Pentecostalism is a renewal movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek name for the Jewish Feast of Weeks. For Christians, this event commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the followers of Jesus Christ, as described in the second chapt
er of the Book of Acts. This Pentecostal movement experienced a great explosion in India with the arrival of a number of foreign missionaries. Cook, from the U.S. He arrived in North India and established a few mission posts. There were few great men of God that received the calling of god with a great burden to expand the lord’s kingdom in India of which Pastor P.J. Thomas is one among them. His great determination and passion for Christ urged him to study the Word of God deeper and he completed various theologies from Serampore University (India) and abroad in both an Australian bible college and Wheaton college an American college near Chicago Illinois where he was given a degree. He left to India in early 1950’s while teaching comparative religion at Wheaton College and settled in Thiruvalla which is now the Sharon compound. Thomas is the founder of the Sharon Fellowship Church. Now it has more than 2050 local churches in India and other 34 countries and also have 10 Bible colleges around the world. Dr. T.G. Koshy is the president of this organization. It has a strong emphasis on theological scholarship. It currently has the only Pentecostal accredited seminary (Faith Theological Seminary, Manakkala, Adoor) that offers post-graduate degrees. The reputation of the “Sharon” name came with two revival meetings that were documented in a reputed Indian newspaper and the opening of the Bible College at the Sharon compound in 1953. During a period of unrest in the Pentecostal churches in India, Pastor P.J. Thomas remained neutral and the Sharon compound was often used as a place of mediation. The church began to truly grow in the 1960’s and the mission oriented vision gives emphasis on theological scholarship as well as pioneer ministry. Sharon Fellowship Church, truly a church distinguished by separatism and energized by revivalism.
