Tendencies of Social Form in Some New Evangelical and Pentecostal Movements

Summary In this essay we explore the structure of two new Christian movements that emerged as a result of a blending of Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism. These movements are ICF and C3, which we study in their German as well as European context. We triangulate theoretical concepts, our own empirical research and existing research on these movements. Referring to the theoretical framework of refiguration, we discuss the potential of the concepts ‘eventisation’, ‘movement’ and ‘scenefication’ from the sociology of religion as frameworks for understanding these typical movements. Our analysis of social form leads to reflections on the adaptability of concepts from confessional studies, such as confessional markers and congregationalism, in relation to the non-denominational self-description of these so-called lifestyle churches. In our conclusion, we explore implications and perspectives of the organisational shift caused by these emerging movements.