PENTECOSTALS. - I. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT
The name Pentecostals (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 separated from his Church and gave it the name of Holiness Church. After 20 years, it had 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 to found in Cincinnati (Ohio) the Pilgrim Holiness Church. As justification for his act, he stated that in his opinion the Methodist Episcopal Church was no longer fully in the spirit of Wesley, in his teaching and practice. From 1879 to 1916 this new group made slow progress, reaching 826 ministers, 367 churches, and 12,362 members. In this group, as in the previous one, the number of ministers is high relative to that of adherents. While in the Catholic Church one priest per thousand faithful is considered a good average, in the Methodist Pilgrim Holiness Church the average is one minister per 15 faithful. The overall average in the three Pentecostal groups is one minister per 16 faithful. From this, one might infer that these are rather societies for the study and pursuit of holiness, following the methods of John Wesley. The third of these groups calls itself the Pentecostal Holiness Church, i.e., the Pentecostal Holiness Church. The name signifies that there is an attempt to reproduce the spiritual impulse of the apostles at Pentecost. This third church, similar to the previous two, arose in August 1898 in Anderson (South Carolina); in 1916 it had 282 ministers, 192 temples, and 5,353 members.
II. DOCTRINE
The Pentecostals, in their various denominations, have preserved the doctrine and characteristic features of Methodism. They have accorded a greater or lesser place to the authority of bishops or, conversely, to that of the laity, according to the relative circumstances or antecedents. As regards doctrine, they differ very little from Methodism in general. The second branch professes faith in the 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. With this premise, each is free to administer Baptism in the manner they please, to confer it or refuse it to children. The Lord’s Supper is likewise celebrated according to the inspiration 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 engage in proselytism among pagans. The Pilgrim Holiness Church, according to the latest census, has 40 stations in Africa, the East Indies, South America, Japan, and Korea, 35 missionaries assisted by 31 indigenous workers, 35 organized churches, 780 members, and 5 schools with 300 pupils. The Pentecostal Holiness Church, for its part, had 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 religious denominations in the United States, the Pentecostals are listed under the heading of Methodists, from which they derive.