Navarro 2004

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States
Pentecostal Adaptations in Rural and Urban Mexico: An Anthropological Assessment

Author(s): CarlosGarmaNavarro and MiguelC.Leatham
Source: Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Winter 2004), pp. 145-166
Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the University of California Institute for
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Pentecostal Adaptations in Rural and Urban Mexico:
An Anthropological Assessment
Carlos Garma Navarro*
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa
Miguel C. Leatham
Texas Christian University
Pentecostalism is the fastest-growing form of Protestant religion in rural and ur-

ban Mexico. Anthropological studies have shown that high church-formation
rates are related to Pentecostal asceticism and organizational flexibility. Rural Pen-
tecostal migrants in Mexican cities retain a worldview that is largely centered
on the work ethic and proscriptions of costly worldly behaviors. A comparison
of findings from urban and rural settings shows how Pentecostal ideology al-
lows for a pragmatic stance toward prosperity and community structure. Thus,
Mexican Pentecostalism has emerged as a promoter of autochthonous adapta-
tions to diverse socioeconomic environments.
El pentecostalismo constituye la forma religiosa protestante de mayor creci-

miento en México. Estudios antropológicos demuestran que esta expansión se
basa principalmente en el ascetismo y la flexibilidad organizativa inherentes al
pentecostalismo. En las ciudades, los migrantes rurales pentecostalistas man-
tienen una actitud enfocada en la ética del trabajo y el rechazo a los compor-
tamientos mundanos costosos. La presente comparación entre el ambiente ru-
ral y urbano, muestra como la ideología pentecostalista permite una orientación
práctica en torno a la prosperidad y la estructura comunitaria. Así, el pentecos-
talismo mexicano ha surgido como promotor de adaptaciones autóctonas ante
condiciones socioeconómicas diversas.
Pentecostal religion has expanded into very diverse environments in

Mexico. Groups of religious dissidents have founded denominations and
*The authors would like to express their appreciation to the anonymous reviewers of this
article for their helpful suggestions.
Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos Vol. no. 20(1),Winter 2004, pages 000–000. ISSN 07429797 ©2004
Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Send requests for permission to reprint to:
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145

146 Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos
churches from the Guatemalan churches in Chiapas refugee camps to

the dusty avenues of Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez. Today, small Indian com-
munities in the sierras, as well as in urban settlements of large metro-
politan cities, are home to Pentecostal churches where one hears
prayers, the singing of psalms, or demonstrations of the gift of tongues
(supernaturally caused glossolalia), among other manifestations of the
creyentes (Pentecostal believers).
The first analysis of Protestantism in Mexicanist anthropology was
that of Manuel Gamio, who studied migrants to northern border cities
of the United States, where the first Pentecostal churches arose.1 Since
1970 (Gaxiola 1970), anthropologists have produced detailed ethno-
graphic studies of Pentecostal activities in the rural sector, such as
Garma’s (1987) work with Pentecostal Totonacs of Puebla and Good-
man’s (1974) study of glossolalia and congregational growth in a Yu-
catec Maya village. Within the past decade, however, various researchers
have studied Pentecostal communities in urban settings as varied as
Merida, Villahermosa, Tijuana, Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Jalapa,
reestablishing a field of studies that had been neglected for several
decades. This article surveys the current state of anthropological knowl-
edge about Mexican Pentecostalism, both in its rural and urban mani-
festations. Of particular interest in this discussion is the great consis-
tency in ideology and practice and the common political-organizational
problems characteristic of Pentecostal experience across all sectors of
Mexican society.
Autochtonous Pentecostalism
Most observers acknowledge that Mexican migrants returning from the
United States first introduced Pentecostal Protestantism into Mexico’s
northern states during the decade of the Revolution (1910–1920). Sub-
sequently, Mexican Pentecostalism has developed along largely au-
tochthonous lines, with some national organizations forming. Creyentes
often credit Romana Valenzuela with being the first to “bring the Holy
1. See Gamio (1931) for the original study done by the founder of modern Mexican
Anthropology. The life histories and interviews which are the sources for the study were
published in Spanish much later in Gamio (1972). Gamio carried out his study from 1926
to 1927, which makes this one of the first references to Protestant conversion of Latin Amer-
ican populations. Gamio found that the rites of faith healing were very attractive for Mex-
ican immigrants, who discovered that religious conversion to Protestantism could help them
adapt to a hostile American culture. More recent studies on the northern borderlands of
Mexico are Casillas (1989) and Casillas and Hernández (1990). On southern Mexico see Or-
tiz (1989), Juárez, (1989), and Hernández (1989). Fortuny (1989) analyzes Pentecostalism
in Mérida, Yucatán; Jalapa, Veracruz is studied in Vázquez (1987).

