The personality characteristics of pentecostal ministry candidates

The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire was completed by 259 male and 105 female Pentecostal ministry candidates attending the British Assemblies of God and Elim bible colleges. The data demonstrate that both male and female Pentecostal ministry candidates score significantly lower than the population norms for the neuroticism scale. They are more stable than men and women in general. The female Pentecostal ministry candidates do not differ from women in general on the dimensions of extraversion, psychoticism and the lie scale. While the male Pentecostal ministry candidates do not differ from men in general on the dimension of extraversion, they score significantly lower on the psychoticism scale and significantly higher on the lie scale. These findings are set within the context of three sets of theories concerned with the relationships between personality and religion in general, personality and Christian ministry, and personality and the experience of glossolalia, a defining characteristic of Pentecostal ministry candidates.