We explore in this article how Evangelical and Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches (EPCCs) view Artificial Intelligence (AI), and how they use it, either intentionally or indirectly. Considering first the digital habitus in which EPCCs are immersed, we have documented and analyzed three sample cases showing how EPCCs use advanced AI tools to improve the sanctification process for believers; how the Bible can be translated, distributed, and its reading can be fostered around the world, using machine intelligence; and how a spiritual revival among EPCCs can spread rapidly through AI-mediated algorithms. We discuss the implications of these developments and conclude finally with some ideas about how EPCCs should engage AI applications in the future.

During 2020–2021, the COVID-19 pandemics exacerbated the use of digital communication tools for the general population as well as for migrant and diasporic communities. Due to social distancing requirements, church activities had to be suspended or restricted, therefore, local congregations and denominations had to incorporate social media as part of their regular worship channels in an unprecedented way. At the same time, these new spaces opened an opportunity for diasporas to reconnect with their churches back home, and to participate in digital worship projects. In this paper, we study the case of the digital worship collective Adorando en Casa (AeC), which was started at the onset of the pandemics, producing several crowdsourced original musical compositions, uploaded in popular social media sites, and distributed via messaging apps. We focus on the reasons for participation of Venezuelan musicians and singers from different regions in the country, and from the large diaspora of Venezuelan Evangelicals. Additionally, we analyze the characteristics, structure, and theology of some of the songs recorded, to show how the concept of a digital diasporic spiritual consciousness is powerfully expressed through worship music.

Este artículo estudia la contribución al sionismo cristiano-evangélico global de la asociación de iglesias pentecostales Obra Evangélica La Luz del Mundo (OELLM), presidida por su pastor-fundador Jaime Banks Puertas, una organización eclesiástica autóctona, de base popular, con sede en Guanare-Venezuela, fundada por un venezolano. Se hace una observación puntual sobre el caso de la interacción del pastor Banks Puertas con el fallecido presidente de Venezuela Hugo Chávez Frías, a raíz de su decisión de suspender las relaciones diplomáticas con el Estado de Israel en el año 2009. Se analizaron dos cartas enviadas por el pastor Banks Puertas al presidente Hugo Chávez Frías entre 2006 y 2009. Las mismas contienen la idea de que cualquiera que se interponga en contra de Israel, bien sea físicamente o de palabra, sufrirá un castigo divino, llegando incluso hasta la muerte. Para la OELLM, la muerte del gobernante venezolano ocurrida un tiempo después, es prueba contundente de que los mandatos divinos son reales y que deben ser acatados, reforzando así sus convicciones sionistas. El artículo aborda también otros aspectos que sirven de contexto al caso estudiado, tales como la producción de literatura, la realización de excursiones a Israel, y la adopción de elementos litúrgicos judíos, por parte de la OELLM. Los elementos analizados, junto con el caso descrito, sirven para comprender la cosmovisión e influencia de esta creciente denominación pentecostal tanto a nivel nacional como continental.

Several review articles about megachurch studies have been published recently concentrating their work on USA, Europe, and other parts of the world, with just a few references about Latin American megachurches. For that reason, this article aims to identify some of the characteristics of Latin American Evangelical megachurches by looking at relevant literature, especially that produced in the region, in Spanish and Portuguese, which is usually overlooked by researchers in the Global North. Since this research field is still limited in Latin America, areas where further work is necessary are identified. Three general catalysts for the emergence of megachurches in the region, church growth methodologies, Pentecostalization, and theologies of growth, serve as guides to organize the review process. The discussion shows that several potential areas of research in a variety of fields such as theology, ecclesiology, organizational theory, leadership, gender studies, and ethics, are proposed from the review.

This article describes the leadership and organizational elements that have made the Seven Mountains Mandate (7MM), a very adaptable, simple to explain, and feasible to implement message and portable practice, which can start at a local level to be expanded progressively to regional and national dimensions, one of the main doctrines of the Apostolic Restoration Movement (ARM). A new classification of apostolic networks is proposed in this article and a partial map of some of the networks that participate in the expansion of the 7MM is presented. Additionally, by using definitions from network leadership theory, it is shown how different types of leaders that function as horizontal connectors in apostolic networks, such as conveners, catalysts, mobilizers, facilitators, weavers, provocateurs, illuminators, hosts, and curators contribute to the diffusion of the 7MM by promoting its global widening, deepening, and lengthening (WDL). The article first describes the evolution of the church from denominations to networks, and how the ARM adopted the network organizational structure that serves as a channel for the diffusion of the 7MM. Cases from the USA, Guatemala, Zambia, and Venezuela are used as examples to demonstrate how the 7MM expansion or widening (W), its contextualization and adaption or deepening (D), and its sustainability, reproduction, and evolution, or lengthening (L), occur globally based on the network nature of the ARM and the network leadership enacted in the process.