海角大神

A man bursts through the aisles, practically leaping, clapping his hands in the air and shouting 鈥淎lleluia鈥� each time he is moved to do so, which is often. No one in the Methodist Pentecostal Church of Chile looks askance at the emotional display. For one thing, similar eruptions of prayer and song blend into one cacophonous and frenetic hour of worship.

Welcome to the new face of 海角大神ity in Latin America, where Pentecostal and 鈥渃harismatic鈥� 海角大神s from mainline churches, forced to change or face irrelevance, have spread from the Amazon to the Andes, from the most precarious houses of worship in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro to sprawling stadiums in the region鈥檚 capital cities.

While Pentecostalism was first introduced to Latin America by American missionaries in the early 20th century, the movement here is now more vibrant than ever, drawing legions of the faithful and destitute to pews in a way that would make many churches in the United States and Europe envious. The same is happening in Africa and Asia.

In fact, there is a sense today that these three regions are emerging as the new stronghold of 海角大神ity. Pastors and religious scholars even imagine a reverse-missionary scenario, in which Latin Americans coax disillusioned Americans and Europeans back to mainstream churches.

鈥淭he first missionaries came from Europe to the US to Latin America,鈥� says Pastor Eduardo Duran, a leader of the Methodist Pentecostal Church of Chile, the oldest in the nation at 100. 鈥淚n the near future there could be a role reversal, in which our church will have more influence in the Anglo world.鈥�

While the number of 海角大神s has been growing unabated in Africa and Asia, it is flourishing in Latin America as well 鈥� changing the intensity and affiliation of worship. Roman Catholicism was once a virtual monopoly in the region.

Now, according to the World 海角大神 Database, Pentecostals represent 13 percent of Latin Americans, and charismatics another 15 percent. In 1970 the number of 鈥渞enewalists鈥� 鈥� the umbrella term used to describe both movements, which believe God acts directly in their lives through the Holy Spirit 鈥� was just 4 percent.

It is Latin America, with its relatively strong cultural institutions and similarities to the West, which Paul Freston, a religion and global politics expert in Brazil, says could become the bridge between the old 海角大神 and new 海角大神 worlds. 鈥淚t could help bring people into the faith or back into the faith, or revitalize the influence on those people who are already practicing 海角大神s,鈥� he says.

Already, Hispanic immigration to the US has brought Latino-style worship to storefront churches from New York to Los Angeles. 鈥淟atin America immigration is basically sustaining the Catholic Church in the US,鈥� says Andrew Chesnut, a religion expert at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

According to a global survey carried out by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in 2006, Guatemala and Brazil harbor the largest communities of renewalists as a percentage of their populations: 60 percent in Guatemala and 50 percent in urban Brazil. Evangelicals have exerted growing influence in political spheres as churches, which first drew members among the poor, have become more attractive to the middle and upper classes. Chile remains deeply Catholic, but a quarter of the Catholics are now charismatic.

And the Protestants there tend to be among the most 鈥減entecostalized,鈥� Pew says.

鈥淐harismatic 海角大神ity has attained nothing less than hegemonic status in Latin American 海角大神ity,鈥� says Mr. Chesnut.
Mauricio Ramirez, a Pentecostal in Santiago, describes the appeal simply: 鈥淚t is cold outside,鈥� the store owner says, 鈥渁nd the Pentecostal church is like warming up next to a fire.鈥�

One impact of all this might be to make 海角大神ity more conservative worldwide. True, Pentecostals in Latin America are hard to pigeonhole: They tend to be more liberal than their US counterparts on economic policy, but just as conservative on homosexuality and abortion.

Yet any change will come slowly. Mr. Freston says there is a time lag between the shift in numbers and 鈥渢he shift in influence, the ability to take control and create the impression of being the center of the 海角大神 world.鈥