International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Research

Authors
Thomas George, KR Rajani

Abstract
Christianity in India has a tradition dating more than 2000 years. It came to India with the arrival of one of the disciples of Jesus Christ, St. Thomas in AD 52. Christianity witnessed many renewal movements throughout history. Pentecostalism is an important and significant renewal movement. It has nearly a hundred year tradition. It is generally believed that Pentecostalism came to India through Western missionaries but further investigation and records reveal that the Pentecostal experience or an incipient form of Pentecostalism can be traced in India before it originated other parts of the world. This does not mean that the arrival of Western Pentecostalism had no impact in India. In fact a structured and organized Pentecostal church began in India with the arrival of Pentecostals from the West. Thus all Pentecostal churches are not indigenous origin yet all indigenous churches are not Pentecostal. Assemblies of God (AG) and Church of God (COG) have no Indian origin. After independence they become indigenous in leadership. However the Indian Pentecostal Church of God (IPC) is an indigenous Pentecostal church. The distinctive indigenous practices make IPC unique among the Western origin Pentecostal churches and sets it apart from Indian Pentecostalism in general.