FUTURE PERSPECTIVES FOR

LATIN AMERICAN PENTECOSTALISM

JUAN SEPULVEDA"

The context
As the 21st century draws near, Latin America is leaving behind a long period
of authoritarian governments and military dictatorships inspired by the ideol-
ogy of National Security. Beside the peculiar situation of Cuba, formal
democracies are more or less firmly established in all Latin American coun-
tries. In nations long divided by bloody civil confrontations, hopeful peace
processes are now taking place. Some Latin American countries are exhibiting
successful macro-economical results.
To what extent this new scenario means good news for the majorities of the
Latin American people is not easy to say. The other side of the coin is the
increasingly deep gap between the many poor and the few rich. While in most
Latin American cities the few rich enjoy as many of the benefits of modernity
as the most affluent people of the North, misery continues to be the daily
bread of the many poor. Traditional bonds of fraternity and solidarity are
undermined by the individualistic thrust of the market economy, and prob-
lems, both new or old, take their toll of the most vulnerable: drug addiction
and trafficking, street children, diseases spread by sexual promiscuity, increas-
ingly violent delinquency, etc.
Although the crisis of viability of the utopian dreams which had fired great
expectations of social transformation, and the extremely formal and institu-
tional character of the new democracies, has had a paralysing effect upon the
traditional popular movements, new ways of social participation are being
devised in order to fight against specific forms of exclusion, discrimination or
injustice: ethnic, sexual, religious, etc. Though still involving, at best, a
minority, these movements bring hope of new ways of empowering people to
exercise full citizenship.
This rather impressionistic picture of Latin America as it faces the end of the
20th century provides the background for my reflections on the future of mis-
sion in the region. I have been asked to focus on the way Pentecostalism is
likely to develop in this context, as well as on the opportunities and difficulties
for cooperation between this stream of Christianity and the so-called mainline
churches. To do that, I have to start with some brief references to the past and
present of Latin American Pentecostalism.

*JUAN SEP~LVEDA is a Pentecostal minister in Santiago, Chile;on the staff of the Evangelical Ser-
vice for Development (SEPADE), and a lecturer on Missiology and Pentecostalism at the Evan-
gelical Theological Community (CTE).

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An Overview on Latin American Pentecostalism

A century after the arrival of James Thomson, the first Protestant missionary
in Chile, the 1920 National Census showed that Protestants numbered only
54,000 (1.4 percent of the total population), of whom 17,000 were foreigners,
10,000 of them Lutherans, who had become naturalised Chileans. Seventy
two years later, the 1992 National Census showed that Evangelicals and Prot-
estants together had reached 13.2 percent of the population aged 14 years and
above. All observers agree that the higher rate of Protestant growth in the lat-
ter period has to be seen as the result of the dynamic expansion of Chilean
Pentecostalism, established as an independent and indigenous church at the
beginning of the second decade of this century.
What has happened in Chile is not unique; it was an early manifestation of a
phenomenon which has become characteristic of the Latin American religious
landscape. Born either from local revivals within Protestant churches or from
the work of foreign Pentecostal missionary individuals or agencies, Pentecos-
tal churches are now throughout the continent the fastest growing religious
movement. I will not attempt to measure such a growth, because the figures
given by the literature for the different countries are not always reliable as
they are taken from a variety of sources. It is important to mention, however,
that the trends of growth vary from one country to another and that some often
quoted predictions about the future growth are, in my view, overstated.*
Whatever their origin, most Latin American Pentecostal churches are nowa-
days independent or indigenous in their leadership, ministry and finances. The
commonly held accusation that the rapid growth of Latin American Pentecos-
talism is the result of a sort of conspiracy of the US American right-wing to
counter the peoples movement and Liberation theology, has very little basis
in the facts3
In Latin America there is a great variety of churches which call themselves or
are labelled by others as Pentecostal. Many of them do not fit very well
within the classical definitions of Pentecostalism, which are normally applied
to churches with a very precise understanding of baptism in the Holy Spirit,
whereby the experience of speaking in tongues is recognized as its initial
evidence. This is in turn associated with the practice of immersion (water-
baptism) restricted to adults. The biggest Chilean Pentecostal churches, for
instance, still practise infant baptism, as their Methodist mother church did,
and do not regard speaking in tongues as the necessary initial evidence of
baptism in the Holy Spirit. There might be other evidences, like deep emo-
tional fervour, dancing, crying, etc. But for them the main evidence is a trans-
formed life, that is to say, the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 522-25). Because
what is meant by the term Pentecostal in Chile is so conditioned by the
model of the indigenous movement, that label is seldom applied to the Assem-
blies of God, which is internationally typical of classical Pentecostalism. The
emergence of new movements often described by the literature as neo-Pente-
costal adds further complexity to the picture.