Navarro/Leatham: Pentecostal Adaptations in Mexico 147
Spirit” to Mexico. She became a Pentecostal around 1912 after contact-

ing William Seymour’s Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles. In 1914 she
founded her own Pentecostal congregation at Villa Aldama, Chihuahua
(Garma 2001a: 66). That church evolved into what is reputedly the old-
est native Pentecostal organization in Mexico, the Iglesia Apostólica de
la Fe en Cristo Jesús, which had grown to 130 congregations by 1944
(Bowen 1996: 41).
Examples of authochtonous Mexican Pentecostal churches abound.
La Iglesia de Dios Evangelio Completo (LDEC) began in Sonora. In 1926
María Atkinson, née Rivera, of Alamos, a wealthy Sonoran woman, con-
verted to Pentecostalism in Arizona after a miraculous cure, then re-
turned to missionize in southern Sonora. By 1932 she had founded the
LDEC, which is still active in the Mayo Valley, and established the
church’s worship and lifestyle guidelines (O’Connor 2001: 37).
Also in 1926, Eusebio Joaquín González, known as Aarón, founded
in Guadalajara what is now Mexico’s largest native Pentecostal-derived
church, La Iglesia de La Luz del Mundo (ILLM). After his death in 1964,
his son Samuel succeeded him as prophet and head of ILLM. Under
Samuel’s leadership, the church has expanded to an asserted interna-
tional membership of four million (Fortuny 1995b: 147; De la Torre 1995:
73). The church uses a sectarian colony organizational model through-
out Mexico, with the mother colony in Guadalajara bearing the name
Hermosa Provincia. Several other Pentecostal organizations operate at
the national level in Mexico, including Asambleas de Dios, Iglesia Cris-
tiana Betel, Iglesias Apostólicas, Esperanza y Amor, and MIEPES (Iglesias
Pentecostales Independientes) (Garma 1988: 54). Proliferation of local,
independent congregations through schism is common, promoted partly
by relatively unregulated competition among pastors for new members,
or “poaching” (Bowen 1996: 156–7, 163).
Recruitment and Expansion

As in other Latin American nations, Pentecostal growth rates have been
higher than any other non-Catholic religion in modern Mexico. One re-
cent study estimates national annual growth for the mid-1990s at 9.6 per-
cent, compared with 4.9 percent for historical Protestant denominations,
such as Baptists and Presbyterians (Bowen 1996: 68). Fortuny (1994:
56–7) suggests that several cultural features within Pentecostal tradition
promote this rapid expansion. These may be summarized as: 1) strong
face-to-face relations within usually small congregations; 2) compara-
bility of recruits’ personal circumstances and class status with those of
pastors; 3) strong emotional experiences, such as testimonies, dancing,
and a prominent role for music; 4) glossolalia, or speaking in tongues,

associated with prestige and the assurance of salvation for its practi-
tioners; 5) a strong emphasis on oral tradition: and 6) miracle healing in
the context of a resource-poor environment. In regard to miracle claims,
in Mexican Pentecostalism and medium-based cults, such as Spiritual-
ism, a person often decides to join the group after a supernatural heal-
ing (Fortuny 1989: 36; Finkler 1985: 28). Recruitment then tends to ra-
diate through the convert’s networks (Finkler 1985, 28). Indeed, Bowen
(1996, 112) observes that 90 percent of his Mexican Pentecostal survey
sample reported having witnessed faith healings, and that Pentecostals
were twice as likely as historical denominational members to claim that
a faith healing had precipitated personal conversion.
Other factors often cited as promoting affiliation include recruits’
rejection of social and economic costs associated with folk-Catholic prac-
tice, especially the cargo system in some indigenous communities (Dow
2001: 17–18). On the organizational level, Pentecostal religious special-
ists require far less formal training than the Catholic clergy, and this cir-
cumstance must also be considered in evaluating availability for Pente-
costal recruitment and commitment among socially and politically
marginal Mexicans (Fortuny 1995a: 107).
A significant finding about Pentecostal growth in Latin America gen-
erally is that women’s interests drive a considerable amount of recruit-
ment to such groups (Leatham 1996: 185–6). Through its ascetic pro-
scriptions, Pentecostalism offers a chance to separate males from the
vices associated with the male prestige complex (Chesnut 1997: 60)—
alcoholism, infidelity, spousal abuse, and lack of frugality (Fortuny 2000:
381–2). Women also encounter opportunities not available in the Catholic
Church for women’s ministerial activity and “have the chance to address
others from a position of spiritual equality” (Fortuny 2000: 381).
Pentecostal growth appears to be related to similarities between
thaumaturgical “folk”(non-hegemonic) Catholicism and Pentecostalism,
because both may be considered “practical” religious forms (Leatham
1996: 177). Since the 1980s, a perspective on Mexican Pentecostalism
has emerged that considers it as part of an autochthonous religious con-
tinuum based upon folk-Catholic principles (Leatham 1996: 187). Ac-
cording to this view, since Mexican Pentecostal sect formation began to
accelerate in the 1960s, it has become increasingly apparent that “the
flourishing of heterodox religion being witnessed in Latin America is a
redeployment of ‘popular religion,’ of rural forms of Catholicism with-
out priests”(Bastian 1993: 35). Stoll (1990: 112–13) refers to this process
as a “rechanneling” of folk Catholicism.
Folk Catholicism is a worldview highly susceptible to religious in-
novation and charismatic claims. It is oriented around demonstration of
signs and miracles rather than theology, and privileges individual judg-

ment in matters of belief (Leatham 1996: 177–8). Bastian (1993: 44)

