What is the Pentecostal Church and what do Pentecostals believe?

Pentecostalism is a fairly modern movement within Christianity that can be traced back to the Holiness movement in the Methodist Church. A major focus of Pentecostal churches is a baptism of the Holy Spirit apart from salvation—a baptism that is evidenced by speaking in tongues. There are approximately 170 different denominations that identify themselves as Pentecostal.

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, there was a dramatic rise in religious fervor as various groups anticipated the end of history and the return of Christ in 1900. Much of this fervor was driven by the revival meetings held by those in the Holiness movement, and there were occasional reports of people speaking in ecstatic (unintelligible) tongues. The first widespread use of tongues was at a revival in Topeka, Kansas, in January 1900, led by Charles Parham. At that meeting, Agnes Ozman, a Methodist, began to speak in tongues, and others in the meeting eventually followed suit.

In 1906, a series of revival meetings on Azusa Street in Los Angeles led to a widespread experience of ecstatic tongues-speaking, which spread to many parts of the country. The meetings were led by William Seymour, one of Charles Parham's students. Parham and Seymour eventually parted ways, because Parham believed many of the manifestations of Azusa Street were of the flesh, not of the Spirit. By 1909, Seymour had excluded all but African-Americans from holding office in the mission, and the ministry eventually faded into history.

Though the Azusa Street mission had a brief life, its impact on the Pentecostal movement has been a lasting one. Many new churches and missions were founded across America that carried the new emphasis on seeking the baptism of the Spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues. According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, “globally, there are 644 million Christians in the [Pentecostal] movement” (www.gordonconwell.edu/center-for-global-christianity/research/global-pentecostalism/, accessed 8/5/23). In 2011, a Pew Forum analysis of the data gave an estimate of 279,000,000 Pentecostals worldwide, with another 305,000,000 Charismatics in non-Pentecostal denominations (see www.pewresearch.org/religion/2011/12/19/global-christianity-movements-and-denominations/, accessed 8/5/23).

There are three main divisions within the Pentecostal movement. The original group that came out of the Holiness churches (Methodist and Nazarene), sees three steps in the life of a believer that indicate growth and blessing. The first step is justification, which is the forgiveness of sins that comes from putting faith in Jesus Christ. The second step is sanctification, or the second blessing, which was first taught by John Wesley in his “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection” (1766). The essence of this doctrine is that a believer may attain an inner purity of heart and an infusion of power whereby he or she no longer practices sin. This is sometimes followed by the third step, the “baptism of the Spirit,” as evidenced by speaking in tongues or other signs. The Church of God in Christ and the Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee, are two major denominations in this group.

The second division within Pentecostalism is comprised of those who came out of a Baptist background but were heavily influenced by the Holiness revivals of the late 1800s. The Assemblies of God was founded in 1914 under the leadership of Eudorus N. Bell, who had been a Southern Baptist pastor. The key difference in doctrine for this group is the teaching that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is available for anyone, regardless of a person’s level of sanctification.

The third division of Pentecostalism holds to Oneness doctrine. At the meeting that formed the Church of God in Christ (1914), there was intense debate over Trinitarian doctrine. While the majority of Holiness believers held to the traditional belief in the Trinity, there was a growing group who disagreed. The Oneness Pentecostals, as they are now called, held to a modalist belief—God exists as one Person, not three—and affirmed that baptism should be done in Jesus’ name only. Another tenet of this group is that speaking in tongues is a necessary evidence of salvation. This group was to form the United Pentecostal Church and the Apostolic Pentecostal Church, among others.

In Pentecostalism, the Christian life is both transformational and experiential. There is a heavy emphasis on the transformation of individual lives. And there is an equally strong emphasis on experiencing God through the Holy Spirit. Various phenomena including speaking in tongues, prophesying, receiving visions, administering miraculous healing, and other miracles are encouraged as proof that God is in the midst of His church. Pentecostals see their practices as simply a continuation of those of the early church, as God has sustained His work unchanged from the book of Acts through the postmodern age.