Posted on 10/07/2006 6:40:10 AM PDT by NYer
NEW YORK - A new 10-nation survey of Pentecostal and charismatic Christians, considered the fastest-growing stream of Christianity worldwide, shows they are deeply influencing the Roman Catholic and mainstream Protestant churches and are poised to make a big impact on global affairs. p>The poll released Thursday by the Washington-based Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that "spirit-filled" Christians, who speak in tongues and believe in healing through prayer, comprise at least 10 percent of the population in nine of the 10 surveyed countries.
The study also found that followers are more willing than previously thought to bring their traditional values into public debates, potentially shaping government policies in the years ahead.
The surveys were conducted over the spring and summer in Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, India, the Philippines, South Korea" /> Researchers polled both Pentecostals, who form their own denominations such as the Assemblies of God, and charismatics, who have adopted some Pentecostal beliefs but remain members of traditional Protestant and Catholic churches.
The survey estimated that Pentecostals and charismatics together comprise at least half the population of Brazil, Guatemala and Kenya, and 44 percent of the Philippines.
They make up about one-third of the population of South Africa and Chile and nearly one-quarter of Nigerians and U.S. residents. The figure for South Korea is smaller, at 11 percent. In India, the poll was limited to three states with large Christian populations, so a national estimate could not be made.
The study found Pentecostal beliefs have a strong hold in major churches in many countries.
In the traditionally Catholic nations of Brazil, Guatemala and the Philippines, charismatics are a larger share of the population than Pentecostals.
In six of the 10 countries, Pentecostals and charismatics together make up the majority of the overall Protestant population, according to the survey.
The Pentecostal movement, which began a century ago in Los Angeles, spread quickly overseas because of its adaptability to local cultures, whose indigenous beliefs often include healings and casting out of evil spirits, and because of the exuberance of its worship.
While Pentecostals and charismatics are known for speaking in tongues, the survey found respondents were more likely to say that they had personally witnessed or experienced other signs of the Holy Spirit, such as a healing through prayer or a direct revelation from God.
The majority of Pentecostals in every nation surveyed except South Korea and India believed religious groups should express their views on social and political issues. In seven of the 10 countries, 70 percent of charismatics agreed.
"These are folks for whom the world of spirit is remarkably alive ... but that in no way diminishes their commitment to social justice for the poor, for instance, or a role for government in meeting those needs," said Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum.
The polls were conducted by phone in the U.S., and in person overseas, with margins of error ranging from plus or minus 4 percentage points to 9 percentage points for some subgroups.
The polls in Brazil, South Africa and South Korea focused on urban areas.
Most interesting.
It's not surprising that the enemy spends a lot of time and effort
counterfeiting
THAT OF GOD WHICH IS MOST POSTENT AND EFFICACIOIUS.
Certainly the enemy works hard to pollute, distract, pervert, sideline, make askew that true I Cor 12-14 Operations of Holy Spirit in our era.
But Holy Spirit will win in the end.
The masses of Islamic conversions via DREAMS, VISIONS, VISITATIONS OF THE RISEN LORD are all Holy Spirit operations. Denial of them doesn't change or tarnish the fact of them a microgram's worth.
God loves to confound the wise with HIS FOOLISHNESS.
I've always thought that the Pentecostal sides and flavors of authentic Christianity were His prime examples of that.
And, in my experience, it's been the unknown, no-name sorts of "insignificant," truly humble prayer warriors, prophetesses etc. who've had the most powerful Holy Spirit impacts on my life and ministry.
The naysayers can rant, pontificate, excoriate, rationalize away, deny, play rubber Bible day in year out and Holy Spirit will just keep on doing all the powerful things He does so well.
And, eternity will reveal it all in good time. Then, the mockery etc. will be met with thunderous silence as the humiliated submit to God's ways, God's priorities and God's Spirit.
There is, however, a very serious hazard to ascribing to satan, or the enemy, things that are truly Holy Spirit birthed.
Well put.
Baptiscostal Ping
100 year fad?
!!!! LOL !!!!
INDEED! Actually, 2,000 years old! Just not always in the majority or the limelight.
Judgment is also fittingly slated for those who ascribe to satan or the enemy things truly of Holy Spirit.
AMEN!
Fair enough, have no problem with that at all, actually sounds wonderful... Just didn't like the one service I went to that was all show and no intellectual service. It was more for show it seemed than teaching. I am afraid that some take advantage of this and interfere with giving out of God's bread to the flock.
= = = = =
INDEED. The 100,000,000+ plus converts to Christianity in China are overwhelmingly the result of miracles of God's might and power in the lives of loved ones and others they know first hand.
Praise God for His faithfulness and that He IS altogether Good; Good all the time; all the time He is Good.
I think that the JESUS ONLY folks hostile to the Trinity--as so many groups have--broke off out of political, psychological dynamics and blamed it on theology.
Thankfully, as horrible as the heresy is, it's not, evidently, the uppermost priority from God's perspective. Not sure why. Seems pretty crucial to me. But He seems quite given to using folks on both sides of the issue.
Who am I to quibble with Him and His ways whether I understand them or not; whether they follow my script, or not.
someone who was "born again"???
Salvation through Christ is neither a fad nor is it unique to the Pentecostal Church, but is a fundamental teaching of Jesus Christ Himself that is universal to ALL Christian doctrine.
Jesus said that anyone who is NOT born again WILL NEVER see the Kingdom of Heaven.
Amen...tell me how any Christian can read I Corinthians 12-14 and say that the power of the Holy Spirit has no place in the church.
= = = = =
INDEED.
Alas, bias, ego, turf, power, control freak stuff; tidy little boxed mentalities and psycho dynamics seems to manage such quite sadly handily.
Methodists also began as such. How far they have wandered from . . . by my Spirit, says The Lord!
LOL. INDEED!
However, most of the religious intellecutal elite want to put God into a box and control the way in which the spirit moves. They are politically correct Christians...they don't want to make anyone uncomfortable.
Give me a service where some may seem a little nutty, and some very well may be...over a human intellectually controlled service in which the spirit of God had no room to move any day.
= = = = =
AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
God has been fighting that battle against RELIGION for millenia.
Seems like He has to throw some real doozies quire frequently to shake folks up and get the few willing back on track.
Amazing. This is exactly what unbelievers said about the first Christian in New Testament times...specifically when they spoke in tongues.
They accused them of being drunk.
Alas, a lot of churches are not even that alive.
Just large deadly white washed sterile tombs.
**A new 10-nation survey of Pentecostal and charismatic Christians, considered the fastest-growing stream of Christianity worldwide, shows they are deeply influencing the Roman Catholic and mainstream Protestant churches **
LOL! I don't think they will influencing tha Catholic Church.
Maybe the Protestant Churches, but not Catholicism!
Yes, some of us are old enough to remember the last "big impact on global affairs"...millions murdered.
= = = =
Authentic Christianity, particularly authentic Pentecostalism has NEVER been the sponsor of anything close to such. I think a retraction is in order.
In fact, Pentecostalism has fostered more schools and hospitals per capita than probably any other branch of Christianity.
Sheesh.
Off the wall allegations don't do a lot for me in such threads.
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