draws attention to the eclectic, private judgment process inherent in folk
Catholicism in forming a “patchwork” (or “bricolage”) new religion fit-
ted to recruits’ needs. Since most non-Catholic groups in Latin America
are largely endogenous developments of the folk-Catholic milieu, Bast-
ian argues for the primacy of folk-Catholic principles in creating new
Pentecostal forms (Bastian 1989b: 75–6). He speaks of “an acculturation
of historical Protestant forms to the practice and values of popular
Catholic culture” (quoted in Hernández 1994: 94). Indeed, compatibil-
ity between folk-Catholic and Pentecostal ideas is so significant that Pen-
tecostal proselytizers in Latin America may attempt to employ it in or-
der to attract recruits (Martin 1990: 203, 261).
An interesting counterpoint to the focus on high recruitment rates
is Bowen’s (1996: 71) recent analysis of Mexican Pentecostal apostasy.
Indeed, Pentecostal churches have the highest drop-out rates of all the
Protestant churches in Mexico. Bowen attributes high defection rates to
a strong sectarian stance which produces tension with the broader so-
ciety, very stringent behavioral and commitment standards, and “chronic
anxieties over whether their [creyentes’] salvation is secure” (Bowen
1996: 226). The latter point relates strongly to the creyente’s need to ac-
quire the gift of tongues, a sign of “elect” status and salvation. Expecta-
tions for members often include abstinence from smoking and con-
sumption of alcohol, strict marital fidelity, and avoidance of many forms
of secular entertainment. Congregants may be expected to attend
lengthy, ecstatic evening worship services twice weekly. More than doc-
trinal disagreement, burn-out and lack of compliance with ascetic re-
quirements—especially for males—appears to be a major factor in Mex-
ican Pentecostal apostasy. Thus, many Mexican Pentecostal churches
must rely heavily on constant proselytization for replacement and sus-
tained growth. The problem of leaving the faith may be very difficult for
a congregation when it involves the families of religious leaders. A com-
mon saying among Mexican Protestant and Pentecostal evangelicals is,
“Hijo de pastor, lo peor” (a pastor’s son is the worst). This saying ex-
presses how believers perceive apostasy of second-generation members
who are also the sons of pastors and preachers.
Political Challenges and Responses

Martin (1990: 2656) believes that the “apolitical,” conservative bias of
many Latin American Pentecostal churches is a product of their traditional
dualistic emphasis upon separation of their religion from “the world”and,
consequently, from politics. Fortuny (1989: 51, 59) also writes that less-
ened political activism among Pentecostals stems from their sola scrip-

tura orientation—the notion that God has put the authorities in charge
(deriving partly from their reading of Romans 14:1–2)—and thus are re-
luctant to challenge the civil order. Martin (1990: 232) and Fortuny (1989:
524) both argue that Mexican Pentecostal detachment from politicking
exhibits strong influences from U.S. Pentecostal ideology.
Since the 1994 social and economic crisis, Pentecostals—and Protes-
tants in general, like so many other social groups in Mexico—have be-
come disillusioned by the constant economic and political crisis. Com-
petition within Mexico’s “religious arena” (Burdick 1993: 7–10) among
Catholic, Evangelical, and non-Evangelical religions such as the Church
of Latter Day Saints and Jehova’s Witnesses has been impacted consid-
erably since 1988 by novel political realignments.
As in other Latin American countries, Mexico has a long and com-
plex history of conflict between the State and the hierarchy of the
Catholic Church. In Mexico, such tensions were enshrined in the poli-
cies of the liberal governments of 1824 and 1857, the latter of which
confiscated church property and derogated special ecclesiastical legal
privileges. In the Constitution of 1917, strong separation of church and
state was maintained, partly through such provisions as banning the
clergy from using clerical garb in public and from voting, prohibiting
public religious displays without official permit, secularizing (in theory)
all public instruction, and declaring all church edifices to be national-
ized properties.
The presidency of Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988–1994) seriously
restructured tense relations between the Mexican state and the Roman
Catholic Church. Salinas came to the executive by a narrow margin over
the Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD) opposition candidate,
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, in what was a highly disputed election. It was,
in fact, the closest presidential election for the official party, the Partido
Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), in its nearly seventy years of exis-
tence. Salinas made early attempts to establish official rapport with the
Mexican Catholic hierarchy with the apparent goal of shoring up erod-
ing popular support for PRI candidates.
Against the long tradition of Mexican separation of church and state,
the Roman Catholic hierarchy was represented at Salinas’ presidential
inauguration by Cardinal Archbishop Corripio Ahumada of Mexico City
and Girolamo Prigione, the papal delegate to Mexico. Just prior to open-
ing relations with the Vatican, Salinas greeted Pope John Paul II at the
Mexico City airport. As part of its courting of Catholic support, in 1991
the Salinas administration passed constitutional amendments recog-
nizing religious schools, which are overwhelmingly Catholic, and the
clergy’s voting rights (though the clergy could still not occupy public

office). The bishops of the Catholic Church pressed the government to

exclude any religious group having fewer than 1.5 percent of the na-
tional population from being registered as “religious associations”by the
government (Fortuny 1995a: 70–1).
Unlike the mainline Protestant churches, the great majority of Mex-
ican Pentecostal congregations are small and local, isolated, or marginal,
and have no bureaucracies to represent them before the Mexican state.
With the exceptions of Asambleas de Dios and Iglesia Apostólica de la
Fe en Cristo Jesús, Pentecostal organizations are not represented in the
national action group Foro Nacional de Iglesias Cristianas Evangélicas
(FONICE), which is made up largely of mainline denominations. Thus,
even though Pentecostal congregations comprise the largest Protestant
presence in Mexico, they are often far more vulnerable to persecutions
and discrimination by government and the general populace (Fortuny
1995a: 72). Fortuny (1995a: 72) observes that, in general,
Protestant churches have scant possibilities for structuring or constituting them-

selves as a single interlocutor with the State. As a result, they are at a disadvan-
tage with respect to the Catholic Church. This incapacity for dialogue with the
outside has isolated them and also has made them defenseless against the in-
tolerance which can reach the extremes of physical violence, torture, jailing and
lynching of its members.
Today, Pentecostals are seeking new ways of organizing themselves

