Pentecostals/Charismatics

Pentecostalism in North Africa and West Asia takes two primary forms: churches associated with international Pentecostal denominations that were started by missionaries or expatriates, and indigenous Pentecostal groups of secret believers from Muslim backgrounds, often operating as house churches. The region’s historic indigenous Christian traditions perceive Pentecostalism as having weakened Christianity against Islam by proselytising their existing members instead of converting non-Christians. Many Pentecostal Christians in the region have arrived as migrant workers from places like Africa, South Asian, the Philippines, and Eastern Europe, and their churches provide essential networks of social and practical support. The explosive growth projected for the movement worldwide is limited in North Africa and West Asia by the spread of Islamism. Nevertheless, Pentecostal Christianity has been the fastest growing Christian tradition in the region with an annual growth rate of 7.8% between 1970 and 2015; for comparison, the total population growth for this period was 2.4% and that of Christianity overall only 1.5%.