moral and doctrinal boundaries. The Assemblies of God, the Church of God (headquartered in Cleveland, TN), and the Church of God in Christ are the largest and most well‐known of these classical Pentecostal denominations. Each of these churches define the contours of Pentecostalism in slightly different ways, but they are all proudly Pentecostal in their statements of faith and they generally agree that speaking in tongues is the necessary “initial evidence” that a person has received the baptism with the Holy Spirit. In the eyes of most classical Pentecostals, if a person has not spoken in tongues, that person has not been baptized by the Spirit.
Spirit‐centered Independent churches represent another part of Pentecostalism’s inner sociological circle. Located mainly in the global south, these churches began appearing in the late nineteenth century largely as a reaction against the kinds of Christianity being imported by western missionaries. The founders of these Independent churches often identified themselves as prophets or apostles and claimed to be guided directly by the Holy Spirit. These churches do not typically use the word “Pentecostal” to describe themselves nor do they use western phrases like “baptism with the Holy Spirit” to name their spiritual experiences, but their emphasis on the Holy Spirit and on miracles makes them functionally Pentecostal nonetheless. Spirit‐centered Independent churches are especially prominent in Africa (see Figure 4.4), but they are also found in Asia and Latin America. Migration is now bringing this version of Pentecostalism to Europe and North America as well.
A third group of churches located in Pentecostalism’s central sociological zone goes by the name “Neo‐Charismatic.” A few years ago, this sub‐group of Pentecostal churches was frequently called “third wave” Pentecostalism; now it is sometimes identified as the “New Apostolic Reformation.” Like classical Pentecostal and Spirit‐centered Independent churches, Neo‐Charismatic churches teach that the Spirit of God is actively involved in the world, doing miracles and changing lives. However, Neo‐Charismatic churches tend to be less dogmatic about what counts as evidence of Pentecostal faith and more concerned with how individuals use the spiritual powers they possess. First arising in the late 1970s, Neo‐Charismatic Pentecostalism can vary dramatically. One Neo‐Charismatic church might, at first glance, seem not very Pentecostal at all, while another congregation might appear to be over the top in its spotlighting of spiritual gifts or spiritual warfare. What Neo‐Charismatic churches now often hold in common is a “word of faith” or “prosperity” approach to Christianity. Some Neo‐Charismatic churches have organized themselves into denominations, but many remain stand‐alone congregations. What holds all of these Neo‐Charismatic denominations and congregations together is an amazing interpersonal network that includes thousands of pastors worldwide. These pastors – the more important of whom are often identified as “apostles” – stay connected with each other through their internet websites, their paper publications, and their jointly sponsored conferences or revival meetings where they affirm and reinforce (and sometimes denounce or criticize) each other’s spiritual status.
Figure 4.4 The Holy Spirit Church of East Africa (Bukoyani, Kenya) is one of many Spirit‐centered Independent churches that are part of the global Pentecostal movement. Photo by Hans Spitzeck.
The second circle on the sociological map of Pentecostalism represents the Charismatic Movement, which began in the 1950s and 1960s. People involved in this large and diverse movement embrace many of the same beliefs and practices as the Pentecostal churches in the inner circle, but they do so as individuals and not as church members. They are Spirit‐filled Christians who choose to remain members of non‐Pentecostal churches. There are charismatic Christians in almost all the various Protestant denominations, but about two‐thirds of the world’s charismatic Christians are members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR). Because charismatic Christians are religious hybrids (Pentecostals in their personal piety but non‐Pentecostal in their church affiliation), it is difficult to know how to count them. Should they be added to Christianity’s Pentecostal numbers or should they be counted as members of the churches to which they formally belong? For statistical purposes, and to avoid counting these individuals twice (as both Pentecostals and non‐Pentecostals), The World’s Christians assigns half of the world’s charismatic Christians to the Pentecostal category and half to the churches in which they are members. Using this method of calculation, Pentecostal and charismatic Christians together (the two inner circles of Figure 4.3) make up about 20 percent of Christians worldwide. If all (instead of half) of the charismatic Christians in the world were counted as Pentecostals, the Pentecostal percentage of the world’s Christians would jump to about 25 percent.
The fuzzy outer zone in the sociological diagram of Pentecostalism represents a very different kind of reality than the first two. The individuals, churches, and parachurch organizations in this zone have adopted some ideas and attitudes that would typically be considered Pentecostal, but they have not crossed the threshold of becoming actually Pentecostal. Their Christian practices are within the zone of Pentecostalism’s extended influence, but they would never call themselves Pentecostal. Examples include churches and individuals who like to sing Pentecostal praise songs and raise their hands in worship, but do not speak in tongues. It includes churches that emphasize the gifts of the Holy Spirit more than in the past but stop short of expecting miracles to happen regularly. And it would include pastors and congregations that stress the importance of personal faith for claiming all of God’s promises but resist being drawn into a full‐blown prosperity gospel orientation. This zone might also extend to events like the Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church, where each day began with a prayer addressed specifically to the Holy Spirit. It is impossible to know if the Pentecostal movement is directly responsible for the new attention these groups and individuals are giving to the Holy Spirit, but regardless of the source, it is clear that global Christianity as a whole has become more Pentecostalistic in style and flavor in recent decades.
Story
Pentecostalism is a young movement and its history is short, but that history is also complex and far from fully understood. It is now clear that Pentecostalism had many sites of origin. One of the birthplaces of Pentecostalism was the Mukti Mission in Pune, India where Pandita Ramabai, an internationally known Hindu feminist convert to Christianity, oversaw a Pentecostal‐like religious revival during the years 1906 and 1907. Around the same time, Isaiah Shembe was forming his new independent amaNazaretha church in South Africa that was both anticolonial and decidedly charismatic in orientation. Willis Hoover began preaching a Spirit‐centered message within the Methodist Church of Chile during these same years, and comparable events took place in Europe and East Asia. Unlike the other three Christian mega‐traditions, Pentecostalism has been multicentered and global from the very beginning.
The Azusa Street Revival that began in Los Angeles in 1906 gathered up all the various global expressions of spiritual fervor and turned them into a self‐conscious Pentecostal movement. The meetings at the Azusa Street Mission were directed by an African American preacher named William J. Seymour (introduced in Voices of World Christianity 4.1). He was an unassuming leader who, rather than preach, would sometimes just sit in the front of the meeting and pray in silence, and miracles would occur. News of the revival quickly spread around the world. People came from everywhere to see what was going on, and the result was the creation of a network of Spirit‐filled Christians who saw themselves as part of a new people of God being called into existence.
Ever since the Azusa Street Revival, the Pentecostal movement has been growing the same way that it started, by word of mouth, by serendipitous encounter, and by men and women who go wherever in the world they feel God is leading them to spread the Pentecostal message. Much of the movement’s growth
