Pentecostal Family
The dividing line between Pentecostal churches and the mainline Protestant
churches has been their new form of religious experience highlighted by
speaking in tongues.
The Pentecostal experience may be defined as seeking and receiving the gift
of speaking in tongues as a sign of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. In turn,
that Baptism may be defined as the dwelling of the Holy Spirit in the
individual believer. From this flows the other gifts of the Holy Spirit. The
gifts include healing, prophecy, knowledge unattainable by natural means, and
discernment of spirits (awareness of nonphysical beings such as angels and
demons).
Living life centered on that experience is as important as the experience
itself. It is a focus of discussion with others, praying is often in tongues,
and there is frequent and forceful asking for healing and help in all aspects
of life. There is a tendency to look down on others who do not share the experience
of speaking in tongues and to see them as not fully living Christian faith.
A focus of worship services and theology is healing. The usual style is a
loud, forceful, “demanding” expectation, often using crowd psychology or mass
hypnosis techniques.
Historically, groups that have focused on speaking in tongues or have
discovered that experience have also encountered other forms of unusual
trance-related phenomena. Visions, hearing voices, unusual healings, etc. have
often been reported. Many of those same phenomena are reported in Pentecostal
groups.
Predating the Pentecostal groups was a phenomenon called “fire Baptism.” It
was an experience preached by some holiness ministers looking for something
more than the holiness experience itself. Fire Baptism was the personal
religious experience of being filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit,
taking its name from the Holy Spirit’s descent upon the Apostles in the form of
tongues of flame.
With time, three Pentecostal churches took a special place in the American Pentecostal movement: the Assemblies of God, the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), and the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith. Many other Pentecostal churches are offshoots of these three or are modeled on them and deviate from them on only a few points.
SUBFAMILIES
Doctrinal differences and racial discrimination led Pentecostals to divide
into six subfamilies, three because of doctrine, three formed on racial lines.
One serious doctrinal issue concerned the person of Christ. A group of
ministers began to preach a "Jesus only" doctrine which amounted to a
monotheism of the second person of the Trinity. This denial of the Trinity by
what are generally termed "Apostolic" Pentecostals has been the most serious
split, and the "Jesus only" people generally do not participate in
ecumenical structures. Blacks have formed especially large denominations of the
"Jesus only" type.
This discussion of Pentecostal subfamilies would be incomplete without a
mention of neo-Pentecostalism. That is the movement of the 1960s and 1970s to
form Pentecostal fellowships within the mainline Christian denominations.
Neo-Pentecostalism also goes by the name “charismatic renewal.” Its leaders
were never a part of the older Pentecostal bodies. Charismatic fellowships have
developed within the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, United Methodist, Presbyterian,
and Episcopal churches.
In the 1970s these fellowships have served two functions. First, they have
kept many Pentecostals within their mainline Christian churches. Second, the
fellowships have been places where new denominations, separate from both the
older Pentecostal churches and the mainline Christian churches, could form.
THE APOSTOLIC, ONENESS, OR
"JESUS ONLY" MOVEMENT
Baptism is by immersion in the name of Jesus only (Acts 2:38) rather than
the common trinitarian formula (Matthew 28:19).
DELIVERANCE (HEALING) MOVEMENT
After the Second World War a group consciousness developed among some of the Pentecostal evangelists, leading to the development of specialized “healing ministries.”
In many cases, the deliverance evangelists have remained independent and
travel at the request of churches or groups such as the Full Gospel
Businessman's Fellowship. Others are leaders of large evangelistic missionary
organizations. Others have become heads of church-forming bodies (both in the
United States and abroad) which constitute new primary religious groups. There
is extensive public exposure through television and radio.
SNAKE HANDLING
One group of Pentecostals focus on what they see as Jesus' promise that they
may take up venomous serpents and drink poisons without experiencing any harm.
This understanding has led to the practice popularly called snake handling. The
original group that practiced the “signs,” that is, that handled snakes and
drank poison (usually strychnine) in worship services, arose very soon after
the Pentecostal movement spread to the Appalachian Mountain region.
Those who engage in snake handling are Pentecostals who accept the basic theology by which people seek and receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, evidenced by speaking in tongues. Snake handlers also accept the rigid ethical code of most holiness and Pentecostal bodies: dress is plain; the Bible is consulted on all questions, the kiss of peace is prominent. The snake handlers, however, go beyond the Pentecostals in their belief that holding venomous reptiles and drinking poison are signs of an individual's faith and possession of the Holy Spirit. The handling of snakes and drinking of poison are done while in an ecstatic state, referred to by members as "being in the Spirit."
Page was last updated on 02/22/02
