ABSTRACT
In the first part of this chapter the different phases and aspects of Pentecostalism will be explained. While many traditional, white churches have experienced decline, one of the fastest growing sectors of the UK is that of Black Pentecostal congregations, especially in London because of immigration from African Christian countries, including Nigeria, The movement is also strong globally, especially in the developing world including the continents of Africa and South America. In the second part I will give a retrospective auto-ethnography (Maynard and Purvis, 1994; Saunders, 2017; Greed, 2019) on Pentecostalism and how it shaped my life, as I was a Pentecostal convert myself in my late teens. This personal account will 83illustrate how religion, gender and the spatial urban context and town planning have interacted in my own life. In Chapter 15 the spatial and social problems that Pentecostal congregations encounter when dealing with the town planning system in the UK will be illustrated.
