I read something very interesting the other day, it's lengthy but I thought worth sharing...

No matter where I look around the globe, I find that pentecostal churches are leading the way in rates of increase. A recent study of the growth of United States' denominational families, for example, has shown that pentecostal churches are growing at a DGR (decadal growth rate) of 48%, far ahead of all others. Second on the chart is the Seventh-Day Adventist denomination at 26% DGR. For comparison, Southern Baptists are growing at 17% DGR (the same as Mormons), and Lutherans at minus 5% DGR, while the entire U.S. population is growing at 9% DGR.

Korea as a nation is enjoying the most rapid church growth in the world. While churches of other denominations are growing as well, the largest church there and in the world is the Full Gospel Central Church, a pentecostal church. As of this writing, it has more than 200,000 members and is adding over 5,000 new ones per month. In Africa a pentecostal evangelist using a tent which accommodates 10,000 has found it much too small. He is taking delivery from an American contractor of a tent which will seat 35,000! In Latin America after World War II, about 35 years ago, Pentecostals comprised only an estimated 20% of evangelical Christians. Now, over 70% of Latin American evangelicals are Pentecostals, with the figure running over 90% in Chile. To say that this growth is phenomenal is an understatement.

The Pentecostal movement is less than 100 years old, young as such movements go. Only 50 years ago it was still being classified by many along with Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and Christian Science as a false cult. Now, being a Pentecostal is an "in" thing among many Christians, and the stature, reputation, and dignity of the group continue to grow.

If the Lord tarries, Pentecostalism will undoubtedly go down in future history as the most significant religious Phenomenon of the twentieth century. What is behind this awesome growth? First and foremost, pentecostal growth, as all bona fide church growth, is a sovereign work of God. Paul said that although he plants and Apollos waters, it is God who gives the increase (see I Corinthians 3:6). Jesus said, "I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18). It is His Church, and He is the builder. To God and God alone be the glory!...

I am going to attempt to simplify it [their growth] by selecting as carefully as I can what I consider to be the four most salient characteristics of pentecostal growth... Pentecostals are usually characterized by churches of purity, prayer, power, and the poor.

Churches of Purity
Pentecostal churches have a tradition of purity in three key areas: belief in the Bible, Christian doctrine, and lifestyle... The authority of the Scriptures is final. Pentecostals believe that what the Bible says is the Word of God, no questions asked. The great theological debates of the last century which have eroded confidence in the Bible among large segments of Christendom have scarcely touched Pentecostals... Research in church growth has shown that the more literally the Bible is interpreted, the more likely the church is to grow. One reason, then, that pentecostal churches are growing is that they hold firm to biblical purity.

Sound doctrine, which goes along with biblical authority, has also contributed to the purity of pentecostal churches... They firmly believe that Jesus Christ came to die on the Cross to pay the price for sin once and for all. The good news is that salvation and eternal life are available to all who repent of their sin, turn to Jesus in faith, and open their heart to the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. The bad news is that those who have not believed in Jesus Christ do not have eternal life. When they die, they go to a Christ-less eternity. Because this truth has gripped the hearts of most Pentecostals, they join with the apostle Paul in declaring, "Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!" (1 Corinthians 9:16). No wonder pentecostal churches grow!

Christian lifestyle is a third mark of pentecostal purity. For most Pentecostals conversion is a radical, life-changing experience. Separation from the world is demanded at the new birth. No drinking, no smoking, no drugs, no extramarital sex, no cussing, and no gambling are common lifestyle characteristics among Pentecostals. Some groups add others such as no dancing, no gold, no bikinis, no rock music, no movies, no card playing, no sports, and no buying on Sunday. On the positive side, Pentecostals usually go to church three or four times a week, read the Bible daily, pray before each meal, and give at least ten percent of their income to the Lord. It may seem to some that such strictness could be an obstacle to church growth. Just the opposite. It is a well-known fact that the stricter the religious obligations and the higher the level of commitment demanded on its members, the more vigorously a church grows. Watering down the Christian lifestyle to conform to society in general may appear to have some short-term benefits for growth, but over the long haul it will surely turn people away from the church. The pentecostal pendulum, fortunately, is still over on the strict side.

Churches of Prayer
This section on prayer will be relatively short. The shortness, however, does not reflect the lack of importance of prayer for the growth of the church. It simply reflects the lack of research... I do know that Pentecostals are praying people. The kind of prayer that requires the active, energetic participation of each person (as contrasted to liturgical prayers that require very little personal involvement) is a universal characteristic of pentecostal people in their churches, their family circles, and their private devotions.