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Given this diversity, Eugene Nida suggested in 1961 the use of terms such as
Pentecostal-likechurches, or simply Indigenous churches. More recently,
Samuel Escobar has chosen popular Protestantism as a meaningful term for
describing the variety of churches which are rapidly growing among the poor
in Latin America.5 Both suggestions are in line with Walter Hollenwegers
perception that Latin American - as well as early North American - Pente-
costalism, have many things in common with indigenous non-white churches
in other parts of the world, namely: orality of liturgy, narrativity of theology
and witness, maximum participation at the levels of prayer, reflection and
decision-making, inclusion of dreams and visions in worship, and a unique
understanding of the body/mind relationship applied in the ministry of healing
by prayer.6
It is my own conviction that the central significance of modern Pentecostal-
isms emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit, rather than on a definite under-
standing of the works of grace, or a precise and unequivocal evidence of
the baptism in the Holy Spirit, lies in the affirmation of the legitimacy of
understanding and experiencing Christian faith through cultural mediations
other than Western rational and logo-centric culture. It is in this broader sense
that I am using the term Pentecostalism here. It may well be applied to
churches from different historical or confessional backgrounds which, by
relying on the freedom of the Holy Spirit, have become deeply indigenous in
their way of being Christian. In previous articles I have pointed out some
characteristics of this broadly defined Pentecostalism, which may help us to
understand its success in rooting the Evangelical message in Latin America
soil, namely :
a) rather than a new doctrine, Pentecostalism offers a new and direct experi-
ence of God, bypassing any foreign cultural or priestly mediation;
b) it is an intense religious experience which fills life with a new meaning;
c) such experience takes place within an altogether accepting, healing and
strongly missionary community;
d) it is proclaimed in the every day language of the people?
From a statistical point of view, Pentecostalism has spread far more rapidly in
the lower classes or popular sections of Latin American societies. A recent
Comparative profile of Roman Catholics and Evangelicals in Chile, based on
a sample of five percent of the population reported in the 1992 Population
Census in Chile, found that at the individual level Evangelicals are younger,
less educated, and more likely to be employed in occupations with lower pres-
tige and remuneration than Roman Catholics. At the family level, Evangeli-
cals are usually found in the poorer households, larger families with more
members with disabilities, and lower socio-economic status.8 However, the
question whether Latin American Pentecostalism is mainly a lower class phe-
nomenon is a matter of debate. Some authors point out that in countries like
Guatemala, Brazil, and Venezuela, a substantial Pentecostal incursion into the
middle to upper-middle classes is e ~ i d e n t But
. ~ as their own sources show,

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these middle and upper-middle class incursions are often made by the so
called neo-Pentecostals.O In my view, neo-Pentecostalism, with its strong
emphasis on a sort of prosperity theology, is a rather different phenomenon
which should be studied as a category of its own. One can still hold the view
that Latin American Pentecostalism represents a popular and mestizo incama-
tion of Protestant or Evangelical Christianity.
Coming to the Pentecostal churches understanding of their missionary voca-
tion, it can be said that this was traditionally limited to evangelization under-
stood solely as calling individuals to personal conversion. Behind this idea
was the unconscious assumption that the impact of Pentecostal churches in
society is a function of their growth. In other words, the greater the number of
those who are converted, the greater its influence in society. The goal, there-
fore, was usually expressed in mottos such as Chile for Christ or, at a
broader level, Latin America for Christ. It is thought that when the majority
of people in a given locality become Evangelical, more precisely Pentecostal,
then society will improve and become more just and good. This dream cancels
out any need to think of another kind of missionary influence or impact upon
society.
It is precisely this understanding which is at present undergoing a significant
change. At this point I begin to talk about a future whose seeds can be dis-
cerned within the present process of transformation.

Looking at the future

The phenomenal growth of Evangelical Christianity during the present cen-

tury has deeply transformed the Latin American religious scene. Despite the
uneasiness of important sections of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, Latin
America can no longer be seen as a Catholic continent, nor can Latin Ameri-
can culture be identified with Catholicism. Walter Altmann, currently the
President of CLAI (Latin American Council of Churches), has recently said
that religious pluralism will be a hallmark of Latin America in the next cen-
tury: In the future, this continent will be less Catholic, more Pentecostal,
with significant spaces for Indigenous and African religiosity, and a real but
modest presence of historical Protestantism.12
Awareness of this new situation has, in turn, triggered a change in the self-
image or self-understanding of Pentecostals. If Latin American Pentecostals
saw themselves in the past as pilgrims, as people living in a foreign land,
as citizens of another kingdom, and even as second class citizens, they are
increasingly seeing themselves as a significant part of society. Their feeling is
that they represent nowadays a sector of Latin American society whose views
regarding public affairs have taken on added importance. This can be
described as a process of coming of age, of assuming full citizenship.
Assuming full citizenship means both new rights and new responsibilities. As
for rights, Pentecostals are certainly seeking a fuller social recognition of their

