Why are Pentecostal membership statistics difficult to measure?

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Pentecostalism Prayer service at Abundant Life United Pentecostal Church, in Moore, Oklahoma.

Pentecostal membership statistics are difficult to obtain primarily because the movement never formed a single, centralized organization. Instead, the movement consists of a vast array of individual congregations that have come together to found more than 100 different denominations.12

Because of this decentralized structure, there is no unified reporting system to track adherents. Furthermore, the movement includes many independent groups and has expanded into mainstream Protestant and Roman Catholic churches through the formation of Charismatic fellowships, making it challenging to distinguish between formal members of specific Pentecostal denominations and those who participate in Pentecostal-style worship within other traditions.12