against poverty and political isolation. For example, Garma has attended
Pentecostal meetings that are held exclusively to pray for unemployed
church members so that God may allow them to find employment. These
ceremonies provide important pyschological support for individuals who
find themselves in this difficult predicament. In the political arena, Pen-
tecostal leaders discussed three distinct strategies for the congressional
elections of 1997: 1) to create an “evangelical party”with Protestant lead-
ership and followers; 2) to continue voting for the state party, the PRI;
and 3) to support opposition parties, particularly the leftist PRD. The poli-
tical opposition from the right, PAN (Partido de Acción Nacional), alien-
ates Pentecostals and other Protestants because of its Catholic-oriented
discourse and alliances.
As with other Mexican Protestant groups, Pentecostals do not share
a distinct, unified political ideology. Political stances may vary accord-
ing to the believers in the congregation, personal history, and economic
situations. In spite of this, important common representations do affect
the believers’ political orientation. One is the notion of earth-bound,
worldly, negative politics. The other is the exaltation of nationalism cou-
pled with the trappings of an anti-Catholic ideology that is widespread

among the Mexican Evangelical community. Some believers may com-

bine both conceptions, while others prefer one to the other. It should
be noted that this diversity displays itself not only among Pentecostal
and other Protestant religious associations as a whole, but also within
their churches and congregations (Garma 2001b: 63).
Recently, in the southern State of Chiapas, evangelicals successfully
participated in gubernatorial elections. The election winner, Pablo
Salazar Mendicuchia, is a lawyer with a family background of Presbyterian
and Nazarene believers. Having belonged to the official party, the PRI,
for many years, he ran as an independent candidate in 2000. His politi-
cal platform was highly critical of officials’ failure to negotiate with the
Zapatista rebels, and of governmental neglect of indigenous religious con-
flicts. Salazar received support from the Presbyterians, Nazarenes, Bap-
tists, and the Assemblies of God. Through careful negotiations, he also
obtained support from the Catholic bishop, Samuel Ruiz, who upheld
the theology of liberation generally disliked by most evangelicals. Salazar
is the first evangelical governor in Mexico’s history. He has established
local interreligious committees to end religious conflict with positive
results. Chiapas has the largest non-Catholic population in the country,
yet it is difficult to predict whether coalition-building among Protestants
and Pentecostals will repeat itself in other scenarios. After achieving their
short-term goals, these broad evangelical coalitions tend to disband and
lose their political strength.
Rural and Urban Pentecostal Adaptations

Owing partly to debates on the role of the Summer Institute of Linguis-
tics (SIL) in the 1980s, anthropologists recently have focused greater at-
tention on the diffusion of Evangelical Protestantism in Mexico’s rural
areas—especially Indian regions—than on urban zones. Since the SIL was
a missionary institution which operated in indigenous areas, studies that
upheld or questioned the “conspiracy theory” of foreign, Protestantiz-
ing influence had to prove the validity of their point of view by work-
ing in contacted Indian communities.2 However, the diffusion of Protes-
tantism is not limited to Indian areas in the Mexican countryside, though
it has had the strongest impact of all Protestant types on indigenous
groups and has grown the most rapidly among them in recent years
(Garma 2001a: 68; Dow 2001: 8).
With growing rural and urban Pentecostal ethnographic data avail-
2. The term “conspiracy theory”appears in Stoll (1984), where he presents a strong

critique of this type of analysis. Bastian (1983) and Garma (1989) analyze the controversy
over the Summer Institute of Linguistics in Mexico.

able for Mexico, some comparative analysis of the two forms is now fea-
sible. What are the elements that separate rural and urban Pentecostal-
ism? Might rural and urban versions be best considered as distinct reli-
gious systems, as certain authors [particularly Bastian (1992)] have
suggested? Or might they be part of the same social process which in-
volves actors with great mobility who migrate from countryside to city?
The following discussion of these issues draws on Garma’s comparative
field research among Pentecostals in a rural, indigenous town and a large
district of Mexico City. After briefly characterizing these two settings,
the discussion will turn to similarities and contrasts between Pentecostal
growth and organization in both rural and urban Mexico.
Ixtepec, Sierra Norte de Puebla
The population of the Sierra Norte de Puebla region of eastern Mexico
is predominantly Totonac, along with a lesser number of mestizos. The
area’s economy is largely based on subsistence corn-farming and com-
mercial agriculture centered on coffee cultivation. Indians here are
mostly peasants and laborers, though most families supplement their in-
come through migration to urban centers. Mestizos have large plots of
land and occupy a high position in the local social strata system. Politi-
cal power is concentrated in mestizo groups who delegate secondary
functions to local Indians.3
Protestantism entered the Totonac community of Ixtepec 40 years
ago. National and foreign missionaries prompted the founding of vari-
ous churches in the town. Virtually all members of these congregations
are Indians. Currently in Ixtepec, Pentecostal churches are the most nu-
merous, with the largest number of faithful. Agua Viva, MIEPES, and El
Salvador are the most important groups. Pentecostalism has had a great
political impact in Ixtepec, playing a role in a local peasant movement.
The members of one church participated in an unsuccessful peasant
movement of great importance for the town (Garma 1984).
Iztapalapa, México, Distrito Federal
Located today within the Federal District, Iztapalapa originated as a pre-
Conquest Náhuatl settlement in the Valley of Mexico. The defense of its
agricultural land allowed the indigenous community to survive inde-
pendently until recent decades when the urbanization of the national
capital finally overtook it. Former agricultural plots gave way to gov-
ernment constructions and the precarious houses of thousands of poor
migrants who came to settle on low cost land with no urban services.
3. Garma’s (1987) study in the region was carried out from 1980 to 1984. Masfer-
rer (1986) also contains data on the Totonacs of the Sierra Norte de Puebla.

