Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Changing chruch

Once marginalized and viewed as anti-intellectual, now 100 years old, Pentecostals are now part of the fastest-growing branch of Christianity.

By SHERRI DAY
Published April 29, 2006

Elder Larry Sykes can't seem to stay in the pulpit. Most Sunday mornings, he walks the aisles while delivering his sermon. Sometimes, overcome by the spirit, he leaps into the air.

His congregation doesn't mind.

Caught up in the moment themselves, they often speak in tongues and offer exuberant, spontaneous praise dancing.

At first blush, Sykes' church may seem Pentecostal, but check the sign out front. They're Missionary Baptists, historically one of the most traditional branches of the Protestant faith.

Sykes and his congregation, St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church in Plant City, reflect a growing trend: decidedly Pentecostal worship styles in mainline and nondenominational churches.

It's a marked departure from the churches of old.

"At one time ushers would take you out of the church if you got happy," Sykes said. "You had to get outside because they had to have it quiet. And don't let anybody speak in tongues. Now, we read in Corinthians that that's a gift, and we should walk in those gifts."

Last week, Pentecostals around the country gathered in Los Angeles by the tens of thousands to commemorate the 1906 Azusa Street Revival.

Historians credit the revival with launching American Pentecostalism.

The centennial celebration, which ended Saturday, brought together numerous strands of traditional Pentecostals that sprang from the movement, including the Assemblies of God, a predominantly white denomination that is the world's largest group of Pentecostals, and the majority black Church of God in Christ, one of the biggest groups of U.S. Pentecostals.

Also attending were many so-called neo-Pentecostals such as Sykes, whose churches are not members of Pentecostal denominations but have adopted Charismatic and Pentecostal worship styles.

The gathering illustrated how Pentecostals, once marginalized and viewed as anti-intellectuals, have entered the mainstream.

Together with Charismatics, demographers say, Pentecostals are the fastest-growing branch of Christianity in the world.

The United States is home to more than 79-million Pentecostals and Charismatics, according to the World Christian Database.

There are more than 500-million Pentecostals worldwide.

"There are certain people around the country who have their likes and dislikes about this movement, but the sense is, it's settled. It's here to stay," said Joel Carpenter, director of the Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. "This is not some wild or fleeting thing that's out on the margins. It's moved closer to main street. One might even say it's part of the most common expression in America."

Pentecostalism first emerged in America around the turn of the 20th century.

In 1901, seminarians in Topeka, Kan., reported experiencing glossolalia, or the ability to speak in tongues, historians said.

Around the country, other early Pentecostals reported similar experiences, reflecting what was fast becoming a worldwide phenomenon.

By the time William Seymour, a preacher who was the son of former slaves, got to Los Angeles in 1906, the movement was ripe for explosive growth.

Seymour began holding services in a small house in Los Angeles, but crowds soon overwhelmed the ministry.

To spread out, the early Pentecostals moved to a former Methodist church turned barn on Azusa Street.

For three years, services were marked by speaking in tongues, faith healings, trancelike dancing, marathon prayer sessions and the use of all manner of charismatic gifts.

Local newspapers wrote about the revival meetings, and attendance swelled.

"This revival becomes sort of the mythic moment for Pentecostals," said Edith L. Blumhofer, director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College. "They were really fired up because they were told that Jesus was coming soon and all that really matters is getting ready and getting other people ready."

Duly charged, the Azusa Street Pentecostals fanned out across the country to spread the message of holiness. It was a mandate to avoid anything sinful, which in some churches resulted in banning women from wearing makeup and pants and outlawing activities such as dancing and drinking alcohol.

Although initially labeled as wild, backward and uneducated, Pentecostals began to bridge the divide with mainline denominations with help from evangelists such as Billy Graham, a Southern Baptist, and Oral Roberts, a neo-Charismatic.

The Charismatic movement of the 1960s and 1970s, made up of liberal Pentecostals and conservative traditionalists, also helped close the gap.

The Rev. Don Lunsford, pastor of Faith Assembly of God in northeast St. Petersburg, remembers when being Pentecostal wasn't in vogue.

"They'd call you a holy roller and this creates a mental image that people roll around on the floor in the Pentecostal church," said Lunsford, 68.

Now, Lunsford said, his is a modern church.

Linda D. Mitchell, a district missionary and mother in the Church of God in Christ, also appreciates acceptance.

"A lot of people have changed their outlook on how Pentecostals are not crazy people," said Mitchell, a member of Clearwater's Emmanuel Church of God in Christ. We "just love God."

At the Church of the Holy Spirit, Episcopal in Osprey, church leaders blend the liturgy with a praise service that features a guitar, drums and tambourines.

The predominantly white church also is known for its healing services, speaking in tongues and prophecy.

"Most people usually remark that (they've) never been to an Episcopal Church quite like this," said the Rev. Douglas F. Scharf, the church's associate pastor.

Worshipers at Tampa's Bible-Based Fellowship Church, a nondenominational congregation, also have an enthusiastic worship style and embrace the use of spiritual gifts.

"We're past this idea that worship cannot be filled with emotion," said the Rev. Dwight L. Ford, young adult pastor and director of ministries at the Ehrlich Road church. "People appreciate the freeness to worship and to praise God without feeling like there's restrictions upon the voice level or the waving of a hand."

That freedom and in-depth biblical teaching is what attracted former Catholic April Griffith.

"I was the proudest Catholic you could ever imagine," said Griffith, who lives in St. Petersburg. "I know that God truly sent me here."

Although appreciative of the Catholic Church, Griffith said she came to Bible-Based in search of a new spiritual experience.

While many mainline churches try to hold on to some of their traditions, it is unlikely that they will go back to the way things were.

In Plant City, Sykes has no plans to change the church's worship style or denominational affiliation.

Labels, he said, are increasingly of little importance.

"The name doesn't make the difference," he said. "It's what's on the inside and who we serve."

[Last modified April 29, 2006, 22:27:01]