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Christianity – especially Pentecostalism – is attracting followers as never before in developing countries, according to The New York Times.
In an October article, the newspaper noted that the growth is “changing the complexion and practice of the Christian faith and other religions in a fervid competition for souls, generating new tremors” in places such as Nigeria and Brazil.
“The new Christian expansion is particularly striking in Pentecostalism,” The Times reported. “Emphasizing a direct line to God, its boisterous, unmediated style of worship employs healings, speaking in tongues and casting out demons.
Growing Pentecostal congregations – a quarter of all Christians world-wide – are “bumping up against established Christian churches and Islam in Africa, and chipping away at what has long been a virtual Roman Catholic monopoly in Latin America.”
For example, in Brazil, the emotional services at thousands of Pentecostal churches “amount to a religious revolution in the world’s largest Catholic country,” the newspaper said.
In the 25 years of Pope John Paul II’s papacy, Brazil’s Protestant population has quadrupled, with the biggest surge coming in the 1990s among evangelical and Pentecostal groups. More than 25 million Brazilians belong to such churches.
Meanwhile, in West Africa, hundreds of thousands of Nigerians endure two-hour traffic jams to reach evangelical campgrounds with Pentecostal churches as large as airplane hangars.
“Pentecostalism has captured hearts and minds in countries where the precariousness of ordinary living makes rich and poor alike turn to divine intervention,” the newspaper noted.
Source: The New York Times
From “Ministries Today” January/February 2004
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