The town of Iztapalapa maintains strong traditions of popular

Catholic religion which are still considered part of a local identity that
resists the metropolis. Many consider conversion to non-Catholic creeds
to be negative, since it is a form of self-exclusion from the broader com-
munity. Protestants founded their churches in popular settlements estab-
lished outside the older town center. The continual arrival of migrants
from both Indian and mestizo communities caused denominational and
Pentecostal Protestant churches to grow and prosper. Of the Pentecostal
churches, Garma has studied congregations of the Iglesia Apostólica de
la Fe, Bethel, and Gethesemani.
As of this writing, the Delegation of Iztapalapa (which includes both
the center and the surrounding urban settlements) has the highest con-
centration of Protestant congregations in all of Mexico City, as well as
the highest percentage of migrants. These religious minorities compete
with a popular Catholic tradition upheld by inhabitants of the older town
who are not migrants and who call themselves nativos.4
Economic Impact and Behavioral Patterns

In the Sierra Norte de Puebla, Protestants stand out because of social
conduct that separates them from the Catholic population. The most no-
table elements of the social code are the rejection of alcohol consump-
tion and the excessive expense required for participation in traditional
Catholic fiestas. Instead, a work ethic is upheld, placing a high value on
discipline and thrift. Social mobility of Protestants in Latin American ru-
ral communities has been studied by various authors as a distinctive as-
pect of many converts’ lives. In Ixtepec, Protestants represented a sig-
nificant number of coffee growers and owners of farm animals in a
community where the lack of land and poverty affected many Indian
families. Local residents have affirmed on various occasions that Protes-
tants were well-off economically. Indeed, members of Evangelical groups
considered that not only did spiritual life become richer, but material
conditions improved when the convert was released from costly and “su-
perficial” vices and expenses.5
Similar social patterns prevail among Protestants in Iztapalapa. These
involve the rejection of alcohol consumption and participation in fiestas,
and the encouragement of a work ethic and thrift. With expanded eco-
4. The most recent anthropological data may be found in the unpublished thesis of
Sánchez Reyes (1990), and Navarrete (1985), along with Rodríguez (1988). All emphasize
popular Catholic religiosity. Garma’s study has been continuous since 1986.
5. The best analysis of the social mobility of Protestants in an Indian peasant com-
munity is Annis (1987). Annis also demonstrates the relationship between Protestantism

nomic possibilities in urban society, social mobility may be combined with

rural-to-urban migration. The individual must find a place within the la-
bor market, and his occupation may change at various times during his
lifetime. His religious affiliation is influenced by these factors, easing the
change from one religion to another. The different Protestant churches
have more members in certain economic sectors than in others. Iztapalapa
Pentecostals are public employees, small-scale merchants, and, most fre-
quently, owners of repair shops and suppliers of diverse services.
Pentecostalism in Iztapalapa is clearly present among members of
the lower middle class, with limits to its diffusion towards lower social
sectors. The working class and informal sector do not include non-
Catholic groups with the exception of some converts to the Jehovah’s
Witnesses. The presence of Pentecostalism in intermediate urban sec-
tors demonstrates that the behavioral patterns that permit social mobility
in rural areas may be useful in the context of a more complex society,
allowing the individual to situate himself in an acceptable position within
the social stratification of the city.6
Impact on Kinship and the Family Unit

In the Sierra Norte de Puebla, recruitment and religious conversion oc-
cur by means of the family unit. The new follower will try to recruit his
closest relatives so that they will accompany him in joining a Pentecostal
group. As in other ethnic areas of Mexico, the conversion to a new re-
ligion tends to follow kinship networks, and the family unit that lives to-
gether will incorporate all of its members to the new creed. In some
communities, the followers may relocate in order to live in areas in-
habited primarily by members of non-Catholic groups. These settlement
patterns appear more often when the followers maintain their kinship
ties in their new places of residence.7
Women of the Sierra Norte occupy a subordinate position in Pen-
and commercial agriculture. On Protestantism and rural economy in Yucatán see Vallado
(1989). O’Connor (1979, 2001) provides an analysis of Mayo class segmentation, ethnic-
ity, and regional development in relation to Pentecostal recruitment.
6. Pentecostalism has been considered as a religion that is characteristic of social
groups which are “marginal” in the United states by authors such as Schwartz (1970),
Williams (1980), and Pattison (1974). Cox (1994) disagrees. Vázquez (1988) states that
Protestant followers in Jalapa are laborers, students, public employees, and shopkeepers.
Variations exist within the different churches. Casillas (1989) shows that the Pentecostals
of Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, and Matamoros belong to middle- and lower-class sectors, again,
with certain variations within each church. Garma (1988) also presents a model of social
stratification and characteristics of populations surveyed.
7. On the relation between kinship and conversion, see Carrasco (1983). On con-
version and use of space, see Bastian (1983) and Robledo (1987).

