OUR HISTORY
You may be wondering
where we came from, and you'll be glad to know we've been around
a while. The Assemblies of God has its roots in a religious
revival that began in the late 1800's and swept into this century
with widespread repetition of biblical spiritual experiences.
During that time,
many Christians in the United States and other parts of the
world began to feel a need for more of God's power operating
in their lives. Individually and in groups, they began earnestly
to pray and to seek to conform their commitments and experiences
to what they believed was the New Testament pattern.
In response, the
Holy Spirit came on large numbers of them, prompting a joyous,
spontaneous worship and an intense desire to spread the gospel.
As in the Bible in the Book of Acts, this experience, called
the "baptism in the Holy Spirit," was universally
accompanied by speaking in unknown languages. It was associated
with the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Jewish holiday of
Pentecost (Acts 2), and participants in the movement were called "Pentecostals."
The beginning of
the modern Pentecostal revival is generally traced to a prayer
meeting at Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas, on January
1, 1901. While many others had spoken in tongues previously
during almost every period of spiritual revival, most researchers
agree it was here that recipients of the experience, through
study of the Scriptures, came to believe speaking in tongues
is the biblical evidence for the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The revival spread
rapidly to Missouri and Texas, then to California and elsewhere.
A 3-year revival meeting at Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles
attracted believers from across the nation and overseas and
served as a springboard to send the Pentecostal message around
the world.
Reports of what was
taking place were carried in scores of periodicals and other
publications that sprang up with the movement. Spontaneous
revivals also began to break out about that time in other parts
of the world and on various mission fields.
The Pentecostal aspects
of the revival were not generally welcomed by the established
churches and participants in the movement soon found themselves
outside existing religious bodies. They were forced to seek
their own places of worship, and soon there were hundreds of
distinctly Pentecostal congregations.
By 1914, many ministers
and laymen alike had begun to realize the rapid spread of the
revival, and the many evangelistic outreaches it spawned had
created a number of practical problems. The need arose for
formal recognition of ministers as well as approval and support
of missionaries, with full accounting of funds. In addition,
there was a growing demand for doctrinal unity, gospel literature,
and a permanent Bible training school.
These concerned leaders
realized that to protect and preserve the results of the revival
the thousands of newly Spirit-baptized believers should be
united in a cooperative fellowship. In 1914 about 300 preachers
and laymen gathered from 20 states and several foreign countries
for a "general council" in Hot Springs, Arkansas,
to discuss and take action on the growing need.
The five reasons
they listed for calling the meeting were: doctrinal unity,
conservation of the work, foreign missions interests, chartering
churches under a common name for legal purposes, and the need
for a Bible training school.
A cooperative fellowship
emerged from the meeting and was incorporated under the name "The
General Council of the Assemblies of God." Most of the
delegates had little desire to form a new denomination or sect,
and they structured their organization to unite the assemblies
in ministry and legal identity while leaving each congregation
self-governing and self-supporting. This structure continues
to the present.
In 1916 the General
Council added a Statement of Fundamental Truths to its constitution.
A simple statement, it remains virtually unchanged and continues
to provide a sound basis for the Fellowship, giving a firm
position on vital doctrines.
From the beginning,
Assemblies of God ministries have focused on evangelism and
missions and have resulted in a continuing growth at home and
abroad. Our constituency has climbed from the founding convention
attendance of 300 to more than 2 1/2 million in the United
States and over 30 million overseas.
Today, Assemblies
of God people worship in almost 12,000 churches in the U.S.
and in 174,657 churches and outstations in 158 other nations.
The aggressive missions programs of the church are designed
to establish self-supporting and self-propagating national
church bodies in every country. Ministers and leaders are trained
in 1,208 foreign Bible schools — more than any other
U.S. based denomination. The Assemblies of God has 17 endorsed
Bible colleges, liberal arts colleges, and a seminary in the
U.S.
The national headquarters
of the Assemblies of God is located in Springfield, Missouri.
The headquarters includes an administration building, the Gospel
Publishing House, and the International Distribution Center.
The Gospel Publishing House is the printing arm of the church
turning out more than 20 tons of gospel literature each day.
For More Information
For more in-depth
articles on various aspects of Assemblies of God history go
to the Fall 1999 issue of Enrichment
Journal ("A Century of Pentecostal Vision"):
|
