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.
I met John Wimber once in Taipei. Great guy. Loved his video series of his life story etc.
Soooo truly humble.
I think that's one reason that God has blessed that group so. Somehow they were able to avoid the grandstanding stuff and reinforce humility.
Above all, they just take Scripture and try to believe it for what it says and practice what it says in love and humility.
Hard to go wrong with that.
I went to a very strange charismatic Methodist church in college.
The service was full of people claiming to speak in tongues. The sermon had little to do with scripture.
They claimed if you were really saved you would speak in tongues.
I never went back to that church, and it still creeps me out thinking about that service.
I just said earlier that the church that I am in now is supposedly pentecostal, but I have never been creeped out by it. My church definitely is big on reading the Bible.
I have never been to any other Vineyard church, so I don't know what the others are like. I've read things that just don't happen in my church.
California is a very strange place to find a church. There's not that many, and they can be very strange. It's definitely a lot easier in the Bible belt. There's a lot more to chose from in Texas, and most are pretty Biblically grounded.
"LOL! I don't think they will influencing tha Catholic Church.
Maybe the Protestant Churches, but not Catholicism!"
The charismatic movement is where the anointing of the Holy Spirit that has powerfully revitalized the Catholic Church is coming from. I know Catholics from Poland who told me that charismatic masses are frequently practiced and are things of beauty.
Agreed.
Wimber was a great student of and teacher of Scripture.
He didn't like folks adding to Scripture. He liked to read it and do it and to teach others to do the same.
Then, he expected God to confirm with signs following. HE did!
And does.
Good points.
imho, not every Vineyard group has been able to match the original in balance etc. But, as a group of groups--they do better than a lot of denominations at transmitting the priority values of Scriptural soundness; DOING Scripture in love and humility.
Yeah, California is another planet. I lived in San Diego for approx 10 years. And that's one of the saner spots.
I know Catholics from Poland who told me that charismatic masses are frequently practiced and are things of beauty.
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INDEED.
God will have a people--people who truly seek Him in spirit, and in truth from their hearts.
Well said.
THANKS THANKS.
These movements are powerful as they provide what pious Christians want and no longer receive from the mainstream denominations - a concentration on prayer, a personal relationship with God, a belief in the saving Grace of Christ as the centerpoint and focus of their religious life.
Thus contrasts with the politically correct tolerance for social and moral abberrations mixed with leftist politics which has grown to permeate the mainstrean Christian churchs and infect the heretical doctrinal rubbish a lot of them have been spewing. I hesitate to employ the term heretical as heresy is a mild description. It applies more to people who have religious beleifs in conflict with traditional ones. In recent days, mainstream churches preach a kind of politically correct pablum of universal tolerance that in effect is anti-Judaeo-Christian and hyper-humanist.
I remember your screen name from past threads but that is all.
Did we agree as we do now or did we argue?
It doesn't really matter to me cause I'm always glad to find common ground with another Freeper...I'm just curious.
Great website!
These movements are powerful as they provide what pious Christians want and no longer receive from the mainstream denominations - a concentration on prayer, a personal relationship with God, a belief in the saving Grace of Christ as the centerpoint and focus of their religious life.
Thus contrasts with the politically correct tolerance for social and moral abberrations mixed with leftist politics which has grown to permeate the mainstrean Christian churchs and infect the heretical doctrinal rubbish a lot of them have been spewing. I hesitate to employ the term heretical as heresy is a mild description. It applies more to people who have religious beleifs in conflict with traditional ones. In recent days, mainstream churches preach a kind of politically correct pablum of universal tolerance that in effect is anti-Judaeo-Christian and hyper-humanist.
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Very well put.
Thanks much.
Sorry, I don't recall.
I don't try to keep a list of wrong or of enemies. I try to love even my enemies and by God's grace, usually succeed.
I have fond impressions of your Screen name, FWIW.
I'm happy to find common ground with Freepers, too.
Thanks tons.
Same with me...but sometimes I will accidently misjudge a post by somebody who previously was kind to me and I feel bad it later.
You know what I'm saying?
It's hard to know a Freeper from a single thread and sometimes it helps to keep a list of freinds...it's just that there's SO MANY Freepers to keep track of.
True.
The END TIMES/DREAMS/VISIONS/PROPHECY ping list is full of a lot of my friends. But I have many others as well.
But most don't register very specifically unless and until I have a LOT of specific exchanges with them such that I get to know their personalities and tendencies in posting by heart/memory.
Might be a getting older/memory thing! LOL. Might be just a LOT of folks to keep track of given that I post on tons of different threads or at least have interests on a wide variety of topics.
It doesn't have to be either...I was just stating extremes for the sake of making a point. The point being, I would rather be in a church where freedom of the spirit is encouraged as opposed to one where man is in control. If, because of that freedom , there is an occasional person who abuses it, I would prefer that to one where the service is so scheduled, managed, and controlled that the spirit is given no place to move.
Freedom is inherently messy...politically and religiously...but in both cases I would much prefer it to the alternative.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
These movements are powerful as they provide what pious Christians want and no longer receive from the mainstream denominations - a concentration on prayer, a personal relationship with God, a belief in the saving Grace of Christ as the centerpoint and focus of their religious life.
Thus contrasts with the politically correct tolerance for social and moral abberrations mixed with leftist politics which has grown to permeate the mainstrean Christian churchs and infect the heretical doctrinal rubbish a lot of them have been spewing. I hesitate to employ the term heretical as heresy is a mild description. It applies more to people who have religious beleifs in conflict with traditional ones. In recent days, mainstream churches preach a kind of politically correct pablum of universal tolerance that in effect is anti-Judaeo-Christian and hyper-humanist.
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I very fiercely and strongly agree.
Are you saying that in Baptist Churches the "the spirit is given no place to move?"
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