April 12, 2009 (NY Times article)
photo - Pastor Daniel Ajayi-AdeniranPentecostals are best know for speaking in tongues and their "lively" church services.
Ministers and parishioners will often
collapse to the floor, burying their faces in the carpet, and writhe in the throes of divine communion.They also believe that when the Holy Spirit inhabits them, they can perform miracles and see the future. Here is the wikipedia link.
The Azusa Street Revival may have rebooted the Pentecostal movement in the United States but it is now being driven by Nigerian immigrants.
Today there are around 600 million Pentecostals worldwide, the vast majority of them in developing nations, and Africa is a hotbed. Pentecostalism is not so much an organized religion — it has no central authority — as a set of beliefs and practices that can be adapted by local entrepreneurs. It is perfectly suited to harness the modern forces of global cross pollination.
“I often say,” says Bishop Bart Pierce, a white Pentecostal minister from Baltimore, “that the African is the midwife for next great move of God in America.”The above link will take you to the NY Times story. This link will take you to the accompanying slide show. The audience looks primarily African and the minister is very hard to understand. I have to wonder if this religion can really spread beyond the African community.
Go back to Todayinreligion.com
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