians, Lutherans, Catholics, and Methodists. During that time period, 'Charismatic' was used to refer to these movements that existed within mainline denominations. Pentecostal was used to refer to those who were a part of the churches and denominations that grew out of the earlier Azusa Street revival. However, in recent decades, many independent Charismatic churches and ministries have formed or have developed their own denominations and church associations. In the 1960s, many Pentecostal churches were still strict with dress codes and forbidding certain forms of entertainment, creating a cultural distinction between Charismatics and Pentecostals. Nowadays, many Pentecostal churches put little emphases on dress and entertainment issues. There is a great deal of overlap now between the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements.

Trinitarian Pentecostals typically believe in water baptism as an outward sign of conversion and that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is a distinct spiritual experience that all who have belief in Jesus should receive. Most classical Pentecostals believe that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is always accompanied initially by the outward evidence of speaking in tongues. It is considered a liberalizing tendency to teach contrary to this historic position^{[citation needed]}. This is another major difference between Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians, who believe that a Christian baptized in the Holy Spirit may exhibit certain supernatural signs, including speaking in tongues, "being slain in the spirit" (where people fall to the ground as if asleep ), prophecy (i.e., a vision or a word of God, spoken or felt in the spirit), miraculous healings, miraculous signs, etc.

[edit] Theology

Theologically, most Pentecostal denominations are aligned with Evangelicalism in that they emphasize the reliability of the Bible and the need for the transformation of an individual's life with faith in Jesus. Pentecostals also adhere to the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy. Pentecostals differ from fundamentalists by placing less emphasis on personal spiritual experience and more emphasis on the Holy Spirit's work within a person than other Protestants.

One of the most prominent distinguishing characteristics of Pentecostalism from the rest of Evangelicalism is its emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit. Most Pentecostals believe that everyone who is genuinely saved has the Holy Spirit. But unlike most other Christians they believe that there is a second work of the Holy Spirit called the baptism of the Holy Spirit, in which the Holy Spirit dwells more fully in them, and which opens a believer up to a closer fellowship with God and empowers them for Christian service. Some Pentecostals have modified the view teaching that Spirit baptism is not considered a second chronological work of grace, but a second aspect of the Holy Spirit's ministry. His first ministry is to save and sanctify the believer by working in them; His second ministry is to empower the believer for service by working through them. Most Pentecostals cite speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, as the normative proof, and evidence of the Holy Spirit baptism. Some Pentecostals have adopted a more liberal view claiming that there are other evidences of Holy Spirit baptism. The doctrine of tongues as the initial evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit is uniquely Pentecostal and is one of the few differences from Charismatic theology which generally claims diverse evidences.

Pentecostals believe it is essential to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ as Savior in order to obtain salvation, and in the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Many believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an additional gift that is bestowed on believers, generally subsequent to an intermediate step termed sanctification, Santification refers to a work of grace wherein the effects of past sins are ameliorated and the natural tendency toward a sinful nature is likewise set aside through the working of the Holy Spirit. Other Pentecostals believe that Holy Spirit Baptism is a necessary step in God's plan of salvation citing Peter's answer to the crowd on the Day of Pentecost. The crowd asked Peter what they must do to be saved, and Peter told them to repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and that they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.^[1]

Pentecostals vary in their beliefs of the types of speaking in tongues. Following are some possible distinctions. First, there is the evidence at the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is when a believer speaks in tongues when they are baptized with the Holy Spirit. This may or may not be the only time an individual ever speaks in tongues. Secondly, there is the gift of tongues. This is when a person is moved by God to speak in tongues at any time. The gift of tongues may be exercised anywhere; but many denominations believe that it must only be exercised with a person who has the gift of "interpretation of tongues" present (whether that be another person or the one who gives the tongue). The interpreter may interpret the tongue into the language of the gathered Christians so that they can understand the message.^[2]

Many Pentecostals, particularly after the growth and influence of the charismatic movement believe that speaking in tongues can be used as a prayer language at any time one chooses, provided he has been baptized in the Holy Spirit. Certain groups of Pentecostals emphasize the idea of speaking in tongues only when the Holy Spirit comes upon an individual, and have a problem with the idea of speaking in tongues 'at will.' God gives a wide variety of spiritual gifts. It may be that these doctrinal differences resulted from certain church leaders taking their own experiences and making doctrines out of them.