Praying in tongues undoubtedly helps this greatly. It frequently establishes an intimate contact with God that is otherwise much more difficult to establish and maintain. Through the years I have noticed that in interdenominational meetings the person called upon to lead the group in prayer is frequently the pentecostal. Intimacy with God is reflected not only in formal prayers, but also in revelatory manifestations of the Spirit such as prophecies, including what many call a word of knowledge (which I consider a type of prophecy). This kind of direct contact with the Holy Ghost is a tremendous force for growth and is most consistently prominent in pentecostal churches...

Churches of Power
Closely related to the intimacy with God attained through prayer is the frequent manifestation of supernatural signs and wonders in Pentecostal churches. Probably the greatest contribution that Pentecostalism has made to Christianity in general is restoring the reality of the miracle power of the New Testament.

Such power had been absent among the other churches for so long that when it appeared in Pentecostalism around the turn of the century the only way many traditional Christians could handle it was to declare it a heresy and classify Pentecostals as a false cult. Most Christians are smarter now, and God has forgiven them for the past.

Although I am still in the process of studying this, it does seem to me that one of the major purposes, if not the major one, of signs and wonders in the New Testament was to attract the attention of unbelievers and to draw them to Jesus Christ and to the kingdom of God. Time after time in the book of Acts, signs and wonders are related to vigorous church growth. Acts 5: 12-16 is typical of many other passages: "Many miracles and wonders were being performed among the people by the apostles . . . more and more people were added to the group-a crowd of men and women who believed in the Lord." Worldwide, Pentecostal churches grow when the Holy Spirit is free to manifest His miracle power through believers...

Not only do Pentecostals believe in miracle power, they also believe in soul-winning power. Sharing the faith is a constant way of life for Pentecostals. They believe that God wants to use them to win souls, and He does. When I consult with many denominations, I have to start by convincing them that the gospel is worth sharing and that God wants churches to grow. Not so with Pentecostals. It never occurred to them to question it. Pentecostals are possibility thinkers-their faith level is high. They believe in evangelism, and they believe in church growth. They trust God for great things, and God honors their faith.

Pentecostal churches are churches of power!

Churches of the Poor
The God of the Bible is a God who loves the poor. It is true that He loves all people, including the rich; but, if we take the Bible seriously, we know that He has a special bias for the poor. Because of this, God is going to make sure that the poor have a strong witness for Christ...

Check it out. Almost all Pentecostal preachers now in their sixties or seventies were born in poor homes, and many younger ones were also. This is one of the strongest characteristics of Pentecostal growth. Research has shown that the working class people of the world are more receptive to the gospel than the higher classes. Furthermore, God reserves a special blessing for His servants who preach the good news to the poor, and Pentecostals have been receiving this blessing through the years.

But this observation leads me to my final section in which I want to elaborate on what I said up front; namely, that there are some ominous signs that Pentecostals may subtly be moving away from the very things that have contributed to their growth for 80 years.

Many different factors are entering into this process, but most of them can be classified under the following: the burning desire for respectability.

Dangers of Respectability
I have argued that Pentecostal churches are growing steadily and strongly because they are churches of purity, prayer, power, and the poor. If they remain that way, they will remain strong. But cutting any of these characteristics off will be like cutting off the hair of Samson. Unfortunately, I think Delilah with her scissors may be lurking right around the corner.

Especially since World War II ended, 35 years ago, Pentecostals have been gaining respectability rapidly. Being persecuted and classified with the Jehovah's Witnesses now seems like an unreal bad dream. General superintendents and general overseers are now officers in the National Association of Evangelicals. They get invitations to the large international congresses. For the older generation it is a great relief to be able to mix with other leaders interdenominationally after taking nothing but abuse for so many years.

The younger generation knows no different-weren't Pentecostals always respectable, just like Lutherans and Presbyterians? ... One price of respectability is that you will continue to be accepted so long as you do not stress your doctrinal distinctives. For Pentecostals this means keeping a low profile on Baptism in the Holy Spirit, the initial evidence of speaking in tongues, hallelujahs and amens from the audience, miraculous healings and exorcisms, prophecies/ words of knowledge, and many more. But these are some of the very characteristics that have enabled Pentecostals to grow three or four times faster than the other groups they are trying to gain respectability from. Some have rationalized by saying that we will keep a low profile while we are working with our brethren from other persuasions, but we will let loose when we get back with our own. It sounds good in theory. And it probably worked for a couple of decades. But if I am not mistaken, the attitude is now creeping into Pentecostal churches themselves...

