"Penticostal denomination."

[Crossfire]

Very true. If you say "Christianity" to a non-believer they often think of Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and Catholic churches; because those are the historic churches that have made up America's Christian populace for centuries.



Somewhat. Anglicans and Lutherans for example usually feel closer to Catholics because of similar theology and practice (sacramental systems and liturgy) than they would Methodists. But for the most part your right in saying that among the mainline denominations theres a large amount of theological overlap.

A few years back I had the opportunity to take a look at statistics based on the number of members that each protestant denomination claimed to possess. Oddly enough, of all the Protestant churches, some of which have been around now for nearly 400 to 500 years, the Pentecostal denomination had nearly 150 to 200 million members worldwide (roughly 500,000 million) more than any other church and it has only been around for a little over a single century. Now I do realize that these numbers are probably inflated across the board however, it was staggering to see how much the Pentecostal denomination has grown in the 106 years since it's inception.

 

[NoahsMom]

Raised cog/ pen here...... while I know of a few not so strict pentecostal churches here, I dont fully subscribe to alot of their " beliefs" I tend to agree with crossfire somewhat as to the gifts etc. One of my best friends was raised very strict apostolic, which from what i can tell is similar.....some of the things hes shared are downright SCAREY. However, theres a apostolic church here, well known, that I hold a deep respect for as far as following the Bible to the letter, BUT...if ya wear make-up,pants, dont have long hair, WELP........you get the picture......and from what i gather God is no respector of persons.....far as I know, God could care less what i got on, as long as Im decent, and thank fully, he looks on the INSIDE. Same coulod be said for any denomination I guess, there could be kooks anywhere. Just search and pray, and God will help you figure out where your supposed to be.

 

[Dude653]

I have also noticed that there is a general negative attitude towards the pentacostal demomination and what people refer to as charismatic. I like pentacostal churches. I disagree with some of the things they teach, but i like the atmosphere of free worship. I dont speak in toungues, but i have other gifts of the Holy Spirit. And for those of you that wanna say it all about emotion, if i cant express joy in your church, i dont wanna be there

 

[Strong1]

Nice to hear all of your insights, Penticostal (COG) is home to me, but there are many many things that I would say I have never agreed with.........From my experience, the "infilling" of the Holy spirit is taught so wrong, that to me it was such a turn off. I never appreciated how some people behaved when, so called "in the spirit" Loud, out of control, in my mind chaos, which rarely had some sort of interpretation to benifit the church.
Always seeming to come down on people to "Tarry" for the Holy Spirit, as though if you havent spoken in tongues you have not recieved Him. craziness like that. and because I am a PK, I was always privy to hearing all of the "background" stuff going on with the church politics......just turned me right off, and out........I left the ministry I grew up in, but now I belong to another Penticostal ministry that is nothing like that. This one is Biblically sound. It's also diverse, as the other was just one type of people.
As a young person, I was embarrased to bring my friends to church for these reasons.

 

[Dude653]

When we get to heaven are you gonna say SSSHHHH!!!!! be quiet,,stop worshiping God so loudly

 

[JaumeJ]

I was born into it, so I know...

But I never realized how seemingly distastefull, the penticostal denomination is to many many people, as i've come to see on C.C.

What are the thoughts behind this?

You love Jesus Christ as your savior! Although I call Him Yeshua, this does not stop my believing you are family in Him. Unless you folks are doing something horrendously against the teaching of the Word, being Pentecostal is simply what you call yourselves. Anyone who adores and worships Jesus Christ as is taught cannot be abhorred to any degree, rather cherished and embraced forever as family. Yahweh bless you and keep you always near, amen.

 

[Strong1]

No not at all, however when I consider the Word of God, and the way it describes the way angels worship......I imagine Beautiful, unified, intimate giving of Worth- ship to God.
When you praise your friends or family for the good they do, you don't shout in their ears like your crazy? You do with love and respect. How much more our Heavenly Father.
We should learn from angelic worship.

 

[shawntc]

I am Pentecostal and I do not plan to leave. We were taught in Bible college not to be out of order. Speaking in tongues is very real. We were taught that it should be interpreted or we should pray in tongues quietly. Nothing strange happens at our church and we do not use snakes. Pentecostals are really strong in doctrine especially in the Assemblies of God. The Pentecostals I disagree with are Oneness Pentecostals. Many of them believe you must speak in tongues to be saved. The apostles recieved the Holy Spirit for salvation in John 20 and later recieved the baptism of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. They are two seperate events. Not to mention that Oneness Pentecostals deny the three persons of God which are evident in 1 John 5:7.

That is very good to hear! I don't mind the denomination of a church by any means. I don't like when it's not Scriptural, that is all. You sound like you have a great church, and I'm happy about that.

 

[SantoSubito]

A few years back I had the opportunity to take a look at statistics based on the number of members that each protestant denomination claimed to possess. Oddly enough, of all the Protestant churches, some of which have been around now for nearly 400 to 500 years, the Pentecostal denomination had nearly 150 to 200 million members worldwide (roughly 500,000 million) more than any other church and it has only been around for a little over a single century. Now I do realize that these numbers are probably inflated across the board however, it was staggering to see how much the Pentecostal denomination has grown in the 106 years since it's inception.

