Dear Editor,
The late US Pentecostal historian Vinson Synan did extensive research on the genesis of the Pentecostal movement at the turn of the 20th century in his "The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition".
Contrary to what Bahamian students are being taught in their religious classes in government schools, Charles Parham did not initiate the start of the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles in 1906.
It was an African American named William J. Seymour. Parham is credited with being the catalyst for the birth of the Pentecostal movement after a student of his, Agnes Ozman, claimed to experience glossolalia after reportedly being baptized in the Holy Spirit at his Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas.
Parham was deeply influenced by John Alexander Dowie of Zion City in Chicago, A.B. Simpson and Frank Sanford, according to Synan.
Visiting Azusa Street at the invitation of Seymour in 1906, Parham would vehemently denounce the revival, causing an irreparable rift between him and Seymour.
Bahamian historians have claimed that the Pentecostal revival would reach New Providence in the early 1900s through Bahamians Edmund and Rebecca Barr, who brought the Church of God to the capital.
The Church of God, the Assemblies of God and the Church of God of Prophecy are among the oldest Pentecostal denominations in the world. All are currently present in The Bahamas.
I don't have any data concerning the number of members these denominations have, but from my vantage point, it would appear that these churches are not as numerically strong as they once were.
This might be due to the advent of many Charismatic and Pentecostal non-denominational and independent churches in New Providence, Grand Bahama, Bimini, Andros and Abaco.
The Pentecostal founders of these independent churches are following the example of their American counterparts who looked at denominations with jaundiced eyes. Historians such as David Edwin Harrell, Jr. (All Things are Possible) have documented the rift between the old Pentecostal denominations and the many healing evangelists in the 1950s.
The old Pentecostal denominations are hemorrhaging members to these independent churches. With approximately 4,000 churches and parachurch organizations in The Bahamas alone, I would imagine that independent Charismatic/Pentecostal churches make up a significant percentage of the aforementioned number.
While many prominent, college educated and accomplished Bahamians and expatriates attend Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and Lutheran churches, I have noticed that many Bahamians who are not college educated tend to worship at Jumper churches. Bahamians of the lower income sociological demographic are drawn to these churches because they fit right in with their fellow congregants.
A McDonald's employee will feel just as equally important as a fellow member employed at Bahamas Power and Light or Cable Bahamas.
A Cabinet minister and members of the judiciary are more likely to attend St. Agnes Anglican Church than, say, Born Again Apostolic Church of Jesus in Bain and Grants Town pastored by Apostle Jane Doe.
To their credit, there's no economic discrimination in small Pentecostal churches. Successful large independent Charismatic churches such as Mount Tabor and Bahamas Faith Ministries are the exception rather than the norm, in that both have attracted Bahamians of all socioeconomic levels.
Another feature of Jumper churches is the typical eight to two ratio of women to men. Women far outnumber their male counterparts in these churches. This is an element that stood out to me as I watched a small Pentecostal/Jumper church program on ZNS TV13.
If there were 80 adults sitting in the pews, at least 70 of them were females. Women typically prefer the "firely" brand of preaching in the pulpits, rather than educational homilies in the mainline denominations.
To them, seminary trained clergymen in these established denominations are not anointed. Herein lies another correlation between small Pentecostal churches and their American counterparts during the heydays of the Post World War II healing revival.
Both have embraced an anti-intellectual posture. Another interesting feature in many of these churches is the lack of formal structure, unlike their denominational counterparts that have various boards which hold the leadership accountable.
One particular Bahamian pastor of a small Pentecostal church was heard stating that no board is going to dictate to him how to run his church.
Even the worship services are at times ad hoc, in which the moderator or preacher goes completely off script, stating that the Holy Spirit has messed up their agenda.
Egalitarianism is practiced in these churches, with women being afforded the opportunity to ascend to the highest positions in leadership.
It is not uncommon to see female bishops and apostles. Many of the small Pentecostal churches are weak in hermeneutics and theology, placing a strong emphasis on the charismata instead.
Speaking in tongues, being slain in the Spirit, interpreting dreams and visions, binding Satan, prophesying and dancing are all stressed, while sound Bible teaching is virtually nonexistent in a good many of these congregations.
The allure of prophecy is one explanation for the explosive growth of small Pentecostal churches, in addition to combating Obeah and other forms of Satanism. The average Bahamian wants to know what the future holds for him and his family.
To the credit of these churches, prayer and fasting are important disciplines. Many Bahamians in the lower socioeconomic class gravitate to the Pentecostal genre of worship, which is the upbeat, urban and contemporary music similar to the style utilized by Kirk Franklin and Tasha Cobbs Leonard.
Pentecostals typically utilize praise teams in their worship services, as opposed to hymnals and traditional choirs that are common in Anglican and Catholic churches.
The latter prefer the liturgical genre Pentecostals deem to be dead and lacking in the anointing.
Small Pentecostal churches have also fallen victim to the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, and have seen their numbers dwindle. But given the history of the movement, I expect these churches to continue expanding in the foreseeable future, especially with many Bahamian households living below the middle-class threshold.
Hopefully, a far more professional and exhaustive study will be conducted in order to gain a sociological assessment of the small Pentecostal church movement in The Bahamas.
— Kevin Evans
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