Pentecostalism and the Charismatic Movement
Modern Pentecostalism began as a series of independent revivals in various parts of the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The most influential was the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles in 1906, although the first reported instances of speaking in tongues in Australia occurred as early as 1870.
The key distinctive beliefs of Pentecostalism have been:
➢ a belief that speaking in tongues is the initial evidence of being baptised with the Holy Spirit (some Pentecostal scholars are questioning this belief today); the baptism of the Spirit is generally seen as an experience separate from one's conversion to Christ
➢ The validity for today of the supernatural gifts that existed in the New Testament church, such as speaking in tongues, prophecy, divine healing and interpretation of tongues (you can read about these in 1 Corinthians, chapters 12 and 14 in the New Testament)
➢ A belief by many that the second coming of Jesus Christ is soon to take place.
In most other respects, Pentecostals hold to traditional Protestant beliefs, such as belief in the Bible as God's word, the need for personal salvation, the need to produce evidence of one's salvation by holy living, and the belief that Jesus' death on the cross was to bear the punishment for people's sins.
Pentecostal services tend to be less structured, have greater freedom of worship, involve more members of the congregation, use more contemporary music and be more aggressively evangelistic than those in traditional churches.
Until the 1960s, traditional churches tended to be suspicious of Pentecostal churches, particularly over the issue of speaking in tongues (sometimes called ‘glossolalia').
In the 1960s and 1970s, thousands of traditional, non-Pentecostal churches, both Protestant and Catholic, experienced outbreaks of Pentecostalism. This led to a radical re-evaluation of the role of 'spiritual gifts' in many churches. This spread of Pentecostalism into traditional churches is called 'Neo Pentecostalism, or the Charismatic Movement.
Both Pentecostal churches (eg. the Assemblies of God) and charismatic churches experienced rapid growth from the 1960s to the 1980s, often at the expense of churches that had not embraced the new movement. There are signs that this growth is tapering off at present, although large city churches are experiencing continued growth.
Some religious revivals in Aboriginal communities have been Pentecostal in character.
Pentecostal churches and, to some extent, charismatic churches, have benefited more than other churches from denominational switching.
Key aspects of Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement that have contributed to the diversity of worship in Australia have been:
➢ the importance of religious experience, as well as belief, in the life of the believer
➢ more involvement of lay people
➢ less formality in worship (no written liturgy, no vestments, often no set order of service, the freedom to move and raise hands in worship)
➢ more contemporary styles of music
➢ an emphasis on youth (eg. huge musical events such as Youth Alive concerts).
