THE ROLE OF PENTECOSTAL MOVEMENT IN RURAL EVANGELIZATION IN BENIN, EDO STATE

ABSTRACT

Evangelism is a Divine assignment given to all Christians by God himself at the morning of ascension, hence it is regarded as a supreme task. It is one of the major tenets of the Christian faith, however it has been given various approaches by various Christian denominations. One of the major challenges facing the spread of the Christian message is inaccessibility of some locations. Carrying the gospel into rural and hinter lands have been a hard nut to crack among the Christian folks. Unlike the mainline churches, the Pentecostals strongly believes in the workings of the holy spirit which is characterized by diverse tongue speaking and manifestations of miracles. This approach and understanding of Christianity are also employed in the evangelization of the Christian message by the pentecostals. Hence, the research work is designed to clearly examine the role of Pentecostal movement in rural evangelization in Benin, Edo State. This work employed the historical and descriptive methodology. In order to ascertain reliable data, various methods of data collection were employed. These include oral interview and personal observation. Literatures are reviewed. Journal, articles and internet are consulted. This research work discovered the following: Pentecostalism is a new wave of Christianity that strongly believes in the power and manifestation of the holy spirit just like the apostles in the bible days, Pentecostals tends to bring the Christianity closer to the people by bridging the gap between the clergy and laity, with the use of the people’s native language evangelization was made easier, and finally the Pentecostals employed the teaching on faith and miraculous healing which boosted the spread of the movement in the various localities.