tecostal churches, since they do not receive the spiritual charisms such
as trances and tongues, and do not have special ministries (Garma 1984:
127). On the other hand, a Methodist group of Ixtepec, Puebla finan-
cially supported a young woman who was studying at a seminary in Mex-
ico City. In other ethnic areas of Mexico there are female Pentecostal
ministers and preachers.8
In Iztapalapa, conversion is more independent in relation to kinship
than in rural settings. It is common to find households whose members
hold different religious affiliations. Thus, the the new convert may con-
vince a close relative or two, but does not always succeed in drawing
the entire family to his creed. In these cases, differences along the lines
of sex and generation may appear; perhaps the men are Catholics while
the women are Protestants, or Catholic grandparents may live with their
Protestant sons and daughters and grandchildren. Family members tol-
erate these differences and maintain household unity. Though the con-
version of entire families also occurs in urban areas, the existence of
domestic units with internal religious differences appears to be an im-
portant feature of urban Protestantism.9
In almost all urban Protestant churches, the role of women is dis-
tinguished by female committees and special positions which they may
occupy, such as directors of Sunday schools. The existence of female
ministers, pastors, and preachers is still more common in denominational
churches than in Pentecostal churches, at least in Iztapalapa. However,
in urban churches the reception of spiritual gifts and charisms appears
in persons of both sexes, regardless of age. Women may preach, give
testimonies, exhibit glossolalia (they do so far more than men), but may
not celebrate marriages, baptisms, or Santa Cena (Lord’s Supper) rituals
(Fortuny 1989: 46–7).
Internal Organization
Most of the Protestant churches in the Sierra Norte de Puebla are rela-
tively small, with ten to thirty members. The structure of Pentecostal
churches in this area is very simple, consisting of three basic positions:
pastor or preacher, secretary, and treasurer. The influence and pre-
dominance of the pastor is evident in the leadership of small churches,
8. The data of Goodman (1972) and Fortuny (1989) show a much stronger role for
women in Pentecostal churches of the Maya cultural area. For example, women most fre-
quently possess the gift of tongues and often outnumber male church-members (Fortuny
1989, 47). This may possibly be a result of the influence on Pentecostalism of the local
culture. More research on creyente women’s roles is needed.
9. See Garma (1988).

which grow and survive through his actions, making him an important
leader in small communities. The pastor or preacher is chosen by the
followers themselves. He is a person from the congregation who has dis-
tinguished himself by his religious knowledge and personal traits. Fre-
quently, he is a migrant who knows Spanish (Garma 1987:115). Even in
churches with a council of elders, the role of the pastor remains an im-
portant one.
The existence of small groups with their own articulation and ex-
ternal ties with other believers and religious organizations creates a sys-
tem of autonomy and power in small communities. The religious group
may become radicalized if its existence is menaced or if it is articulated
to a social movement that shares resources and objectives with the be-
lievers. On occasions, there may be confrontations with political pow-
ers that try to dominate or expel the group. Congregations founded in
isolated regions may act with more independence, since they are not as
closely watched by the central authorities of their church.10
Iztapalapan Protestant churches vary greatly in size. Some consist
of a few families and followers, while others have more than 100 mem-
bers. The Pentecostal churches of Iztapalapa are subject to rigid control.
Their religious leaders must meet annually with their superiors and re-
port on the situation of the groups of which they are in charge. Their
superiors will evaluate congregational leaders’actions and performance.
The urban pastor has usually studied in a Bible school or seminary be-
fore directing a church. Generally, he is assigned to the area where he
resides, though some churchmen ask to be allowed to live in those places
where their families have lived previously. While candidates for other
church positions are chosen and carried out by, and from among, mem-
bers of the congregation, the pastor may be an outsider with a higher
educational level than that of his followers. In populous urban areas such
as Iztapalapa, the pastor frequently has the highest level of educational
attainment in the congregation.
The organization and vigilance of religious leaders is even stronger
in the denominational churches of this area. The development of a rad-
ical and charismatic leadership could not appear in the urban churches
without being detected by the central authorities of the religious or-
ganization. The urban religious leader is therefore much more limited
in his actions than his rural and indigenous counterparts. The leader’s
10. See Garma (1984) and (1987). Bastian (1989a) gives an historical view on the
relation between Protestantism and political power in Mexico. Robledo (1987) highlights
the case of San Juan Chamula, which is similar to the Sierra Norte de Puebla in many as-
pects regarding Protestantism and Indian social movements.

superiors can immediately assess the political outcome of his actions and
transfer him if their evaluation is negative. For these reasons, the polit-
ical impact of Pentecostalism, and possibly of Protestantism in general,
is weaker in the city than in the countryside.11
The internal organization of the churches shows important differ-
ences from the isolated community to the city. These variations are in
part explainable in terms of the need for greater complexity in religious
institutions which can accommodate a greater number of followers. Pen-
tecostal groups must compete against hierarchical churches, especially
the Catholic Church, whose presence is more important in Mexico City
and other urban areas than in the neglected parishes of indigenous re-
gions, where often there are no resident priests. An important element
in the urban strategy is the professionalization of the pastor in the city.
In the city, the pastor has become a professional validated by special-
ized studies, in contrast with the Indian preacher, who merely received
the Holy Spirit and gathered in his followers. This urban transformation
implies a loss of political autonomy for local churches, an inevitable con-
sequence of the construction of a bureaucratic, ecclesiastical apparatus.
The formalization of the structures of government in urban Pente-
costalism brings it closer to the denominational Pentecostal churches
that already possess a centralized organization controlling their min-
istries. The resemblance of urban Pentecostal groups to denominational
Pentecostal churches also is evident in other aspects, such as a growing
acceptance of institutional medicine and in the participation of women
in religious leadership.12
Worldview and Ritual

The conversion to Pentecostalism in rural and indigenous regions is
marked by the influence of faith healing. Almost all of the believers in-
terviewed in Garma’s study of Pentecostalism in the Sierra Norte de Puebla
affirmed that they had been healed on one occasion or other, or had a
close relative who had been miraculously cured of an illness. The act of
healing is carried out by the intervention of holy men who possess the
gift of healing which is given by the Holy Spirit. These charismatic lead-
ers are preachers and pastors of Pentecostal churches, though some pas-
tors of denominational churches also claim to have these powers.
11. The role of the urban pastor in Mexico has rarely been studied, but there are ob-
servations on rural religious leaders in the studies mentioned above. The model on the
variations of religious power and authority presented here is indebted to Weber (1944),
O’Dea (1978), and Wilson (1969).
12. Molina (1990) had similar observations on rural and urban Protestantism in Mexi-
cali, Baja California Norte.

