Their distinctives apparently aren’t hindering their growth—their distinctives are propelling global growth. This serves as a reminder that people don’t want the same bland, tasteless, boring faith. They want a faith with power, and that’s been key to Pentecostalism’s growth.
What’s more, there is a fundamental “from everywhere to everywhere” characteristic of the Pentecostal missional ethos—the Spirit poured out on all flesh. As such, Pentecostals have been known for empowering women in ways that other denominations do not. Similarly, since Pentecostalism was diverse since its inception. Azusa Street was multiethnic from the beginning. (It is worth noting that this was not a story without blemish, but part of William Seymour’s legacy—he was African American—was birthing a movement marked by empowering non-Anglos from the beginning.)
Still today, much of the growth within the Spirit-filled movement in the United States is largely due to its welcoming posture toward immigrants and people of color. The largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States is the African-American majority Church of God in Christ. The most well-known Pentecostal group, the Assemblies of God, owes much of its stateside growth to the Latino community.
What’s more, while it’s en vogue at present within some church traditions to treat women in ministry as a new and progressive ecclesiastical issue, we cannot ignore that Pentecostals have been ordaining women for over a century. It’s far from a recent development, and many point to the empowerment of women as key to the global growth of the Spirit-filled movement.
So Pentecostals don’t simply have a faith with power—they have a faith that they believe empowers everyone.
A Call to Renewal
While Pentecostal growth is laudable, it is necessary to point out that most of its growth is outside of the West. Yes, denominations like the AG are still growing in the United States, but researcher Ryan Burge’s data shows that the pace of growth is slowing and, if left untreated, could eventually turn toward slow decline.
Pentecostalism is, by definition, a renewal movement. American Pentecostals cannot overlook the need for, as they often say, “a fresh touch of the Spirit.” Hiding the distinctives that have simultaneously made Pentecostals a “peculiar people” and propelled historic growth for the movement in favor of cultural relevance will likely have the opposite impact on growth than what those actions intend.
The emphasis on personal, experiential faith—especially a faith that touches the supernatural—also resonates deeply with the younger generational cohorts, who are much less suspicious of the supernatural than those who preceded them. Yet, these young people are also among the most racially and politically diverse generation in American history. Pentecostals would do well to consider (or even lean into) their historic identity as a movement that is deeply multi-ethnic, focused on both evangelism and social justice, and (prior to World War II) staunchly apolitical and pacifistic.1
For a movement like Pentecostalism to continue to thrive, it must walk the fine line of returning to the roots of what has made it vibrant. Turning inward toward self-obsessed identity gatekeeping is the hallmark of stalling progress and eventual decline.2 Pentecostals have to “tend to the fire,” lest the fire go out. For those within broader evangelicalism, this is a cautionary word for us as well. We need a fresh fire from the Holy Spirit to renew us, as expressed in the words of William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, in his hymn Send the Fire: “Look down and see this waiting host / give us the promised Holy Ghost / we want another Pentecost / send the fire.”
For non-Pentecostals, it’s worth learning from our sisters and brothers in the Spirit-filled space. As cessationism has declined, evangelicals are often unsure of how to understand the gifts of the Spirit. Thus, conversations across denominational boundaries would go a long way. And, of course, the Asbury Revival earlier this year reminded us that renewal is not just a Pentecostal phenomenon. Whether we’re Pentecostal or not, we can fan the embers we see in movements like Asbury into the flame of widespread renewal in each of our Christian traditions.
We have much to learn across the Body of Christ. I am thankful for how I have been personally influenced by the charismatic movement, from coming to Christ in the charismatic wing of the Anglican church, being discipled as a teenager at Calvary Assembly of God in Winter Park, FL, and, now today, seeing what God is doing around the world through Spirit-filled Christians.
I believe the Holy Spirit wants to do a fresh work in each of us, as well as in our churches. So I say, “Come Holy Spirit, do what you want to do in our midst.”
Todd Korpi assisted with this series.
1 See Paul Alexander, “Peace to War” (Telford, PA: Cascadia)
2 See Ichak Adizes, “Managing Corporate Lifecycles,” 192-193.
