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Pentecostal denominations and adherents

Main article: List of Christian denominations § Pentecostalism

Estimated numbers of Pentecostals vary widely. Christianity Today reported in an article titled World Growth at 19 Million a Year that according to historian Vinson Synan, dean of the Regent University School of Divinity in Virginia Beach, about 25 percent of the world's Christians are Pentecostal or charismatic.

According to a Spring 1998 article in Christian History, there are about 11,000 different Pentecostal or charismatic denominations worldwide. These figures can only be regarded as a an indication as the definitions used vary widely - the most common difficulty being wether the same organisation is counted only once or for each country in which it is represented. (See Christian denominations for a fuller discussion) this is only available in print and by subscription

Pentecostalism was estimated to number around 115 million followers worldwide in 2000; lower estimates place the figure near to 22 million (eg. Cambridge Encyclopedia), while the highest estimates place the figure between 400 and 600 million.

United States

The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches identifies, out of the 25 largest US denominations, the following as the largest Pentecostal Denominations:

• the Church of God in Christ (5,499,875 - overall 5th largest in the US)
• Assemblies of God (2,830,861)
• Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (1,500,000)

Other large denominations include:

• New Testament Church
• Church of God (Cleveland)
• Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ
• United Pentecostal Church
• United Gospel Tabernacles

The size of Pentecostalism in the U.S. is estimated to be more than 20 million including approximately 918,000 (4%) of the Hispanic-American population, counting all unaffiliated congregations. The numbers are uncertain, in part because some tenets of Pentecostalism are held by members of non-Pentecostal denominations in what has been called the charismatic movement.

Outside the US

Toronto Canada, has a large Pentecostal population. The influence of immigrants from Jamaica, Africa, Latin America, Korea and elsewhere have created diverse churches throughout the city.

In Australia, Hillsong (led by Pastor Brian Houston) is the largest church with a membership exceeding 19,000. Many of their songs are sung across the Pentecostal churches. They are a member of Assemblies of God, which is one of the largest Pentecostal organisations in the world.

Inside Hillsong Church (a Pentecostal Church).

The great majority of Pentecostals are to be found in Developing Countries (see the Statistics subsection below), although much of their international leadership is still North America. Pentecostalism is sometimes referred to as the "third force of Christianity."

The largest Pentecostal Christian church in the world is the Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea. Founded and led by David Yonggi Cho since 1958, it had 780,000 members in 2003.

According to Christianity Today, Pentecostalism is "a vibrant faith among the poor; it reaches into the daily lives of believers, offering not only hope but a new way of living." [1]. In addition, according to a 1999 U.N. report, "Pentecostal churches have been the most successful at recruiting its members from the poorest of the poor."