The rejection of alternative curing systems that compete with

Protestant systems of belief is particularly focused on traditional forms
of witchcraft, which Pentecostals consider to be demoniacal practices
to be fought. Pentecostal followers consider the use of institutional med-
ical care to be a sign of lack of faith, since prayer itself is sufficient to
heal all illness and suffering. The members of denominational Pentecostal
churches are less emphatic on this point, considering it useful to com-
bine prayer with medicine prescribed by doctors and nurses. The prac-
tice of glossolalia has not been found in Ixtepec, though it is present in
many other Pentecostal churches in indigenous zones.13
In Iztapalapa, faith healing persists as the main motivation for con-
version to Pentecostalism. Once more, the miraculous healing of the be-
liever or of a person close to him is invoked continuously in interviews
and testimonies as the event that brought the follower to the new reli-
gion. It is believed that the gift of healing is given to different persons,
including women and young people. On the other hand, some pastors
affirm that they do not possess the gift, even though the congregation
includes members who have the attribute of miraculous healing and who
assist in collective rituals. It is said that, on occasion, the faith of the be-
lievers united in a congregation may effect miracles. These beliefs allow
an important basis for hope in supernatural cures.14
The practices of Spiritualism are condemned in popular urban
areas, since they are associated with aspects of witchcraft and magic.
Institutional medical care is, on the other hand, accepted as long as it is
accompanied by prayer. For this purpose, believers will pray for the sick
during services and will visit them when they can, sometimes even in
hospitals, praying at their bedside. The existence of faith healing is re-
lated to the existence of glossolalia among Pentecostal followers, since
the healer usually has the gift of speaking in tongues in the churches of
Mexico City.15
Mexican Pentecostal church leaders are suspicious of the growing
Catholic Charismatic Movement, despite the fact that they share many
beliefs about the reception of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as faith
healing and the speaking of tongues. When Garma asked a pastor from
13. Similar elements are described by Hernández (1989) for Chiapas, and by Vallado
(1989) for Yucatán, on Indian Pentecostalism, institutionalized medicine, and witchcraft.
14. The ideology of faith healing is similar in most aspects to that described by
McGuire (1988) for Pentecostal Catholic groups.
15. On Spiritualism in Mexico see Finkler (1985). The gift of tongues is one of the at-
tributes that Pentecostal followers consider to be the divine manifestation of a recogni-
tion of the convert as a true believer. Pentecostalism affirms that a believer may be able
to speak in “celestial”tongues by means of discipline and intense prayer. This belief is also
held in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. As many converts have pointed out, Pentecostal

the Assemblies of God why Pentecostals and Catholic Charismatics did

not build an ecumenical movement together, he answered, “The Catholic
Charismatics are not truly converted by the Holy Spirit. If they were, they
would give up their idolatry and stop worshipping the Virgin of Guada-
lupe.”The most important gathering site for Catholic Charismatics in cen-
tral Mexico is Monte María (Mountain of Mary). For all Catholics in Mex-
ico, devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe is still an outstanding aspect of
their religious identity (Turner and Turner 1978: 94). Because of these
intense symbolic differences, the chasm between the católico and
evangélico categories in Mexico is deep (Garma 2001b: 59). Marian wor-
ship appears as an important element of boundary maintenance between
these two religious ideologies.
Ethnographic research has shown that there are fields of social life
where urban and rural Pentecostalism have strong differences and oth-
ers where similarities are quite clear. The field that maintains the
strongest continuity throughout different social environments is that of
religious beliefs that constitute Pentecostal cosmology. Among peasants,
Indians, migrants, mestizos, employees, and merchants, faith in mirac-
ulous healings by the Holy Spirit appears as the most important element
in this religion. The need for health is universal and the human body is
arguably the most powerful religious symbol that exists. Conversion due
to the belief in, and hope for, miraculous healings appears as the most
constant element of Pentecostalism, both in city and countryside, though
some secondary variations occur in the acceptance or rejection of in-
stitutional medicine and the distribution of this attribute among fol-
lowers. However, a belief in divine miracles in the form of supernatural
faith healing is by far the most constant factor in Pentecostalism in all
social contexts.
Music is an important component of Pentecostal ceremonies. Hymns
and songs allow persons to become familiar with biblical passages and
religious norms. Music is understood by persons of all backgrounds,
whether Indian, peasant, urban worker, housewife, or young student.
The musical portion of religious ceremonies is known as la alabanza
or praise. La alabanza marks different parts of the ritual, such as the en-
trance of a speaker, or the moment of contact with the Holy Spirit. Evan-
gelical music in Mexico is highly syncretic. African-American gospels and
spirituals are often translated into Spanish. Musical groups also use
rhythms such as the bolero, norteño, and salsa, while the mariachi
evangélico is probably the most popular form of Christian music in Mex-
followers dislike having the gift of tongues being characterized as unusual and abnormal
behavior. Analyses of Pentecostal glossolalia may be found in Goodman (1972) and Patti-
son (1974).

