ABSTRACT
The expansion of evangelical Christianity, and more especially of its potent Pentecostal mutation, is closely related to the emergence of a global society. The essence of globalization is the increasing speed of movement as people, ideas, images and capital take advantage of modern means of communication. As we all know, what began with road, canal and railway is now communication by jet and internet. The advertisement pages of newspapers are just one indication that the major social catalyst of mass tourism can take us to remotest Amazonia or Borneo. However, the consequences for religion on our planet are less obvious. In the early part of the twentieth century the extension of Methodist chapels in the surrounding area of Mexico City followed the line of the British-built railways. More recently new roads out of Mérida in the Yucatán and out of La Paz in Bolivia mark out the route of evangelical dissemination. Like any other kind of message, evangelical messages travel to the jungles of Irian on the Papuan border and to the remotest valleys of Nepal.
