At times I have heard Pentecostal Christians triumphantly declare that Pentecostalism now consists of over 600 million people in the world. I assume they have the good intention of encouraging those Pentecostals who are listening.
I sometimes worry, though, that they are implying that the large and growing number of Pentecostals in the world implies that Pentecostals are right in their distinctive theology. While I am Pentecostal in theology, I don’t think numbers determine correct theology. If it did, I would become Catholic, or perhaps Muslim, as there are more of them in the world than Pentecostals.
Aside from my ramblings, here is the truth of the numbers.
How Many Pentecostals are There in the World Today?
There are indeed over 600 million Pentecostals in the world today, IF you have the whole “Pentecostal-Charismatic” movement in mind. This is typically how scholars will speak of global Pentecostalism.
Defined this way, the 600 million Pentecostals in the world includes:
- 92 million denominational Pentecostals (or “Classical Pentecostals”). This number includes 2.7 million Oneness Pentecostals.
- 234 million Charismatics. This includes Catholic (177 million), Orthodox (4.2 million), and Protestant (35 million) Christians.
- 259 million Independent Pentecostal/Charismatics. This number includes 11.8 million Oneness Christians.
Many people who describe how many Pentecostals there are in the world today are thinking only of the first group (Classical Pentecostals). Since they don’t realize that the 600 million includes many other types of Christians, they unintentionally misrepresent the global size of denominational Pentecostals.
A key lesson here is that when people talk (or read!) about Pentecostals, it helps to clarify what is meant.
And Growing
Taken as a whole, Pentecostals (in the large sense of the term) make up over 25% of all of the world’s Christians. So Pentecostalism is large! And it will continue to grow. By 2025 scholars expect over 30% of Christians will be Pentecostal-Charismatic.
Question: Are you surprised by how big global Pentecostalism is? Leave a comment below by clicking here.
*Note: Numbers are current as of 2010, as reported in the World Christian Database (Brill, 2011), and by Todd M. Johnson, “Global Pentecostal Demographics,” in Spirit and Power: The Growth and Global Impact of Pentecostalism, ed. Donald E. Miller, Kimon H. Sargeant, and Richard Flory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 320-321. Johnson reports a total of 584 million Pentecostals, whereas Allan Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 1, suggests that there were possibly over 600 million Pentecostals by 2010.
Great article and a great approach on breaking down Classical Pentecostals/Charismatic. However, just wondering about the number of Oneness Pentecostals, where do you find your sources? I had heard that there was over 3.7 million people simply in the United Pentecostal Church International and over 1.5 million in The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. Thanks!
Thanks for your question, Sebastien. The source is listed at the bottom of the post, just before the social media bar.
I do see that my source includes 11.8 million Oneness Christians under the “Independent Charismatics” category. I’ll add that in my post above.
Regardless, you are right that 2.7 million classical Oneness Pentecostals simply seems too low. It might be because these stats were from 2010.
I’ve noticed differing stats on Oneness Pentecostals in various places. For example, William Kay’s book Pentecostalism (p. 14) suggests that there are 6 million Oneness Christians worldwide. By contrast, Anderson’s Intro to Pentecostalism (p. 49) suggests that up to ¼ of classical Pentecostals are Oneness, which would be about 23 million. Obviously this is such a big difference that it can’t be accounted for simply by claiming that these are estimates.
When I asked Anderson about the difference in numbers, he said that it depends on what groups one includes. So, for example, Anderson includes the True Jesus Church in China (the largest Oneness denomination in the world), which others may not include since the group is somewhat cultic in nature.
This is very encouraging. Sometimes I feel like the true & real Pentecostal experience has been highjacked by many different kinds of radical & not Biblical groups who call themselves Christians. This causes some people,who unfortunately are ignorant of the real power of God & the real Biblical Pentecostal experience, to paint us all with the same broad brush & call us heretics & lunatics & go so far as to say our experience is of the devil. Sometimes I feel alone in my beliefs of the precious Holy Ghost. I’m 70 yrs old & was raised to believe in all the gifts of The Holy Ghost & that they are for today & that they have not passed away. So reading your articles blesses me especially to read that there are so many Pentecostals all over the world. Praise God & thank God for the precious & powerful Holy Ghost & for all of you outspoken & learned people of God. Keep up the good work until the day of His appearing.
As of March 2021, I think it was Gallop or Pew research in the U.S. did a poll and it said 30% of of those who attend Assembly of God churches do not speak in unknown languages. There are pentecostal Pastors that tend to shy away from teaching or preaching on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I understand that they part of the body of Christ, they are our brother’s Christ. I can remember twenty yrs. ago hearing evangelist’s with the Assembly of God preach that we have to be diligent about teaching on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of praying in tongues in our churches because one day we will be without the power, anointing of the Spirit of the Lord. 30%
Thanks for your Analysis, how insightful! In my opinion, I believe that when we talk about Pentecostalism, we should also have the Charismatic movement in mind. bear in mind that Pentecostalism is the name man has given to a movement of the Holy Spirit that includes the baptism of the Holy Spirit and related gifts, and if this is part of the Charismatic Churches, then they are a part of the Pentecostal movement. Being a Nigerian Immigrant, I have witnessed many of these Charismatic movements in many of the Orthodox churches and they really do not differ from main stream Pentecostalism, except in name and adherence to some of their Orthodox Doctrines (Be it Catholic, Anglican etc.). Now I can only speak for Africa, I do not know much about the western experience. From where I come from, Christianity is predominantly Pentecostal and I always though that was what evangelical meant until I migrated to Canada. Thanks for your work and God bless!
Does this mean “Pentecostals” are with 350 million the biggest protestant “denomination”?
Total 800 million, Lutheran, Calvinist, Anglican and Baptist each less than 100 million.
Or is there still a substantial overlap?
Sorry, I’m a little confused by your numbers. I had 92 million above for denominational Pentecostals. If you include the wider pentecostal movement, it would be over 600 million. If you are referring to the latter, then yes, there would be overlap as the latter includes many denominations.
Sorry. I loosely added your 92 to 259 and rounded it to 350 million.
I assumed the 234 charismatics are counted in other denominations.
To summarize my research for the world total number protestants:
Pinkster/Charismatisch 470
Anglican/Methodist 125
Baptist/Adventist 95
Luthers 75
Calvinist 85
And for completeness:
Other 1500
Moslim 1900
Hindoe/Boedhist 1700
Christen Orthodox 330
Rooms 1300