ico. Evangelical rock is popular among young people, but some con-
servative pastors mistrust the use of this music because they feel that it
is too worldly (see Garma 2001c).
Conversion and Urban Migration

Mexican Pentecostal religious conversion follows kinship structures in
rural areas, but it is diluted within the family in metropolitan areas. Ur-
ban life allows the existence of profound differences inside the domes-
tic unit, which could be intolerable in a normative, rural context. This
may imply the weakening of the family unit in the city, but more stud-
ies on this point are needed. It is possible to state that religious dissi-
dence may persist within the same family more easily due to the exis-
tence of the multiple roles that urban life permits, which also implies
the acceptance of a greater ideological diversity within a local network.
At the level of the congregation, the new creed permits integration into
a cohesive and protective social group in a potentially hostile environ-
ment. The convert will quickly obtain new status in a locality with which
he is unfamiliar.16
The fact that Pentecostalism has great uniformity in its system of be-
lief and ritual both in city and countryside makes it a useful bridge be-
tween rural and urban life. The Pentecostal convert can adapt with
greater ease to the transition between the two life styles. When migrat-
ing to the city, he will find a support group. If he wishes to return to his
homeland, as is the final goal and dream of many migrants, he may join
one of the existing churches there, or found a new group.
Mexican Pentecostalism has been transnational since the days of its
origins in the borderlands. Missionary efforts continue this orientation
today. Mexican Pentecostal pastors and preachers are active on both sides
of the U.S.-Mexican border. Their international efforts involve work even
among the Spanish gypsies of Andalusía and on the island of Cuba. In
both countries, they have obtained important conversions for their
churches. Pentecostal missionaries now include the Mexican Christian
musicians who organize concerts to obtain new followers and to reaf-
firm believers. Mexican artists such as Yuri, La Torre Fuente, and Mar-
cos Witt have concerts not only in Mexican cities, but also in California
and Texas, as well as in the capital cities of Guatemala, El Salvador, and
Costa Rica.
16. Very useful for this section on migration and socioreligious change were Marzal
(1988), Aguirre Beltrán (1970), and Lalive d’Epinay (1968). Among the authors who have
emphasized cultural continuity in Mexican migratory processes are Lomnitz (1975) and
Kemper (1976).

Conclusion
The ideological system of Pentecostalism may be adapted easily from
small communities to large cities, and will persist despite changes in the
internal organization of the church and its impact on the family unit.
Protestant beliefs and values of work and thrift persist in both city and
countryside, allowing followers to situate themselves in the middle sec-
tors of social stratification.
Further studies will show if this situation changes in the following
generations—if upward mobility persists, decreases, or becomes sta-
tionary. At this moment, it is evident that the permanence of ethical and
work values in different environments contributes to the economic po-
sition of the believers.
The impact of Pentecostalism on a local society is certainly much
stronger in isolated rural communities, where it can develop autonomous
structures. However, religious groups in the big city must adopt a cen-
tralized organization that can compete with similar institutions. It is im-
portant to note that Pentecostal churches in the city adopt characteris-
tics of the denominational churches, such as the professionalization of
the minister or subordination to a central organization that makes deci-
sions that affect the church. On the other hand, as various studies have
shown, in rural areas denominational churches will sometimes “Pente-
costalize”, adopting patterns of faith healing and beliefs in miracles, with
charismatic pastors and preachers in charge.17
Pentecostalism has shown a remarkable capacity for growth in dif-
ferent environments, making it the main form of non-Catholic religious
dissidence in Mexican society. The ideological consistency that Pente-
costalism presents across diverse settings is a key factor contributing to
its predominance on Mexico’s Protestant landscape.
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Pentecostal Adaptations in Rural and Urban Mexico: An Anthropological Assessment

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Pentecostalism is the fastest-growing form of Protestant religion in rural and ur-

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ment in matters of belief (Leatham 1996: 177–8). Bastian (1993: 44)

Political Challenges and Responses

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This content downloaded from 62.122.72.154 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 02:02:37 AM

office). The bishops of the Catholic Church pressed the government to

Protestant churches have scant possibilities for structuring or constituting them-

Today, Pentecostals are seeking new ways of organizing themselves

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among the Mexican Evangelical community. Some believers may com-

Rural and Urban Pentecostal Adaptations

2. The term “conspiracy theory”appears in Stoll (1984), where he presents a strong

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This content downloaded from 62.122.72.154 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 02:02:37 AM

The town of Iztapalapa maintains strong traditions of popular

Economic Impact and Behavioral Patterns

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nomic possibilities in urban society, social mobility may be combined with

Impact on Kinship and the Family Unit

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This content downloaded from 62.122.72.154 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 02:02:37 AM

Worldview and Ritual

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The rejection of alternative curing systems that compete with

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the Assemblies of God why Pentecostals and Catholic Charismatics did

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Conversion and Urban Migration

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17. Bastian (1983) demonstrates the Pentecostalization of denominational churches

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———. 1992. “Les protestantismes latin-américains: Un objet a interroger et a

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———. Garma Navarro, Carlos. 1984. “Liderazgo protestante en una lucha

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Marzal, Manuel. 1988. “Los caminos religiosos de los inmigrantes en Lima. El

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Weber, Max. 1944. Economía y Sociedad. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica.

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