True it has grown quickly, mostly in the third world, which it why it's numbers are so hard to accurately measure. Another thing that makes me doubt the oft-quoted 500 million statistic is that the total number of Protestants worldwide numbers between 590-670 million which would mean Pentecostalism would have make up the vast majority Protestants worldwide. Which is completely impossible since the historic Protestant churches (Reformed, Anglican, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, and Anabaptist) number 330 million. The best estimates I've seen that provide a workable number for Pentecostalism worldwide is 130 million.

 

[Crossfire]

True it has grown quickly, mostly in the third world, which it why it's numbers are so hard to accurately measure. Another thing that makes me doubt the oft-quoted 500 million statistic is that the total number of Protestants worldwide numbers between 590-670 million which would mean Pentecostalism would have make up the vast majority Protestants worldwide. Which is completely impossible since the historic Protestant churches (Reformed, Anglican, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, and Anabaptist) number 330 million. The best estimates I've seen that provide a workable number for Pentecostalism worldwide is 130 million.

I believe the reason why it's so hard to decent head count is because their are so many 'church surfers' out there who spend so many years in one denomination, then switch to another once they get bored. It's very likely that in America there several being counted a two to three times.

However, when you take into account that Reinhart Bonke's ministry alone produces converts in the millions each year through his crusades in Asia and especially Africa, there is no doubt in my mind that the number Pentecostals out there are between 300 to 400 million.

 

[Tryndawin]

youre assuming these 'converts' are both a)legitimate and b)still practicing

 

[Crossfire]

youre assuming these 'converts' are both a)legitimate and b)still practicing

Considering the vast majority of these 'converts' are confessing Christ openly in countries where you can be beheaded for professing Christ then yes, I absolutely consider them genuine converts because they have absolutely nothing to gain and everything to lose.

Unlike Christianity in western society (America, Europe & Australia) where people confess Christ with their mouths but their live their lives in a completely contrary fashion.

Believe me, you don't want to go down this road....

 

[selenah]

I was born into it, so I know...

But I never realized how seemingly distastefull, the penticostal denomination is to many many people, as i've come to see on C.C.

What are the thoughts behind this?

I wouldn't say they're distastefull. Their church services are just more....interesting.

 

[Tryndawin]

Considering the vast majority of these 'converts' are confessing Christ openly in countries where you can be beheaded for professing Christ then yes, I absolutely consider them genuine converts because they have absolutely nothing to gain and everything to lose.

Unlike Christianity in western society (America, Europe & Australia) where people confess Christ with their mouths but their live their lives in a completely contrary fashion.

Believe me, you don't want to go down this road....

just throwing out a stipulation...honestly while i have no problem with charismatics/pentecostals it's just not for me

 

[meld27]

I was raised in a pentacostal church and when we moved to England, we began to attend on of the biggest ones in Europe, it has over 10,000 people attending every Sunday. Thing is, we left after a couple of years because everything was about money. If you wanted a blessing or healing, you were told to pay. I also didnt like the way the pastor would tell everyone how they could be as rich as him and have a wonderful life. I'm not saying being rich is bad, but churches are charities, they are meant to be helping people, not taking away their money. I have also been to other pentacostal churches around London, and it's still all about money and how to get rich. To be honest, I do not care about that, I just want to be told about God and having a better relationship with him. And I'm not being racist, because I'm black aswell, but many of these pentacostal preachers who make people pay money for healings and blessings are black people. There is something wrong with a church if the pastor has a private jet and own a big mansion and half the people in the church can't even pay their bills. Surely, they should be using their millions to make people's lives better?

 

[surrender2God]

Its funny to me how ppl have a problem with pentecostals until they need prayer. I don't take offense to other ppls opinions because the way I believe and live has nothing to do with ppl and everything to do with God. However, I want to encourage you to focus on your relationship with God and noone else's.

 

[SantoSubito]

I believe the reason why it's so hard to decent head count is because their are so many 'church surfers' out there who spend so many years in one denomination, then switch to another once they get bored. It's very likely that in America there several being counted a two to three times.

However, when you take into account that Reinhart Bonke's ministry alone produces converts in the millions each year through his crusades in Asia and especially Africa, there is no doubt in my mind that the number Pentecostals out there are between 300 to 400 million.

I'd hit just lower of that mark with 130-300 million being a good range.

 

[Dude653]

Handcuffed by your religion
Shackled by useless tradition
Where's the spirit of praise and worship
Its quite a sad condition

You tell me I cant jump
You tell me I cant shout
Your're so caught up with order
You've forgotten what it's about

I know there must be order
But it has become bureaucracy
Feel free to keep your chains
But you can't put them on me

I'm gonna worship how I feel led
We have a savior who suffered and bled
Died to give us all a way out
All the more reason to dance and shout

There are some things that must be said
Christ said let the dead bury the dead
What you call order can't hold me down
You can stay there, but i refuse to be bound

So don't hate when you see my arms raised
Because you don't know the price of my praise
My worship might seem strange to you
But you don't know what I've been through

I'm gonna go ahead and do what I do
I'm here to please God, not to please you
So go ahead and say I'm out of line
Cause with me and God, It's all just fine

 

[resurrection33]

I was born into it, so I know...

But I never realized how seemingly distastefull, the penticostal denomination is to many many people, as i've come to see on C.C.

What are the thoughts behind this?

There is no perfect denomination, I don’t think. People should be more respectful of other peoples’ denominations.