I can only speak for the situation in the UK, but up to about 1994, Pentecostals and charismatics rarely mixed. The Pentecostal groups were themselves divided - e.g. AoG and Elim, founded when one man fell out with his brother and started a rival church. The Pente churches were basically stricter than the charismatic ones at the time, often meeting in church buildings that had little decoration. They used a mixture of organ and small band. I remember a lot of clapping and singing, excited loud preaching, prayer time at the end while the organ droned on in the background. One person fell to the ground. The people tended to dress for church with the women wearing hats, although I think dress standards have probably relaxed somewhat.

The charismatics were very different - friendly, often university educated, in professions such as journalism, medicine or the police. The charismatics emphasised community "Kingdom" living. They believed they were the church - "the City on the Hill" - and met to pray or socially at every possibility. I remember a lot of young families in their twenties and singles getting together, sometimes for a drink at the pub. In services, the music was relaxed or upbeat, not too repetitive, and ministry time occured either during it or afterwards. This is where it used to get interesting: some of those nice people who liked to chill would fall down, scream, thrash around and so forth. Pretty scary. Once, I saw a girl scream as she was flung off a chair. When we met later in the day, she was cheerful.

Since these groups began, many have split and people have left disillusioned from the heavy legalism, control and manipulation that often takes place.

Charismatics placed a much greater emphasis on practising "the gifts" in home meetings and the average member was encouraged to practice these, whereas Pentecostals tended to have their one man shows. I think the origins of the charismatic movement can be traced back to two sources:

*In the UK, a large number of people leaving denomination churches like the Brethren during the 60's and 70's to join the newly emerging House Church movement (known as Restoration Churches). Eventually, these would be overseen by so-called Apostles.

*The Neo-Pentecostal movement/so-called revival of the Latter Rain that took place shortly after the second world war at an orphanage in Canada. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latter_Rain_Movement

The Latter Rain was quickly condemend by most Pentecostals and it eventually went underground or became incorporated in mainstream churches. At some point in the early 70's, the Fort Lauderdale group entered the picture with Ern Baxter, Derek Prince, Don Basham, Charles Simpson and Bob Mumford, and the Shepherding Movement took off. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepherding_Movement Many people in mainstream churches signed convenants with these guys. In the mid seventies, the charismatic movement split in two when Pat Robertson and the Full Gospel Businessman's Fellowship International shunned the five Shepherds.

Pentecostal churches lost a lot of members to charismatic fellowships and for a long time the two movements held each other at bay. Then came the Toronto Blessing and a merger between the two took place. But before then, a number of Pentecostal churches under Calvary Chapel had taken on a more charismatic nature and had come under the leadership of John Wimber. The Vineyard movement that later sparked off the Toronto Blessing. The Vineyard also took on the Kansas City Prophets for a while, the whole thing ending in disaster. http://en.wikipedia.org/w...tion_of_Vineyard_Churches

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...stolic-Prophetic_Movement

People in the Vineyard sometimes insist they are not charismatics, but "empowered evangelicals". Even so, the same anti-intellectualism and superstition pervades. In my opinion, the Pentecostals and charismatics have gone much worse in the last fifteen years.

Last Edited By: lozza Sep 15 08 12:48 AM. Edited 6 times.