PENTECOSTALS. - I. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT. - The name P. (Pentecostal Churches) is given to three groups of Christians derived from Methodism or Wesleyanism, which are of recent origin and constitute a new proof of the fragmentation of Protestantism.
In 1896, the Rev. Hardin Wallace, a minister of the Free Methodist Church, organized in California a branch detached from his Church and gave it the name Holiness Church. After 20 years, it counted 28 ministers, 33 churches and 926 participants. Subsequently, it has not undergone significant changes. The following year, the Rev. M. W. Knapp, who was part of the Methodist Episcopal Church, separated from the Holiness Church in order to found in Cincinnati (Ohio) the Pilgrim Holiness Church. In justification of his act he declared that in his opinion the Methodist Episcopal Church was no longer completely in the spirit of Wesley, in its teaching and in its practice. From 1879 to 1916 this new group made slow progress until it counted 826 ministers, 367 churches and 12,362 members. One notes in this group, as in the preceding one, the high number of ministers relative to that of the adherents. While in the Catholic Church one priest per thousand faithful is considered a good average, among the Methodists of the Pilgrim Holiness Church the average is one minister per 15 faithful. The overall average in the three "Pentecostal" groups gives one minister per 16 faithful. From this one could observe that these are rather societies for the study and pursuit of holiness, according to the methods of John Wesley. The third of these groups calls itself Pentecostal Holiness Church, that is, Church of Pentecostal Holiness. The appellation means that it tends to reproduce the spiritual fervor of the apostles at Pentecost. This third church, analogous to the two preceding ones, arose in Aug. 1898 at Anderson (South Carolina); in 1916 it counted 282 ministers, 192 temples, 5,353 members.
II. DOCTRINE
The Pentecostals, in their various denominations, have preserved the doctrine and the characteristic notes of Methodism. They have given a greater or lesser place to the authority of bishops or, on the contrary, to that of the laity, according to the relative expediency or the relative antecedents. As regards doctrine, they differ very little from Methodism in general. The second branch professes faith in the Most Holy Trinity and consequently rejects Unitarianism; it admits that Holy Scripture, in its original content, is infallible, divinely inspired and constitutes the sole and absolute rule of faith and religious practice. That said, each one is free to administer Baptism in the manner he pleases, to confer it on or refuse it to children. The Lord's Supper is likewise celebrated, according to the inspirations of the ministers or the request of the communicants. There is, therefore, a certain diversity in the practice of the different groups.
The two main branches of the Pentecostal movement carry on proselytizing activity among the heathen. The Pilgrim Holiness Church counts, according to the latest census, 40 stations, across Africa, the East Indies, South America, Japan and Korea, 33 missionaries, assisted by 31 natives, 35 organized churches, 780 members, 5 schools with 300 pupils. The Pentecostal Holiness Church had, for its part, few missionaries in South Africa, southern China, and Central America. Recently the Pentecostals have attempted to carry on their propaganda in Europe, but with little success. In the general statistics of the religious denominations of the United States, the Pentecostals are placed under the heading of Methodists, from whom they derive.