Justin Martyr (100-165), in his Dialogue with Trypho, argues with a non-Christian Jew that the church had prophets, while the Jews no longer had them. The Second Century document The Shepherd of Hermas recounts visions and revelations and affirms the role of the gift of prophecy in the church. The popularity of this book in churches of the second century is strong evidence that the gift of prophecy was still widely accepted as being legitimate.

Some critics of spiritual gifts argue that these spiritual gifts died out and were only claimed by heretical groups. Usually they mention the 'new prophecy' of the Montanists around the turn of the second century to prove their claims. A careful study of history, however, shows that the gift of prophecy was generally accepted by the church in that day. Criticism of the Montanists had initially to deal with the ecstatic manner in which Montanus, Priscilla, Maximilla and others prophesied. After these three had died and prophecy had apparently ceased among the Montanists, Eusebius records a debate between an Orthodox believer and a Montanist. The Orthodox believer pointed out that the Montanists no longer had prophecy, though the apostle (Paul) affirmed that the gift would continue until the Lord returned.^[3] It is clear that the church accepted the continuing of the gift of prophecy.

The world's largest Pentecostal denomination, the Assemblies of God^{[citation needed]}, holds to the belief in Trinitarian theology in accordance with mainstream Protestantism^[4] as does the Elim Pentecostal Church, Church of God, the Church of God in Christ, The Apostolic Church, and the Foursquare Church.

Most Pentecostal churches hold the belief that preaching the Gospel to unbelievers is extremely important. The [[Great Commission to spread the "Good News of the Kingdom of God", spoken by Jesus directly before his Ascension, is perceived as one of the most important commands that Jesus gave.

According to a recent study, 40% of pentecostals or more did not speak or pray in tongues, in 6 out of 10 counties surveyed.^[5]

[edit] Oneness

Some Pentecostal churches, however, hold to Oneness theology, which decries the traditional doctrine of the Trinity. Oneness doctrine holds that God is absolutely and indivisibly one and that Jesus was the one God manifested in the flesh,^[6] the division of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as some of God's manifestations rather than persons; furthermore they are seen as titles to Jesus. This type of teaching is largely associated with the pentecostal church, yet is not based solely on the pentecostal experience.

Therefore, Oneness Pentecostals baptize believers "in Jesus' name"^[7] rather than what they refer to as the titles: "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." The largest Oneness Pentecostal denominations are the United Pentecostal Church International, Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus, and the Apostolic Church of the Faith in Christ Jesus but there are many smaller Oneness Pentecostal organizations and independent churches such as the Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ, the True Jesus Church, the Pentecostal Followers of Jesus Christ International Ministries, Iglesia del Dios Vivo, the Pentecostal Churches of the Apostolic Faith, Bible Way, and independent or nondenominational churches. The majority, if not all, of Oneness Pentecostals also refer to themselves as Apostolics. The major Trinitarian Pentecostal organizations including the Pentecostal World Conference and the Fellowship of Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches of North America, have condemned Oneness theology as a heresy and refuse membership to churches holding this belief. This same holds true for some Oneness Pentecostals towards Trinitarian churches.

[edit] History

Pentecostals trace the history of the movement to the day of Pentecost when a week after Jesus ascended into Heaven (Acts 1), there were 120 believers waiting for the promise of the Father, that is the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2:4, when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers they all spoke in tongues (other languages). That notwithstanding, the practice of speaking in tongues has been reported and documented throughout Christian history; however, the roots of the current movement date back no earlier than the late 1700s. Modern revival movements over the past few hundred years have appeared and are referenced below.

[edit] Europe

One such revival began with a Prussian Guards officer, Gustav von Below, in 1817. He and his brothers started holding charismatic meetings on his estates in Pomerania. A Lutheran commission sent to investigate was at first suspicious but found the phenomenon to be "of God." This led to a growth in charismatic meetings across Germany which quickly crossed the Atlantic during the great German migrations of the nineteenth century.^{[citation needed]} The Pentecostal movement also became prominent in the Holiness movement, which was the first to begin making numerous references to the term "Pentecostal", such as in 1867 when the movement established The National Camp Meeting Association for the Promotion of Christian Holiness with a notice that said: [We are summoning,] irrespective of denominational tie...those who feel themselves comparatively isolated in their profession of holiness…that all would realize together a Pentecostal baptism of the Holy Ghost....