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presence. On the one hand this means pressing for a legal status equal to that
of other confessions, specially that of the Roman Catholic Church. On the
other this means looking for greater visibility in the cultural scene, specially
in the media, as well as politics. As for the responsibilities, they can be
summed up as the challenge of developing a more integral or holistic under-
standing of the missionary calling.
It is clear that Pentecostal growth has not by itself brought a commensurate
and significant diminution in crucial social problems such as poverty, delin-
quency, alcoholism, drug addiction, child abuse, domestic violence, etc. This
evidence forces Pentecostal churches to ask about the meaning of their
growth. Is it enough to evangelize and to grow in order to make the gospel a
significant factor in society? Is it true that the more people are converted to
Pentecostalism the better is our society? These questions are leading more and
more pastors, leaders and grass-root Pentecostals to see such social problems
as specific missionary challenges which demand the development of new min-
istries. Indeed, the vital and dynamic presence of Pentecostal congregations
among the poor may potentially be a factor of reconstruction of the traditional
bonds of community and solidarity undermined by the individualistic thrust of
the current process of cultural and economic globalization.
If in the process of Pentecostal awakening to full citizenship the emphasis is
put solely on the side of demanding new rights, the religious situation of Latin
America will become more and more conflictive in the years ahead. One can
already hear some talk of holy war.13 On the contrary, if the new responsibil-
ities are sufficiently stressed, this very sense of common responsibility will
soften the confessional frontiers and facilitate new forms of co-operation at
the service of a more peaceful, just and sustainable future for the peoples of
Latin America. Something very similar could be said in regard to the question
whether the policy of the Latin American Catholic Church will give priority to
defending old privileges or to facing constructively the new challenges posed
by religious pluralism.
It is not easy to predict in which direction things will evolve. Although the
increasing triumphalism which is evident in some Evangelical and Pentecostal
quarters, coupled with the feeling of threat evident in some Catholic quarters,
suggest a holy war scenario, my hope is that the Holy Spirit will open up for
us in the coming century new opportunities for reconciliation and cooperation
in the one mission of our one Lord Jesus Christ.
Either way, Pentecostal churches will have to face some significant transfor-
mations. As Donald Dayton said in an interview some years ago, it is possi-
ble to predict that in the next century Pentecostalism will be very influential in
Latin America. However, one cannot predict much about the direction that this
influence will take, because Pentecostalism will also change when it moves
into the centre of society.l4
One important aspect of the renewal among the Pentecostal churches will
probably be that of preparing their members for responsibleparticipation in
the life of society. This will involve translating the way of personal holiness

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that Pentecostalism has traditionally advocated into a new secular holiness

which empowers male and female, old and young, for a creative participation
in the construction of inclusive communities. This will in turn demand new
forms of education and training for ministers and Christian educators. This
need not mean abandoning the method of on-the-job pastoral training prac-
tised by most indigenous Pentecostal churches, but to complement and enrich
it with new opportunities for theological reflection and formation on social
issues and ethics.
Here there is a fertile field for cooperation and mutual support with the so-
called mainline churches. One can expect that more and more Pentecostal
churches will be open to this sort of cooperation, as they no longer want to be
seen as a world apart from the broader Protestant family.I5But the possibility
of such cooperation depends also on the openness of other Evangelical and
Protestant churches to overcome old prejudices or stereotypes and to recog-
nize Pentecostal churches as equal partners in dialogue and mission. The
opening of bridges and opportunities for dialogue with the Pentecostal world,
in which the World Council of Churches and the Latin American Council of
Churches (CLAI) have been recently involved, is a very positive sign in this
regard.
Protestant churches might certainly learn much, not only from the vital spiri-
tuality and evangelistic zeal of Latin American Pentecostal churches, but also
from their implicit theology and from the way in which they have been able to
translate church life, worship and ministry into local cultural patterns. Of
course, Pentecostalism has also much to learn from other Christian churches. I
find very thoughtful and indeed challenging some reflections presented by
JosC Miguez Bonino at Christian Theological Seminary (Indianapolis, USA)
in 1995, on the contribution of the so-called historic churches to Pentecos-
talism. Under the common responsibility of correcting and admonishing
each other on the basis of the common acceptance of Christs authority,
Miguez suggested three theological challenges that historic churches could
fruitfully make to Pentecostal churches, namely:
a) to make explicit the theology implicit in their life and worship, in order to
avoid some interpretations inherited from the Anglo-Saxon holiness tradi-
tion undercutting the most meaningful contributions of Latin American
Pentecostalism;
b) to examine more closely the relation between the gifts and the fruits of
the Spirit;
c) to relate the growing weight of their social presence to the contents and de-
mands of their faith.I6
I want to finish this contribution by recalling two Dutch Christian thinkers.
W.A. Visser t Hooft envisaged the ecumenical movement precisely as a space
for mutual correction in Christ which can purify, - I would say enrich - our
common message and task.17 Much earlier, Erasmus felt that a common
search for the simplicity of the gospel might help to bypass the intricacies of

