General Council of the Assemblies of God of the United States

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The General Council of the Assemblies of God USA, is a Pentecostal denomination headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. It is the tenth largest and fastest growing denomination in the United States [1], while internationally a part of the world's largest Pentecostal denomination, the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, which has a global adherence of approximately 56.9 million people [2].

The Assemblies of God holds to a conservative evangelical Christian and Arminian theology as expressed in the Assemblies of God Statement of Fundamental Truths and the Position Papers, which emphasize such core Pentecostal doctrines as the baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, and divine, supernatural healing. Congregations are independent and autonomous from each other and the national headquarters. However, only the general and district councils has authority to ordain ministers and revoke their credentials. The ordination of women as head pastors (and all other positions) is allowed and about 17.6% (5817) of clergy are women.[3] Although doctrine holds more closely to the Arminian tradition and its understanding of the role of Free Will, the governmental structure of the church follows a mostly Presbyterian model.

Contents

[edit] Current and Past Leadership

The current General Superintendent of the General Council is Dr. George O. Wood. Dr. Wood's tenure began October 8, 2007 when the previous General Superintendent, Dr. Thomas A. Trask stepped down after 14 years of leadership. The Following is a list of General Superintendents and their tenures:

- Eudorus N. Bell 1914, 1920-23

- John W. Welch 1914-1919, 1923

- W.T Gaston 1924-1929

- Ernest S. Williams 1929-1949

- Wesley R. Steelberg 1949-1952

- Ralph M Riggs 1953-1959

- Thomas F. Zimmerman 1959-1985

- G. Raymond Carlson 1986-1993

- Thomas A. Trask 1993-2007

- George O. Wood 2007-

[edit] History

[edit] Origins

The Assemblies of God has roots in the Pentecostal revival in early Twentieth centuty. 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.

Because of the rapid spread of these congregations, the need arose for formal recognition of ministers as well as approval and support of missionaries, with full accounting of funds. The Assemblies of God, or A/G for short, was founded in 1914 at Hot Springs, Arkansas. The early founders were licensed white ministers of the Church of God in Christ, the largest African-American Pentecostal body founded by Charles Harrison Mason in 1897 [4]. Their affiliation with the Church of God in Christ was short-lived due to the racial climate of the Jim Crow Era in the United States. Subsequently, predominantly white representatives from 20 states and a few foreign countries gathered to form a fellowship of Pentecostal believers. A fellowship emerged that was incorporated as the General Council of the Assemblies of God. E. N. (Eudorus Neander) Bell (1866-1923) was elected the first chairman. Central Bible College was started in the basement of the Central Assembly of God church in Springfield, Missouri in 1922.

The Assemblies of God has forerunners in groups that existed before its incorporation in 1914. In April of 1906, the Apostolic Faith Movement began in Orchard, Texas. A group of 20 ministers organized as the Church of God (not connected with the Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee movement) near Slocumb, Alabama in February 1911. This Church of God and the Apostolic Faith Movement united around 1912. It was this group, now called Churches of God in Christ (not to be confused with the African-American Pentecostal body led by C.H. Mason), that issued the call for a general council to meet in Hot Springs in 1914. Regardless of these groups that existed before its incorporation, no early African-American denominational leaders were invited to the first meeting of this newly formed assemblies of Pentecostal leaders. The Holiness Baptist Churches of Southwestern Arkansas (org. 1903), under the leadership of William Jethro Walthall (1858-1931), united with the Assemblies of God in 1917. As opposed to other Pentecostal organizations, the A/G was not organized strictly around a Wesleyan view of holiness.

[edit] Further Development

The early denomination not only suffered from racial organizational unity in this period, but a major ideological split occurred when the Jesus Only controversy arose. The Oneness teaching was rejected by the A/G, moving the organization as a solid trinitarian Pentecostal denomination.

Between the World Wars the movement kept a relative isolation from other Pentecostal and Evangelical groups, but after the Second World War the A/G started an approximation with Pentecostal groups overseas, like the Federation of Pentecostal Churches in Germany, at that time many national denominations came to affiliate with the A/G. As well as establishing fellowship within the national borders, through the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America and the National Association of Evangelicals.

The A/G received the influence of the Latter Rain Movement in the 1950's, which the General Council condemned. Certain Latter Rain theology is now accepted by some churches and theologians of the Assemblies of God, such as the restoration of the fivefold ministry and the laying on of hands. The A/G still considers the Latter Rain theology of no Pre-trib rapture and manifested sons of God as being heresy.

Today the fellowship is organized under the General Council of the Assemblies of God (USA), with a constituency of 2.7 million and 12,277 churches. The American AG is very ethnically diverse, reaching people of different races and cultures. The General Council's national headquarters are in Springfield, Missouri, where the administration building, Gospel Publishing House, and International Distribution Center are located. The General Council is a member of the National Association of Evangelicals.

[edit] Beliefs

The Assemblies' doctrines are summarized in its Statement of Fundamental Truths.[5] Numerous other Christian groups share some or all of these tenets -- and some positions (like the Trinity) are considered more central to the faith than others (like divine healing). These positions are considered non-negotiable[6], although critics have questioned how well doctrinal integrity is maintained.:

[edit] U.S. A/G Ethnic Fellowships

The fellowships affiliated with the Assemblies of God of the United States.

[edit] Ministries

The Assemblies of God Credit Union is the primary banking service source for the Assemblies of God Ministers, Employees, Ministries, Colleges and other adherents. AGCU Online

[edit] Missions

[edit] Outreach and Discipleship

[edit] Benevolence

  • Convoy of Hope [11] official disaster relief partner
  • HealthCare Ministries [12] international medical outreach of Assemblies of God World Missions

[edit] Mass Media and Publications

[edit] Megachurches Affiliated with the Assemblies of God

Main article: Megachurches affiliated with the Assemblies of God

[edit] Denominational Post-secondary Educational Institutions

[edit] Colleges

[edit] Institutes

[edit] Universities

[edit] Seminary

[edit] List of Assemblies of God people

Main article: List of Assemblies of God people

[edit] References

  1. ^  National Council of Churches USA - The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches (2005) [25] [26]
  2. ^  Assemblies of God World Missions Research Office - AGWM Current Facts and Highlights (2007)
  • Blumhofer, Edith L. Restoring the Faith: The Assemblies of God, Pentecostalism, and American Culture. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, c. 1993
  • Menzies, William . Anointed to Serve: The Story of the Assemblies of God
  • Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (Assemblies of God archives), one of the largest collections of materials documenting the global Pentecostal movement; website contains free research tools, including over 200,000 digitized pages of periodicals and online catalog with over 50,000 entries.

[edit] Links


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