A little over one hundred years have passed. Here is what the Christian world is saying today:
According to Christianity Today, twenty-five percent of the world’s Christians are Pentecostal or charismatic with a world growth rate of about 19,000,000 per year.
C. Peter Wagner in his book Prayer Shield, stated, “The most massive growth of churches is found in Pentecostal/ Charismatic traditions.”
Estimates show that there are between 400 and 600 million Pentecostals worldwide—a half billion or more—not bad for a group that found its humble beginnings in a Bible school classroom.
Philip Jenkins anticipates that by 2050 there will be one billion Pentecostals/Charismatic in the world.
Mark Noll said the 21st century will belong to the Pentecostals not only in religion but in all other areas of life as well.
Global Pentecostalism is “the new face of global Christian missions.” Surely, this is ample reason to trace our roots and perform exegetical and hermeneutical analysis to ensure we are on the right track and stay there.
Lloyd Oglivie states my every-day quest, and maybe yours as well: “The greatest longing in the church today, stated both directly and indirectly, is the quest for something more than dull religion. People are in need of the intimacy, inspiration and impelling power of the Holy Spirit…It is impossible to live the Christian life without the indwelling Spirit. Courageous discipleship in the crisis of society cannot be accomplished without the guidance and enabling energy of supernatural power. The church today, like the disciples in the Upper Room, is waiting on the edge of a miracle (1983, 55-56).
James Poitras 