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Background - This movement is sweeping across the theological world and transcending all denominational boundaries. The claims made by members of this movement are often bizarre and un-scriptural. Almost all religious groups have a Neo-Pentecostal branch and are being forced to evaluate the character of the movement.

A point of clarification should be made from the start. The Pentecostal movement and the Charismatic movement are not the same entity. Pentecostalism, or "Classical Pentecostalism", "arose at the turn of the century out of different Baptist bodies and 'Holiness' groups and stressed an experience called "the baptism of (or in) the Holy Spirit."¹ Classical Pentecostalism gave hope to people in hopeless situations and spread through the lower classes of society. This movement was sectarian in nature. It was organized into many small groups which were distinct and separated from national structures.

Neo-Pentecostalism, or the Charismatic movement, grew out of Classical Pentecostalism. This movement of enthusiastic Christianity that emerged and became recognizable in the 'historic' denominations only in the 1960s.² This movement is not sectarian and tends to be evangelistic. This movement appeals to upper class individuals because it is high profile, highly funded, and on the "cutting edge" of technology. Classical Pentecostalism had a home with "hillbillies" and "rednecks", but now, the grandchildren of those "hillbillies" run multi-million dollar television and publishing empires.

Neo-Pentecostalism has been caricatured by those outside of the movement, but when it is viewed in light of its historical development and the forces which shaped it, it will be seen as a movement driven by a search for sanctificatio, but scarred by the neglect of reason and doctrine.

The Historical Development of Neo-Pentecostalism.

Many in this movement claim a line of Pentecostal churches from

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the day of Pentecost to the present.³ In my opinion,⁴ the 17th century is the legitimate starting point of the movement.

Pietism:

1600 - Johann Arndt writes True Christianity emphasizing the role of the Holy Spirit and the "new birth by which a man is made a child of grace and blessedness from the child of wrath and damnation, and from a sinner to a righteous man through faith" (p.37).

1675 - Philip Jakob Spener wrote Pia desideria, formally established the Pietist movement. He attacked intellectualism in preaching and , like Arndt, emphasized a "new birth."

1688 - August Hermann Francke experiences the "new birth" and moved to University Halle. Halle became the center of Pietism.

1710 - Nicholas Zinzendorf arrived at Halle as a student. Later in his life he teaches Pietism to refugees from Moravia..

Wesley and Methodism and later The Church of the Nazarene.

1735 - John Wesley meets Moravian missionaries on a voyage to Georgia. He learns of their confident faith during a storm at sea. "He was impressed and humiliated to find that in the midst of storm and imminence of death they had a quiet fearlessness which his religion had not given him."⁵

1738 - Wesley has an experience while attending a reading of Martin Luther's "Preface to Roman." He later referred to this as the "second work of grace." He devoted himself to preaching and Methodism experienced unbelievable growth.

1801 - John Mcgee, a Methodist minister, became overcome with experience and many of those listening were "slain" in the Spirit. This excitement mushroomed into a full scale camp meeting at Cane-Ridge under Barton Stone.

The Holiness Movement

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1835 - Phoebe Palmer claims the baptism of the Holy Spirit and organized house meetings which promoted a version of the Wesleyan doctrine of Christian perfection. The periodical in America devoted exclusively to holiness doctrine, "The Guide to Christian Perfection."

1861 - A slowing of the movement because of the Civil War.

1867 - National Holiness Association arose as a Holiness crusade which resulted in Holiness movement denominations.

1880 - Daniel Warner organized the Church of God in Anderson, Indiana. An example of "comeoutism" by radicals in the Holiness Movement.

Pentecostalism:

1900 - Charles Parham founded the College of Bethel in Topeka, Kansas.

1901 - Agnes Ozman a student at the college, claims the baptism of the Spirit and tongues, Parham and the other students follow her experience and the revival spread. This is the first time that speaking in tongues is linked as an outward sign, to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

1906 - William Seymour argued that true Christians should all speak in tongues. The Azusa Street Mission revival lasted for over 3 years and is commonly regarded at the beginnings of Neo-Pentecostalism.⁶

York and returned to Europe. He nurtured the Pentecostal movement in Europe until his death in 1940.

1910- Two Swedish men take Pentecostalism to Brazil and by 1967 there were over 1 million members and over 5 thousand congregations.

Neo-Pentecostalism:

1951 - The founding of the Full Gospel Business men's Fellowship International signaled the emergence of Neo-Pentecostalism our of classical Pentecostalism. Demos Shakarian and Oral Roberts are trying to make the movement more appealing to the upper class.

1956 - 5 Lutheran ministers receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit at a national FGBMFI convention.

1959 - Dennis Bennett, minister at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Van Nuys, California, received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and many followed him

1960 - Time and Newsweek run articles on St. Mark's .

1960 to the present.

Neo-Pentecostalism explodes because of Humanism and liberal theology on the rise in the church.