What Is A Pentecostal Church?

A Pentecostal Church takes its name from the Spirit's outpouring which occurred on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-4. The primary distinction of a Pentecostal church is the belief that Christians can receive the same experience as the early disciples did, of being “baptized with the Holy Spirit”. In this same vein, the Pentecostal believes in the present day operation of spiritual gifts such as miracles, healing, prophecy, and other supernatural manifestations described in 1 Corinthians 12. They generally follow a similar form of liturgy to that found in most other evangelical churches, and they place high value on praise and worship.

A Pentecostal Church generally identifies with the long-standing history, traditions and theological views of the Pentecostal Holiness movement, which began to emerge throughout the U.S. at the turn of the 20th century. In 1896, many members of the Church of God experienced a spiritual outpouring they identified as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Because it was so similar to the experience of the early Christians on the day of Pentecost, it came to be called a Pentecostal experience, an enrichment of the Christian life through the power of the Holy Spirit that empowered believers to be effective witnesses of Christ. The principle distinctive of the Church of God as a Pentecostal organization is its believe in speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance and that this is the initial evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

The charismata (Gk.) or gifts of the Spirit can be divided into three categories: the gifts of revelation, the gifts of power and the gifts of utterance or inspiration. The gifts of revelation are the gifts of the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge and the discerning of spirits. The gifts of power are faith, miracles, and gifts of healing. The gifts of utterance and inspiration are prophecy, tongues and interpretation. The Holy Spirit bestows these gifts and those who accept the validity of these gifts are called charismatic.

Simultaneous to this, the Holy Spirit was being poured out in other areas such as Topeka Kansas and the famed 1906 revival of the Azusa Street mission in Los Angeles.

The Pentecostals have long been known and respected for their great emphasis on evangelism and foreign missions. Some of the more well known Pentecostal fellowships are: The Assemblies of God (of Springfield, MO) with 11,689 U.S. churches, The Church of God in Christ with 15,300, The Church of God (of Cleveland, TN) with 5,776, and The Foursquare Church with 1,558. In all, there are 43,727 U.S. churches affiliated with Pentecostal denominations, with thousands more of independent status.¹ The Pentecostal movement is the fastest growing segment of Christianity in the world today.