Ed Stetzer: Understanding the Charismatic Movement

Over 300 million people in the world are considered charismatic Christians.

A 2011 Pew Forum study showed that almost 305,000,000 people worldwide, or 14 percent of the world's self-identified Christian population, is part of the charismatic movement.

That's 305 million people, and their impact on Christianity and God's global mission has been powerful and far-reaching. Needless to say, and as with any movement, that includes both good and bad. Yet, to understand a movement's impact, we often need to understand it better-- including its history.

To understand the beginnings and growth of the Charismatic Renewal Movement, you need to know Dennis Bennett. Interestingly, the story of the charismatic renewal begins less than twenty miles from the Azusa Street Mission where Pentecostalism was birthed almost sixty years before that. (See my explanation of continualism here.)

Most consider Van Nuys, CA as the starting place of a distinct movement that would come to be called the charismatic movement. Keep reading