PENTECOSTAL:
a modern CHRISTIAN REVITALIZATION MOVEMENT with roots in the nineteenth
century HOLINESS MOVEMENT. Its inception is usually traced to the Azusa Street REVIVAL in
1907, a CHRISTIAN TRADITION, which developed and emphasized the GIFTS of the HOLY SPIRIT
especially HEALING and SPEAKING IN TONGUES. This NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT began as a
REVITALIZATION MOVEMENT within CHRISTIANITY but quickly led to the formation of various
new DENOMINATIONS such as the ASSEMBLIES OF GOD. In the mid-1960s the movement was spread
by David Du Plessis to the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH and various MAINLINE PROTESTANT
denominations which had resisted Pentecostal teachings. As a result of the activities of
Du Plessis and other former Pentecostals, the CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT emerged and has since
become the major thrust of modern Pentecostal teachings in addition to developing its own
distinctive teachings.