England and parts of Europe experienced another Charismatic- or Pentecostal-type movement before the Pentecostal movement started in the United States. In the 1830s, in England, a church under the leadership of Edward Irving began to experience manifestations of tongues and prophecy. Through prophecy, certain men were appointed as apostles. Certain apostles were appointed by these apostles until the number reached 12. Irving passed away, but the movement developed into what would be called the Catholic Apostolic Church, taken from the Nicene Creed. Henry Drummond was, perhaps, the most influential man in the movement at its beginnings. He was quite fond of the writings of the early church fathers, and the movement took on a highly liturgical flair, including influences from Eastern Orthodoxy liturgy. The movement grew to several hundredthousand in England, Germany, and some other parts of Europe. Though a splinter group in Germany did appoint new apostles and continue on, the English group did not. The last 'apostle', Francis Woodhouse, of the Catholic Apostolic Church died in 1901, just a few months after Agnes Ozman spoke in tongues in the United States.

In the United Kingdom, the first Pentecostal church to be formed was the Apostolic Church. This was later followed by the Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance, later to be known as the Elim Pentecostal Church, founded in 1914 by George Jeffreys.

In Sweden, the first Pentecostal church was the Filadelfia Church in Stockholm. Pastored by Lewi Pethrus, this congregation, originally Baptist, was expelled from the Baptist Union of Sweden in 1913 for doctrinal differences.^{[citation needed]} Today this congregation has about 7000 members and is the biggest Pentecostal congregation in northern Europe. As of 2005, the Swedish pentecostal movement has approximately 90,000 members in nearly 500 congregations. These congregations are all independent but cooperate on a large scale. Swedish Pentecostals have been very missionary-minded and have established churches in many countries. In Brazil, for example, churches founded by the Swedish Pentecostal mission claim several million members.

The history of Pentecostalism in Australia has been documented by Dr Barry Chant in Heart of Fire (1984, Adelaide: Tabor).

In East-Europe, mainly, post-soviet territory the gospel was brought by Ukraine. The roots of Pentecostalism here was in the shtundist, molokan and dukhobor movements on their basis faith made stronger by Ivan Voronaev (an Baptist preacher than was missionary from Ukraine to Siberia and emigrated to USA who was influenced by Kathryn Kuhlman, than he came back to Ukraine 20th years of XX century, where his church in some years growth to 25000, but he was arrested by soviet powers) in east Ukraine, the same time also there was a nee 20000 church in west Ukraine that also went to underground in soviet time. From Ukraine the gospel and Pentecostalism was brought to all Russia and other Soviet Union, many believers where killed by totalitarism power but now their gospel gave over 3 million. Believers in post-soviet countries and this church is extremely growing.

[edit] North America

As early as the 1870s, there were Christians known as Gift People or Gift Adventists numbering in the thousands who were known for spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues. One preacher from the Gift People was influential on A.J. Tomlinson, an early leader in the Church of God (Cleveland, TN), which would become a Pentecostal denomination after the Azusa Street revival.

Although the 1896 Shearer Schoolhouse Revival in Cherokee County, North Carolina may rightfully be regarded as the literal beginning of the modern Pentecostal movement, the remoteness of this religion very likely played a role in this event remaining localized for so long.^{[citation needed]} Around 1901, however, Pentecostalism was to stand on a larger stage, as that was when Agnes Ozman began speaking in tongues (glossolalia) during a prayer meeting at Charles Fox Parham's Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas in 1901. Parham, a minister of Methodist background, formulated the doctrine that tongues was the "Bible evidence" of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Further, Pentecostals point to the "upper room" experience of the gathered disciples of Jesus as described in Acts 2:1 and Peter's instructions in Acts 2:38 as justification for their practices.

Parham left Topeka and began a revival meeting ministry. The most significant and controversial is his link to the Azusa Street Revival conducted by his student, the African-American, William J. Seymour. Parham taught W.J. Seymour in his school in Houston, Texas. Since W.J. Seymour was African-American, he was only allowed to sit outside the room to listen to Parham.

