Pentecostal Movements

Pentecostal movements form a relatively recent stream of Christianity, currently comprising about [Page 982]a quarter of Christians worldwide. Significantly, Pentecostal movements account for a large share in the enormous growth of Christianity in the 20th century. Pentecostal movements—also known as Pentecostalism—should be seen as a type of Christianity rather than as a denomination or a single religious movement. As such, Pentecostal religiosity takes many different forms; both insiders and outsiders use the term charismatic Christianity as a synonym.

In their theology, the majority of Pentecostals acknowledge the classical evangelical doctrine of repentance from sin and conversion to Jesus Christ and a view of the Bible as the fully inspired and authoritative word of God and have a strong missionary zeal. Pentecostal spirituality is also strongly affective, stressing the relationship with Jesus and/or the Father God after conversion as something that is very real. Similarly affective and distinctive for Pentecostal spirituality is the emphasis on the reality of the Holy Spirit—God the Spirit of the Christian Trinity—who gives the believers “gifts” that empower them, such as glossolalia (“speaking in tongues,” i.e., the utterance of an incomprehensible spiritual “language”), prophecy, and healing. Here, Pentecostals follow and reenact what Karla Poewe has called a “first century schema,” exemplified in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus Christ on Pentecost (Acts 2). The gifts of the Spirit are also called charismata—hence the adjective charismatic in charismatic Christianity. A central doctrine of classical Pentecostal denominations is that the gift of glossolalia is the sign that a believer is “baptized” in the Spirit. Classical Pentecostal theology similarly sees a difference between being born again and being baptized in the Spirit, the latter being a separate stage in the spiritual growth of a believer. In later Pentecostal movements, this relation is understood as less strict, and the intrinsic link between Spirit baptism and glossolalia is loosened. Distinctive for Pentecostal praxis and piety is this emphasis on experiences of the Spirit. Pentecostal believers thus see the reality of the Spirit in their lives and in the church demonstrated through the gifts of the Spirit. Characteristic for Pentecostal piety is the central role of the emotional body as a “channel” that receives and transfers the Holy Spirit. Through the emphasis on the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the spiritual empowerment of believers, Pentecostal spirituality is often highly creative and versatile, adapting to local cultural circumstances, which is one of the reasons it is an extremely viable form of Christianity worldwide.