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Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
A Pentecostal Primer
This month marks the 100th anniversary of what is often viewed as the beginning of the modern pentecostal movement on America's West Coast. From its origins in a previously abandoned African Methodist Episcopal Church on Azusa Street in Los Angeles, Calif., pentecostalism has emerged as the fastest-growing Christian movement in the world. The movement emphasizes the gifts of the Holy Spirit, including speaking in tongues, miraculous healing and spiritual renewal. According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, adherents to pentecostalism and its related "spirit-filled" or renewalist faiths now number more than 500 million, comprising about a quarter of world Christianity, an exponential increase from 30 years ago when only 6 percent of the world's Christians fit these classifications. Pentecostalism's rapid growth in Latin America and Africa has led to tensions with other Christian and non-Christian communities.
To provide up-to-date insights on the many facets of this fast-growing religious movement, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life interviewed Dr. Donald Miller of the University of Southern California in conjunction with a roundtable on pentecostalism the Forum co-sponsored with the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles. In this interview, Dr. Miller discusses the birth and evolution of pentecostalism and the implications of the movement for social change and international politics, especially in the developing world.