Although many instances of glossolalia occurred prior to 1906, The Azusa Street Revival led by William J. Seymour is the watershed of the Pentecostal movement in the U.S. and worldwide. It began on April 9, 1906, in Los Angeles, California, at the home of Edward Lee, who claimed the infilling of the Holy Spirit. William J. Seymour claimed that he was overcome with the Holy Spirit on April 12, 1906. On April 18, 1906, the Los Angeles Times ran a front page story on the revival, "Weird Babel of Tongues, New Sect of fanatics is breaking loose, Wild scene last night on Azusa Street, gurgle of wordless talk by a sister". By the third week in April, 1906, the small but growing congregation rented an abandoned African Methodist Episcopal Church at 312 Azusa Street and subsequently became organized as the Apostolic Faith Mission. Almost all mainline Pentecostal denominations today trace their historical roots to the Azusa Street Revival.

Pentecostalism, like any other major movement, has given birth to a large number of organizations, denominations, churches, sects, para-churches, separatists and even cults with political, social or theological differences. The movement's inception was counter-cultural to the social and political norms of society. Record numbers of African-American men and women, both Black and white were initial leaders. As the Azusa Revival began to wane, doctrinal differences began to surface as well as the pressure from social, cultural and political events of the time. As a result, major divisions, separation, isolationism, sectarianism and even the increase of extremism were apparent. Not wishing to affiliate with the Assemblies of God, formed in 1914, a group of ministers from predominantly white churches formed the Pentecostal Church of God in Chicago, Illinois in 1919. George Went Hensley, a preacher who had left the Church of God, Cleveland Tennessee (the oldest Pentecostal denomination in America) when it finally stopped embracing snake handling, is credited with creating the first church dedicated to this extreme practice in the 1920s. This became widely practiced in poor, rural areas of the Appalachians. In urban African-American communities of the 1940s, there were Father Divine with his Peace Mission and Daddy Grace, both claiming divinity, encouraging their followers to practice the estaticism of Pentecostalism.

[edit] African-Americans

The role of African-Americans and women cannot be underestimated in the early Pentecostal movement. The first decade of Pentecostalism was marked by interracial assemblies, "…Whites and blacks mix in a religious frenzy, …" according to a local newspaper account at a time when the Supreme Court of the United States declared in its landmark case, Plessy vs Ferguson of 1896 that government facilities were to remain racially separate, but equal. The decision ushered the Jim Crow practices of apartheid in the United States with racially separate and unequal facilities in the U.S. The forward interracial, gender equality and enthusiasm of the Azusa Revival lasted until 1924, when divisions occurred along racial (see Apostolic Faith Mission), gender and doctrinal lines. Interracial services continued for many years, even in parts of the segregated Southern United States, although after the waning years of the Azusa Revival, the practice of interracial services were nearly non-existent in many white Pentecostal churches. The Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee, prior to the split in 1923, made significant inroads across racial divides, with missionary ministry to the Bahamas and elsewhere. After the 1923 divide, the bulk of the black membership followed Overseer A.J. Tomlinson into the Church of God of Prophecy.

Mary Lena Lewis Tate^[8] (1871-1930), also known as Mary Magdalena Lewis Tate or Mother Tate, was an African-American female is recognized as the Mother of the doctrine of True Holiness and Sanctification.^[9][10] Tate pioneered in the gender-rights movement in ecclesiology.^[11] She founded (or "revived" pursuant to the Pauline statement found in 1 Timothy 3:15) the religious organization known as The Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth, Inc. in Dickson, Tennessee in 1903.^[8][12] The religious body, formally organized in 1908 at Greenville, Alabama, from its beginning ordained women preachers as reverends, elders, and bishops in formal General Assembly actions with input from both men and women. Tate was ordained to the bishopric and seated as the first Chief Overseer of the body in 1908. The organization, beset with a plethora of internal schisms subsequent to Tate’s death in 1930, has nonetheless grown to international proportions and maintains churches throughout the United States.

[edit] Charismatic movement

From the late 1950s onwards, the Charismatic movement, which was to a large extent inspired and influenced by Pentecostalism, began to flourish in the mainline Protestant denominations, as well as the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, fostered in Britain by organizations such as the Fountain Trust, founded by Michael Harper in 1964. Unlike "Classical Pentecostals," who formed strictly Pentecostal congregations or denominations, Charismatics adopted as their motto, "Bloom where God planted you."

