Assemblies of God History
You may be wondering where we came from, and you'll be glad to knowwe've been around a while. The Assemblies of God has its roots in areligious revival that began in the late 1800's andswept into the 20thcentury with widespread repetition of biblicalspiritual experiences.
Duringthat time, many Christians inthe United States and other parts of theworld began to feel a need formore of God's power operating in theirlives. Individually and ingroups, they began earnestly to pray and toseek to conform their commitments and experiences to what they believedwas the New Testament pattern.
In response, the Holy Spiritcame on large numbersof them, prompting a joyous, spontaneous worshipand an intense desireto spread the gospel. As in the Bible in the Bookof Acts, this experience, called the "baptism in the Holy Spirit," wasuniversally accompanied by speaking in unknown languages. It wasassociated withthe coming of the Holy Spirit on the Jewish holiday ofPentecost (Acts2), and participants in the movement were called"Pentecostals."
The beginning of the modern Pentecostalrevival is generally traced to aprayer meeting at Bethel Bible Collegein Topeka, Kansas, on January 1,1901. While many others had spoken intongues previously during almostevery period of spiritual revival, mostresearchers agree it was herethat recipients of the experience, throughstudy of the Scriptures,came to believe speaking in tongues is thebiblical evidence for the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Therevival spread rapidly toMissouri and Texas, then to California andelsewhere. A three year revival meeting at Azusa Street Mission in LosAngeles attracted believers from across the nation and overseas andserved as a spring board to send the Pentecostal message around theworld.
Reports of what was taking place were carried inscores of periodicals and other publications that sprang up with themovement. Spontaneous revivals also began to break out about that timein other parts of the world and on various mission fields.
ThePentecostal aspects of the revival were not generally welcomed by theestablished churche sand participants in the movement soon foundthemselves outside existing religious bodies. They were forced to seektheir own places of worship,and soon there were hundreds of distinctlyPentecostal congregations.
By 1914, many ministers and laymenalike had begun to realize the rapidspread of the revival, and the manyevangelistic outreaches it spawned had created a number of practicalproblems. The need arose for formal recognition of ministers as well asapproval and support of missionaries, with full accounting of funds. Inaddition, there was a growing demand for doctrinal unity, gospelliterature, and a permanent Bible training school.
Hot Springs, Arkansas
Theseconcerned leaders realized that to protect and preserve the resultsofthe revival the thousands of newly Spirit-baptized believers shouldbeunited in a cooperative fellowship. In 1914 about 300 preachersandlaymen gathered from 20 states and several foreign countries fora"general council" in Hot Springs, Arkansas, to discuss and takeactionon the growing need.
The five reasons they listedforcalling the meeting were: doctrinal unity, conservation of the work,foreign missions interests, chartering churches under a common nameforlegal purposes, and the need for a Bible training school.
Acooperativefellowship emerged from the meeting and was incorporated under the name"The General Council of the Assemblies of God." Most ofthe delegateshad little desire to form a new denomination or sect, andtheystructured their organization to unite the assemblies in ministry andlegal identity while leaving each congregation self-governing andself-supporting. This structure continues to the present.
In1916 the General Council approved a Statement of Fundamental Truths.Asimple statement, it remains virtually unchanged and continuestoprovide a sound basis for the Fellowship, giving a firm positiononvital doctrines.
From the beginning, Assemblies of Godministries have focused on evangelism and missions and have resultedina continuing growth at home and abroad. Our constituency has climbedfrom the founding convention attendance of 300 to more than 2.6millionin the United States and over 48 million overseas.
Today,Assembliesof God people worship in over 12,100 churches in the U.S.and in 236,022churches and outstations in 191 other nations. The aggressive missionsprograms of the church are designed to establishself-supporting andself-propagating national church bodies in every country. Ministers andleaders are trained in 1,891 foreign Bibleschools — more than any otherU.S. based denomination. The Assemblies of God has 19 endorsed Biblecolleges, liberal arts colleges, and aseminary in the U.S.
Thenational headquarters of the Assemblies of God is located inSpringfield, Missouri. The headquarters includes an administrationbuilding, the Gospel Publishing House, andthe InternationalDistribution Center. The Gospel Publishing House is the printing arm of the church turning out more than 16 tons of gospel literature each day.
