Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Origins and Growth 1890s-1905: In 1895, a former Baptist preacher establishes a church in Johannesburg, which eventually joins the Christian Catholic Church in Zion founded by faith healer John Alexander Dowie in Zion City, Chicago. In 1904, Dowie sends a missionary to oversee his growing South African flock, which by 1905 has about 5,000 members, […]
Origins and Growth 1910s-1930s: An Italian missionary establishes the pentecostal Christian Congregation in 1910 among immigrants in São Paulo; in 1911, Swedish missionaries establish a church in Belém that becomes the Assemblies of God (AG) (Anderson 2004: 70-71). The AG begins ordaining indigenous pastors in 1921, and transfers leadership to Brazilians in 1930. The total […]
Pentecostals represent a very small proportion of Asia’s population of nearly 4 billion people. This contrasts sharply with pentecostalism’s share of the population in parts of Africa and Latin America, which often exceeds 10-20 percent. According to 2005 figures from the World Christian Database, pentecostals represent 3.5% of Asia’s population, or about 138 million people. […]
Origins and Growth 1920s-1940s: In 1921, missionaries from the pentecostal United Free Gospel Church, headquartered in Pennsylvania, arrive in the Philippines. An American Assemblies of God (AG) missionary arrives in 1926, followed by Filipinos converted in the U.S. The first resident missionary from the Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.) establishes the church in the Philippines […]
Origins and Growth 1880s-1910s: American Presbyterians and Methodists establish the first resident Protestant missions in the mid-1880s. A 1907 revival in Pyongyang involves more than a thousand adults and children, some of whom receive charismatic gifts, fueling nationwide evangelism. By 1910, there are more than 150,000 Protestants in the country (I. Kim 2003: 34, 41; […]
Washington, D.C. For much of the 20th century, social scientists and policymakers argued that democratization and modernity would render religion insignificant and irrelevant. They were wrong, says Timothy Shah, senior Pew Forum fellow in religion and world affairs, who contends religion is booming in many countries and democracy has given religious leaders a growing political […]
Results for the July 2006 Religion and Public Life survey are based on telephone interviews conducted under the direction of Schulman, Ronca & Bucuvalas, Inc. (SRBI) among a nationwide sample of 2,003 adults, 18 years of age or older, during the period July 6-19, 2006. For results based on the total sample, one can say […]