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the confessional heritage which separates us.18As we come closer to a new

millennium, I would like to see Latin American Pentecostalism, or at least
some significant sections of this diverse stream of Christianity, take its part as
a recognized and respected partner in a truly open ecumenical dialogue in the
search for faithfulness to the one mission of our one Lord Jesus Christ.

NOTES
I Ch. Lalive dEpinay, Haven of the Masses, A Study of the Pentecostal Movement in Chile.
London: Lutterworth Press, 1969, p.6.
David Stoll, for instance, has predicted that by the year 2010 Protestants (mainly Pentecostals)
will have surpassed 50 percent of the total population in countries such as Guatemala, Puerto
Rico, El Salvador, Brazil, and Honduras. Cf.ls Latin America turning Protestant? The Politics
of Evangelical Growth, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.
Stoll, who had previously subscribed to the idea of conspiracy, gives abundant evidence of the
mainly indigenous character of Pentecostal growth in Latin America in his well known book
published in 1990 (see above).
The Indigenous Churches in Latin America, in P r a c t i ~ Anthropology
a~ 8 (1961) pp.97-105.
Conflict of Interpretations of Popular Protestantism, in Guillermo Cook (ed.). New Face of
the Church in Latin America New York: Orbis Books, 1994, pp.112-134.
h i d . p.115. Escobar follows Walter Hollenweger, After Twenty Years Research on Pentecos-
talism, in International Review of Mission (IRM) 75 (1986) pp.3-12.
Cf.Pentecostalism as Popular Religiosity, in IRM 78 (1989) pp. 80-88; and The Pentecostal
Movement in Latin America, in Guillermo Cook (ed). op.cir. pp.68-74.
Castillo Allende and Duke Sandoval: University of North Carolina. Programme in Latin
American Studies. Working Paper Series, March 1996 (quoted from Abstract).
Cf.Hannah W. Stewart-Gambino and Everett Wilson, Latin American Pentecostals: Old Ste-
reotypes and New Challenges, in E. Cleary and H.W. Stewart-Gambino (eds), Power, Polirics,
and Penrecostals in Latin America, Boulder: Westview Press, 1997, pp.227-246 (here 240s).
lo See, for instance, Everett Wilson, Guatemalan Pentecostals: Something of Their Own, in
E.Cleary and H.W. Stewart-Gambino (eds.), op.cit. pp. 139-162.
Cf. Juan Sepulveda, Reinterpreting Chilean Pentecostalism, in Social Compass 43:3 (1996).
pp.299-118.
l 2 El otro dentro nuestro. Retos del pluralismo religioso en AmCrica Latina, in Signos de Vida 5
(September 1997) pp.14-17.
l3 The expression has been used in Chile in the context of the recent debate on a projected new
law for religious institutions. See, for instance, Qui Pasa. 4 October 1997, pp.26-28.
l4 El pentecostalismo estd encontrando su destino en AmCrica Latina, in Evangelio y Sociedad
11 (0ct.-Dic. 1991), pp.15-17.
Is An illustration is the uneasiness of Pentecostals with some interpretations of Pentecostal
growth as a case of substitute Catholicism suggested by Pierre Chaunu, and subscribed by
some Protestant scholars like Jean Pierre Bastian. See, for instance, his The Metamorphosis
of Latin American Protestant Groups: A Sociological Perspective, in LafinAmerican Research
Review 28 (1993) pp.3-61.
l6 The Challenge of the Historic Churches to Pentecostalism. unpublished manuscript, 1995.
l7 Cf. The Significance of the Asian Churches in the Ecumenical Movement, in The Ecumenical
Review 1 1 :4 (1 959) pp.365-376.
Is 1 have reflected more extensively on the missionary implications of Erasmus thought in my
unpublished doctoral thesis, Gospel and Culture in Latin American Protestantism: Toward a
New Theological Appreciation of Syncretism, University of Birmingham, 1996.

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