THE PERSONALITY-CHARACTERISTICS OF PENTECOSTAL MINISTRY CANDIDATES

The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire was completed by 259 male and 10 5 female Pentecostal ministry candidates attending the British Assembl ies of God and Elim bible colleges. The data demonstrate that both mal e and female Pentecostal ministry candidates score significantly lower than the population norms for the neuroticism scale. They are more st able than men and women in general. The female Pentecostal ministry ca ndidates do not differ from women in general on the dimensions of extr aversion, psychoticism and the lie scale. While the male Pentecostal m inistry candidates do not differ from men in general on the dimension of extraversion, they score significantly lower on the psychoticism sc ale and significantly higher on the lie scale. These findings are set within the context of three sets of theories concerned with the relati onships between personality and religion in general, personality and C hristian ministry, and personality and the experience of glossolalia, a defining characteristic of Pentecostal ministry candidates.