{"id":157196,"date":"2026-07-08T14:59:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=157196"},"modified":"2026-07-08T14:59:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:59:38","slug":"pentecostal-movement-in-sri-lanka-has-grown-significantly-evolving-into-one-of-the-countrys-most-prominent-christian-streams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/07\/08\/pentecostal-movement-in-sri-lanka-has-grown-significantly-evolving-into-one-of-the-countrys-most-prominent-christian-streams\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentecostal movement in Sri Lanka has grown significantly evolving into one of the country&#8217;s most prominent Christian streams"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>AI OVERVIEW<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>The Pentecostal and Charismatic movement in Sri Lanka has grown significantly over the last century, evolving into one of the country&#8217;s most prominent Christian streams. Key leadership is distributed among several major denominations and independent ministries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prominent leaders and foundational organizations include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Assemblies of God (AOG):<\/strong> The AOG is one of the largest networks in the country. <strong>Colton Wickramaratne<\/strong> has served as chairman of the AOG of Sri Lanka for over 25 years. He is also the founding pastor of <a href=\"http:\/\/peopleschurch.lk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">People&#8217;s Church<\/a> in Narahenpita, Colombo, one of the largest congregations in Sri Lanka.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Pentecostal Mission (TPM \/ CPM):<\/strong> Originating in Sri Lanka as the Ceylon Pentecostal Mission in 1923, it was co-founded by <strong>Pastor Paul Ramankutty<\/strong> and <strong>Pastor Alwin R. de Alwis<\/strong>. It has a massive international and local presence, headquartered in Mattakkuliya, Colombo.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Apostolic Diocese of Ceylon (ADC):<\/strong> <strong>Rt. Rev. Dr. Kirby de Lanerolle<\/strong> serves as the Chief Overseer\/Bishop of the ADC. He is the senior leader of <a href=\"http:\/\/wowlife.lk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WOWlife Church<\/a>, with locations in Colombo, and holds continental responsibilities across South Asia and the Middle East.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Independent &amp; Contemporary Ministries:<\/strong> Leaders like <strong>Prophet Jerome Fernando<\/strong>, overseer of The Glorious Church based in Sri Lanka, have built large, highly visible, and contemporary ministries that draw thousands across the island. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thepentecostalmission0\/posts\/the-pentecostal-mission-galle-sri-lanka\/712846238761173\/\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lk.linkedin.com\/company\/pjfm-ministries-sri-lanka\">2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ProphetJeromeFernando\/videos\/the-untold-story-of-the-miracle-dome\/619563416996803\/\">3<\/a>]<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/share.google\/aimode\/rcaRJA0fZpwdwtzSs\">https:\/\/share.google\/aimode\/rcaRJA0fZpwdwtzSs<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>AI OVERVIEW<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AI OVERVIEW The Pentecostal and Charismatic movement in Sri Lanka has grown significantly over the last century, evolving into one of the country&#8217;s most prominent Christian streams. Key leadership is distributed among several major denominations and independent ministries. Prominent leaders and foundational organizations include:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-senaka-weeraratna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157196"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157197,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157196\/revisions\/157197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}