Some leaders who chose not to participate in the early 20th Century Pentecostal Movement remained highly respected by Pentecostal leaders of the 20th Century. Albert Benjamin Simpson became closely involved with the growing Pentecostal movement. It was common for Pentecostal pastors and missionaries to receive their training at the Missionary Training Institute that Simpson founded. Because of this, Simpson and the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) (an evangelistic movement that Simpson founded) had a great influence on Pentecostalism, in particular the Assemblies of God and the Foursquare Church. This influence included evangelistic emphasis, C&MA doctrine, Simpson's hymns and books, and the use of the term 'Gospel Tabernacle,' which evolved into Pentecostal churches being known as 'Full Gospel Tabernacles.' Charles Price Jones, the African-American Holiness leader and founder of the Church of Christ is another example. His hymns are widely sung at National Coventions of the Church of God in Christ and many other Pentecostal churches.

[edit] Denominations and adherents

Main article: List of Christian denominations#Pentecostalism

The largest Pentecostal denominations in the United States are the Church of God in Christ (Which is the 4th Largest denomination in the United States),^{[citation needed]} the Assemblies of God (Which is the largest Pentecostal denomination with over 12,311 churches in the U.S. and 283,413 churches and outstations in over 200 countries, and approximately 57 million adherents worldwide.) ^[13], New Testament Church, Church of God (Cleveland), Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ, the United Pentecostal Church, and the United Gospel Tabernacles. According to a Spring 1998 article in Christian History, there are about 11,000 different Pentecostal or charismatic denominations worldwide.^{[citation needed]}

The size of Pentecostalism in the U.S. is estimated to be more than 20 million including approximately 918,000 (4%) of the Hispanic-American population, counting all unaffiliated congregations, although the numbers are uncertain, in part because some tenets of Pentecostalism are held by members of non-Pentecostal denominations in what has been called the charismatic movement. Toronto, Canada, has a large Pentecostal population. The influence of immigrants from Jamaica, Africa, Latin America, Korea and elsewhere have created diverse churches throughout the city.

In Australia, Hillsong (led by Pastor Brian Houston) is the largest church with a membership exceeding 19,000. Many of their songs are sung across the Pentecostal churches (and other denominations). They are a member of Assemblies of God, which is one of the largest Pentecostal organizations in the world.

Pentecostalism was estimated to number around 115 million followers worldwide in 2000; The great majority of Pentecostals are to be found in Developing Countries (see #Church Growth), although much of their international leadership is still North America. Pentecostalism is sometimes referred to as the "third force of Christianity."^{[citation needed]} The largest Pentecostal Christian church in the world is the Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea. Founded and led by David Yonggi Cho since 1958, it had 780,000 members in 2003.^{[citation needed]}

According to Christianity Today, Pentecostalism is "a vibrant faith among the poor; it reaches into the daily lives of believers, offering not only hope but a new way of living."^[14] In addition, according to a 1999 U.N. report, "Pentecostal churches have been the most successful at recruiting its members from the poorest of the poor." Brazilian Pentecostals talk of Jesus as someone real and close to them and doing things for them including providing food and shelter. - Krishneel Maharaj from India.

[edit] Church growth

Pentecostal and charismatic church growth is rapid in many parts of the world. Jeffrey K. Hadden at the Department of Sociology at the University of Virginia collected statistics from the various large pentecostal organizations and from the work by David Stoll (David Stoll, "Is Latin American Turning Protestant?" published Berkeley: University of California Press. 1990) demonstrating that the Pentecostals are experiencing very rapid growth as can be seen on his website. In Myanmar, the Assemblies of God of Myanmar is one of the largest Christian denominations. The pentecostal churches Igreja do Evangelho Completo de Deus, Assembleias de Deus, Igrejas de Cristo and the Assembleias Evangelicas de Deus Pentecostales are among the largest denominations of Mozambique.

According to the last census in Brazil, 25% of Brazilians are Protestants, many being Pentecostals or Charismatics (e.g., Assemblies of God, Christian Congregation of Brazil, Foursquare Gospel, Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Charismatics Baptists). The biggest denomination is the Assemblies of God (Assembléia de Deus), which has about 10 million members.

