Pentecostalism is a relatively new movement in Christianity and its origin can be traced back to the Holiness Movement that took shape in the Methodist church in the United States in Los Angeles during 1900 and later when continuous revival meetings were organized by preachers like Charles Parham and Agnes Ozman, and there was a dramatic rise in religious fervor among a section of Christians. The major focus of Pentecostalism has been on the ‘Holy Spirit baptism” evidenced by speaking in tongues. Today, there are approximately 170 different denominations that identify themselves as Pentecostal. Three major divisions can be now found in the Pentecostal movement.
The first division is the original group which came out of the Holiness Churches (Methodist background) and which advocates ‘three progressive step’s in the life of a believer which indicate his growth and blessings. The first step is “justification” which is the forgiveness of sins that comes from putting Faith in Jesus Christ. Thesecond step is “sanctification” or the second blessing (which was originally taught by John Wesley during the days of Reformation) which is the inner purity of heart and infusion of power whereby the believer no longer practices sins. This is sometimes followed by the third step the “Baptism of the Spirit” which is evidenced by speaking in tongues, or other signs. ‘The Church of God in Christ’ is a denomination belonging to this group.
The second division of Pentecostals is comprised of those who came out of the Baptist Church background. ‘The Assemblies of God’, founded in 1914 under the leadership of Endorus N. Bell who was a Southern Baptist pastor, is a Pentecostal denomination typical of the second division. The key difference in the doctrine of this group is that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is available for anyone regardless of attaining “sanctification”. ‘Assemblies of God’ is one of the largest Pentecostal denominations and has about 57 million adherents worldwide.
The third division is known as the ‘Oneness Pentecostals’. When ‘the Church of God in Christ’ was formed in 1914, there was intense debate on the ‘Trinitarian doctrine’. While a large majority held fast by the traditional Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the other group affirmed that baptism should be given in Jesus’ name only. And another tenet of this group was the necessity of speaking in tongues as the evidence of “salvation”. It was this group that was formed into denominations like the ‘United Pentecostal Church’ and the ‘Apostolic Pentecostal Church’, etc.
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