In some branches of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, especially American

pentecostalism Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

, children are occasionally

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as a ...

s, or even

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

ministers Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...

. The heyday of child preachers was in the 1920s and 1930s, but a number of videos of modern-day child preachers can be seen on YouTube. One of the most prominent child preachers was

Marjoe Gortner Hugh Marjoe Ross Gortner (born January 14, 1944) is a former Evangelism, evangelist preacher and actor. He first gained public attention during the late 1940s when his parents arranged for him to be Ordination, ordained as a preacher at age four ...

, who was the subject of the 1972 documentary ''

Marjoe ''Marjoe'' is a 1972 American documentary film produced and directed by Howard Smith (director), Howard Smith and Sarah Kernochan about the life of Evangelism, evangelist Marjoe Gortner. It won the 1972 in film, 1972 Academy Award for Best Documen ...

''. According to

Randall Balmer Randall Herbert Balmer (born October 22, 1954) is an American historian of American religion. He taught at Barnard College and Columbia University for twenty-seven years before moving to Dartmouth College in 2012, where he was named the Mandel Fami ...

, the appeal of having child preachers is in its novelty, making it "a kind of a carnival side-show". In 2012, when he was 11 years old, Ezekiel Stoddard was ordained as a minister in his family's non-denominational Fullness of Time Church, in Maryland. In 2011,

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

aired a documentary that featured a four-year-old preacher in the

United Pentecostal Church International The United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI) is a Oneness Pentecostal denomination headquartered in Weldon Spring, Missouri, United States. The United Pentecostal Church International was formed in 1945 by a merger of the former Pentecostal C ...

References

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Preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as a ...

Homiletics Christianity and children Pentecostalism in the United States