Among the Indian charismatic denominations are the Apostolic Church of Pentecost, Apostolic Pentecostal Church, Assemblies of Christ Church, Assemblies of God, Bible Pattern Church, Church of God (Full Gospel) in India, Church of God of Prophecy, Church of the Apostolic Faith, Elim Church, Nagaland Christian Revival Church, ICOF India, New Life Fellowship, The Pentecostal Mission, Open Bible Church of God, Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church, Pentecostal Holiness Church, Pentecostal Mission, United Pentecostal Church in India, India Pentecostal Church of God, Sharon Fellowship Church, Kerala, India (Founded by Pr. Thomachayan) has planted numerous Churches throughout the world.

[edit] Geographical distribution

• Africa: 41.1 million^[15]
  • Nigeria: 13.0 million (34.5 million;^[16] 41.0 million^[17])
  • Kenya: 4.1 million (18.94 million^[16])
  • South Africa: 4.4 million (15.1 million^[18])
  • Ethiopia: 2.6 million
  • Ghana: 1.76 million
• The Americas: 58.9 million^[15]
  • United States: Total of: 30 million; 20.2 million^[18]; 80.0 million including Charismatics and Neo-charismatics^[17])
  • Brazil: 15.0 million
  • Argentina: 3.5 million
  • Mexico: 2.7 million
  • Guatemala: 2.0 million (7.2 million^[16])
  • Chile: 1.8 million (4.8 million^[16])
  • Canada: 1.3 million
• Asia: 15.3 million^[15]
  • South Korea: 5.35 million^[16])
  • China: unknown; 72.0 million^[17]
  • Philippines: 9.0 million (38.65 million;^[16] 25.0 million^[17])
  • Indonesia: 7.0 million
  • India: Total of: 54 million; 5.2 million (54.0 million;^[18] 38.0 million^[17])
• Europe: 9.5-11.0 million^[15]
  • United Kingdom: 0.9-1.7 million
  • Ukraine: 0.3-0.7 million
  • Russia: 1.0 million
  • Italy: 0.55 million
  • Germany: 0.3 million
  • Spain: 0.28 million
  • France: 0.2-0.3 million
  • Romania: 0.3 million^[19]
  • Netherlands: 0.15 millions
  • Hungary: 0.11 million
  • Switzerland: 0.1 million
  • Greece: 0.03 million
  • Bulgaria: 0.15 million
• Oceania^[15]
  • Papua New Guinea: 0.4 million
  • Australia: 0.4 million
  • New Zealand: 0.11 million

[edit] Leaders

Main article: :Category:Pentecostals

[edit] Precursors

• William Boardman
• John Alexander Dowie (1848-1907)
• Edward Irving
• Albert Benjamin Simpson (1843-1919)

[edit] Early history

• Maria Woodworth-Etter (1844 - 1924)
• Smith Wigglesworth (1859 - 1947)
• Mary Magdalena Lewis Tate (1879 - 1930)^[8] - Mother of Holiness. Founder of the Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth, Inc. and its dominion churches.^[20]
• Charles Fox Parham (1873 - 1929) Father of Modern Pentecostalism
• William J. Seymour (1870 - 1922) Azusa Street Mission Founder (Azusa Street Revival)
• Bishop R.A.R. Johnson (1876 -1940) Founder of the House of God, Holy Church of the Living God, The Pillar and the Ground of the Truth, The House of Prayer for All People. A Commandment (Sabbath) keeping Pentecostal organization.
• George Jeffreys (1889 - 1972) Founder of the Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance and the Bible-Pattern Church Fellowship in Britain
• Aimee Semple McPherson (1890 - 1944) American Female Evangelist and organizer of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel
• Joseph Ayo Babalola (1904 - 1959) Oke - Ooye, Ilesa revivalist in 1930. Also, spiritual founder of Christ Apostolic Church
• David du Plessis (1905 - 1987) South-African Pentecostal church leader, one of the founders of the Charismatic movement
• Kathryn Kuhlman (1907 - 1976) American female evangelist who brought Pentecostalism into the mainstream denominations
• William M. Branham (1909 - 1965) Healing Evangelists of the mid 20th century
• Jack Coe (1918 - 1956) Healing Tent Evangelist of the 1950s
• Charles Harrison Mason (1866 - 1961) The Founder of the Church of God In Christ
• A. A. Allen (1911 - 1970) Healing Tent Evangelist of the 1950s and 1960s
• Oral Roberts (b.1918) Healing Tent Evangelist who made the transition to televangelism
• Rex Humbard (1919 – 2007) The first successful TV evangelist of the mid 1950s, 1960s, and the 1970s and at one time had the largest television audience of any televangelist in the U.S.

