PENTECOSTALISM IN NIGERIA: THE MYTHS AND IMPACTS ON THE CHURCH AND THE SOCIETY

Abstract

Modern Pentecostalism is a branch of Protestantism that started over a century ago in microcosm but has spread across the globe like wild fire. The movement which started with few people who were students of Bible College in the wake of the Twentieth Century in Topeka, Kansas, United States of America became a force to reckon with. As people from different countries and continents of the world travelled to America to attend the movement's meetings, they brought home the message and many became part of it. In Africa including Nigeria, people who attended those meetings brought the Pentecostal message back home and many people keyed into it. This became a phenomenon that spread like cancer across the mainline churches which inevitably, affected the people. Though the movement received wide acceptance in Nigeria and it has had great impacts on both the church and the society, there are skirmishes regarding the practice and teachings associated with it. This paper examines Pentecostal movement in Nigeria, the myths associated with and the impacts it has had on the church in particular and the society in general.