We believe that one must be saved by believing in Jesus as Lord and Savior for the forgiveness of sins and to be made acceptable to God.

We believe in water baptism as an outward sign of conversion, and that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is a distinct spiritual experience that all who have believed in Jesus should receive.

We also believe that the baptism in the Holy Spirit accompanied initially by the outward evidence of speaking in tongues.. However, we reject any connection between the in filling of the Holy Spirit that speaking in tongues would indicate and personal salvation or conversion.

We also typically believe that the Bible has definitive authority in matters of faith.

Theologically, we are aligned with Evangelicalism in that they emphasize the reliability of the Bible and the need for the transformation of an individual's life with faith in Jesus.

We believe that the Scriptures hold a special place in the Pentecostal worldview because the Holy Spirit isalways active in the Bible. To encounter the Scriptures is to encounter God. The Scriptures are a primary reference point for communion with God and a template for reading the world.

We believe that everyone who is genuinely saved has the Holy Spirit with them. But unlike most other

Christians we believe that there is a second work of the Holy Spirit called the baptism of the Holy Spirit in which the Holy Spirit is now in believers, and which opens a believer up to a closer fellowship with the Holy Spirit and empowers them for Christian service. Speaking in tongues is the normative proof, but not the only proof, of the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

The Pentecostal Church is a Protestant Christian denomination having grown out of the "holiness movement" which swept across various Christian communities in the early 20th century. There are two basic aspects which characterize Pentecostal churches, as well as differentiate them from other Protestant groups, namely the belief in "Baptism of the Spirit" and the belief in resultant charismata ("Gifts of the Spirit," such as speaking in tongues).

The belief of these two aspects derived from the story told in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, which enabled them to speak in tongues. Till this day, these same unusual practices, such as speaking in tongues, healing by faith, ecstatic experiences, etc. characterize Pentecostal services. For this reason, Pentecostals are known to be a denomination which focuses upon the importance ofpersonal religious experiences rather than specific doctrines. Although there is little agreement found among Pentecostals with regards to most Christian doctrines, those of "Baptism of the Spirit" and charismata seem to be accepted by all Pentecostals. This acceptance thus formed a new, unintended denomination, for the Pentecostals would have rather remained at their original churches.

According to written history, Pentecostal beliefs originated in the Bethel Bible College founded by Charles F. Parham (1873-1929) in Topeka, Kansas in 1900. Thus, Pentecostal beliefs are often regarded as an outgrowth of the teachings and theology promoted by Parham and other like-minded Protestants of the time. According to Parham's own reports, On January 1, 1901, the first of his students began to manifest the "Gifts of the Spirit" by speaking in tongues. In the following weeks more and more students likewise began to experience this same manifestation, thus drawing a great increase of attention to the school and Parham's ideas. This resulted into a new denomination founded by Parham himself, known as the "Apostolic Faith Movement," where fellowship contained thousands of members pertaining to many different churches.

Another early source of Pentecostal beliefs was that of the 1906 Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, led by William J. Seymour (1870-1922). Seymour himself was a student of Parham's, although at anotherschool which Parham had opened in Houston, Texas. Large crowds attended Seymour's Azusa Street ministry, where one could experience miraculous healing and high religious enthusiasm. News reports at the time expressed disbelief and shock at the "howlings of the worshiper" and "hideous" antics of the late-night services. Although its popularity began to wane by 1909, thousands had already attended services here and took the message of Pentecostalism back home with them.

However, these same basic aspects of Pentecostal beliefs could be found in even earlier services, for example a prayer service in 1831 in London, England, resulted in members speaking in tongues and prophesizing. It is important to remember that Pentecostal beliefs did not simply spring up out of nowhere - instead, they developed out of the Holiness movement which was, in turn, a group which developed out of traditional Methodism.

Members of the Holiness groups emphasized what they called the "second blessing" which was bestowed upon those who underwent an ecstatic conversion experience. For some, this blessing became manifest through Gifts of the Spirit, like glossalia and prophesies. For others, such activities were regarded as a form of heresy, and this is where Pentecostals diverged from the Methodist and Holiness churches.

Pentecostalism has traditionally been perceived as an anti-intellectual movement within Christianity, and that perception has not been without good cause. Pentecostal ministers generally relied less upon complex theology to develop and spread their ideas and more upon songs and oral traditions of communication - proverbs, jokes, personal testimonies, miracle stories, etc. Because of this, it was perhaps inevitable that Pentecostal ministers were among the first to make the widest use of radio and, later, television to preach to ever larger numbers of people.

Although usually regarded as a recent form of Christian Protestantism, some researchers think that it should be considered distinct from traditional Protestantism. This is based on the fact that Protestantism was created as distinct from Catholicism on the basis that the Bible alone should be the source of religious authority, rather than traditional practices or the hierarchy of church institutions.

Pentecostal churches, on the other hand, take place beyond this, since they rely not simply upon the Bible, but also upon direct and personal spiritual revelations which can not only supplement the teachings of theBible, but which can even replace them. It is no surprise that Pentecostals are often kept at arm's length by the leaders and members of many traditional Protestant churches, both liberal and fundamentalist. Thus, although Pentecostals are often categorized with fundamentalists, any alliance between the two groups is destined to be uneasy.

Fundamentalists have generally condemned practices such as speaking in tongues and prophesizing because they regard God's revelation in the Bible as complete - any attempts to claim that one has new revelations is rejected out of hand. The two groups also tend to appeal to different sorts of people. Whereas traditional Protestant churches tend to be populated by the middle class, Pentecostal churches tend to appeal to the poorer strata of society.

In the United States today, there are about 24 million members of various Pentecostal churches. Around the world, Pentecostals seem to be the fastest-growing Protestant denomination, and by the mid-21st century they may number one billion.

Major Pentecostal churches include: the Assemblies of God, the United Pentecostal Church International, the Association of Vineyard Churches, Church of God in Christ, and the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship. The Assemblies of God is currently the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world while the Church of God is both the oldest Pentecostal denomination and the largest black Pentecostal group in the world.

Important Pentecostal leaders in the United States include: Benny Hinn, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, and Pat Robertson. The highest political office attained by a Pentecostal is the Attorney General of the United States under President George W. Bush: John Ashcroft.