Behind all this is a phenomenon called redemption and lift. When poor people become Christians and allow God to clean up their life, they frequently do not remain poor... rising to middle-class respectability can easily get a church out of touch with the poor they originally came from. This hasn't completely happened to Pentecostals, but it has happened enough to hoist yellow flags all over the place. If the Pentecostals abandon the poor, God will raise up someone else to minister to them and the rate of growth of Pentecostal churches will surely begin to drop.

One of the measuring sticks for redemption and lift is the denominational educational system. As Pentecostals who were born poor rise socially and economically, they desire better educational opportunities for their children than they themselves had-so they establish colleges. When their children graduate from college, they are irretrievably middle-class. Over the decades this can and usually does shift the focus of outreach and church growth from the poor to the middle class.

Another measuring stick involves requirements for ministers. Most of the old-time Pentecostal preachers were either self-educated or they learned by being an apprentice to another pastor. Then, when the colleges came, more and more were college graduates. Ministers were considered more respectable if they went to college. Then the process escalates until graduate schools are established. Currently, the Church of God, the Assemblies of God, and the Pentecostal Holiness Church are about at this point. Down the line a two-tiered ministry is likely to develop. Those who go to graduate school will subtly be thought of as superior to those who do not, and they will be elected to influential denominational policy-making positions.

It may take a few decades, but the well-meaning declarations of the present leaders (who have not gone to graduate school) that no formal educational requirements will be made for ordination into the ministry may begin to erode and eventually disappear altogether...

Let me conclude with a list of concrete suggestions that can keep Pentecostals on track as the global leaders in making church growth happen:

1. Hold purity high- I do not see much change as yet in biblical authority or doctrine, but I do detect some watering down of the Christian lifestyle as distinctly separated from the world around. Keep strict, and God will bless.

2. Depend on prayer and fasting as your spiritual core- Keep channels open for intimacy with God through tongues and prophecies.

3. Ask God to show His power through signs and wonders as He did in the early days of the Pentecostal movement- Publicize testimonies of those who have been blessed through miracles. Not enough is said about healing any more. If I am not mistaken, only one author, David L. Lemons, addressed the issue of healing in the entire first year of publication of The Pentecostal Minister.

4. Maintain a passion for souls- Keep witnessing and outreach in the forefront of all church programs.

5. Never allow educational requirements to substitute for spiritual gifts as the basis for ordaining new ministers.

6. Vigorously plant new churches and exalt the bi vocational minister- There's nothing wrong with earning money from a secular job while you're building a new church.

7. Curse "the demon of respectability." Be willing to be fools for Christ's sake. Do not allow association with other Christians to water down Pentecostal distinctives of doctrine or practice.

The last two decades of the twentieth century hold incredible promise. I believe that they will see the greatest harvest of souls in the history of the Christian Church. My prayer is that, as Pentecostals have led the way in reaping the harvest over the past two decades, they will maintain this leadership with even greater power as we move into the future for the glory of God...

C. Peter Wagner

From Azusa Street and Beyond: L.G. McClung, Editor, Bridge Publishing, 1986.

I took quite a bit of liberty in editing some of Wagner's comments so if you would like a copy of the article without any ...'s just email me, and if you are still reading- Can you kill a blue elephant with a Pink Elephant gun?

His Word truly is ALIVE

Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. For

"He who would love life
And see good days,
Let him refrain his tongue from evil,
And his lips from speaking deceit.
Let him turn away from evil and do good;
Let him seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their prayers;
But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil."

And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. "And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled." But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit
-1 Peter 3:8-18

I have read this passage five times today and every time I find myself feasting on the bread of life. I want to be reduced to love and live in peace.

Fireproof

Most people have heard about the film Facing the Giants. Created by a baptist church in Georgia the film highlights a Christian school's football team that faces giants on and off the field. Ultimately the team and their coach find success in honoring God in all they do.

Julie and I watched Facing the Giants one night together and I was so encouraged. When Hollywood is tearing down lives and families by constantly parading sin it was refreshing to watch something that so boldly proclaimed Honor God!

This year at our spring Mardel manager's meeting representatives from Sherwood Baptist Church visited to preview their new movie called Fireproof to the Mardel managers. We were the first showing to a group not associated with the Provident Films or Sherwood Baptist Church.

I think this film will be just as popular if not more so than Facing the Giants, here is a sneak peek