[edit] Theologians

Pentecostal theologians are listed in the article Renewal Theologians.

[edit] See also

• Alliance of Renewal Churches
• Apostolic Church
• Apostolic Faith Mission
• Bible-Pattern Church Fellowship
• British Israelism
• Charismatic
• Christ Apostolic Church
• Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)
• Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth, Inc.
• Continuationism
• Elim Pentecostal Church
• Free Apostolic Church of Pentecost
• Full Gospel
• International House of Prayer
• History of Church activities in Zambia
• List of Pentecostal Denominations
• Montanism
• Neocharismatic
• Nicky Cruz
• Oneness Pentecostalism
• Pentecostal Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
• Pentecostal Charismatic Peace Fellowship
• Charismatic Church of God
• Pentecostal World Fellowship
• Potter's House Christian Fellowship
• Religious pluralism
• Revival Centres International
• Christian evangelist scandals
• Summary of Christian eschatological differences
• Church of God in Christ
• United Pentecostal Church International

[edit] Notes

[edit] Further reading

• Paul Alexander, (2000), "An Analysis of the Emergence and Decline of Pacifism in the History of the Assemblies of God", PhD Dissertation, Baylor University.
• Grant Wacker, (2001), Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA - An academic history of early Pentecostalism.
• Walter Hollenweger, (1972), The Pentecostals: the charismatic movement in the churches, Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis, ISBN 0-8066-1210-X
• Walter Hollenweger, , (1997), Pentecostalism : origins and developments worldwide, Peabody, Mass. : Hendrickson Publishers, ISBN 0-943575-36-2
• Clifton, S. J., (2005), An Analysis of the Developing Ecclesiology of the Assemblies of God in Australia, PhD thesis Australian Catholic University
• Matthew Steel, (2005), Pentecostalism in Zambia : Power, Authority and the Overcomers, MSc Dissertation - an examination of the growth and effects of Pentecostalism on development, University of Wales
• A Church’s Challenge: Holding On to Its Young. The New York Times (2007). Retrieved on 2008-02-25.
• Meharry H. Lewis, (2005), Mary Lena Lewis Tate: Vision!, A Biography of the Founder and History of the Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth, Inc., Nashville, Tenn.: The New and Living Way Publishing Company, ISBN 0-910003-08-4.
• Kelly Willis Mendiola, (2002) The hand of a woman: four holiness-pentecostal evangelists and American culture, 1840-1930, [1]Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002, OCLC: 56818195.

[edit] External links

• Map showing Percentage of Pentecostal Population in USA by county from Valparaiso University
• Apostolic Herald Online newsletter sharing Pentecostal and Apostolic concepts written primarily by pentecostal authors.
• Pentecostal Conference of the North American Keralites
• Australasian Pentecostal Studies journal
• Pew Religious Forum Pentecostal Hub

[edit] Academic centres and journals

• Journal of Pentecostal Theology is published by SAGE publications. The editorial board is comprised of members of the Church of God Theological Seminary faculty.
• The REFLEKS journal is published by REFLEKS-Publishing in Oslo, Norway and contains scholarly Scandinavian and English articles on Pentecostalism and neo-Pentecostalism.
• Encounter: Journal for Pentecostal Ministry is a published by the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (AGTS)
• The European Research Network on Global Pentecostalism (GloPent) is an initiative by three leading European Universities in Pentecostal studies networking academic research on Pentecostal and Charismatic movements.
• Hollenweger Center for the interdisciplinary study of Pentecostal and Charismatic movements at the Free University of Amsterdam
• Cyberjournal for Pentecostal Charismatic Research
• Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (Assemblies of God archives), one of the largest collections of materials documenting the global Pentecostal movement; website contains free research tools, including over 200,000 digitized pages of periodicals and online catalog with over 55,000 entries.