The Assemblies of God came into being as a result of the Pentecostal revival that began early in the twentieth century. This revival came as God’s mighty supernatural answer to Modernism, the antisupernatural religious liberalism that was taking over the major Christian denominations in America and around the world. Books written to defend the faith were being ignored by the seminaries that trained their ministers. The possibility of God-given miracles was denied. A spiritual vacuum was developing. As Dr. William Menzies points out:
The United States in the years between the Civil War and the close of the [nineteenth] century was in social and religious ferment. Moral, political, and economic corruption increased the stresses occasioned by urbanization, industrialization, and immigration. The great denominations, successful in Christianizing the frontier, had become complacent and sophisticated, lacking the vision and vitality to meet the changing needs of a distressed populace. Varying degrees of accommodation to popular ideas, newly imported from Europe, which assaulted orthodox Evangelicalism, further weakened the great communions. Against the erosion in the church world arose the Fundamentalist and Holiness movements. It was largely out of the spiritual concern generated in this segment of the church that the yearning for a new Pentecost was born. Prior to 1900 there were charismatic manifestations, but these were isolated and episodic in nature. But the stage was being set for a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit which would quickly encircle the earth, bringing a great refreshing in the Latter Days.1
The current Pentecostal movement traces its origin to a revival at Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas, that began on January 1, 1901. Students, from their studies of the Bible, concluded that speaking in tongues (Acts 2:4) is the initial outward evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. One of the students, Agnes Ozman, said she felt “as though rivers of living water were proceeding from [her] innermost being.”2
The revival became a Pentecostal explosion when, in 1906, W. J. Seymour secured an old two-story frame building at 312 Azusa Street in Los Angeles, California. For about three years services ran almost continually, from ten in the morning to midnight. Many of those who received the Pentecostal baptism in the Holy Spirit there scattered to spread the message. Many independent Pentecostal churches sprang up. Then,
After the Pentecostal outpourings began, numerous publications appeared advocating its teachings and serving as channels for teaching information, and the support of missionaries overseas. One of these publications, the Word and Witness edited by Eudorus N. Bell, issued a call in 1913 for a conference of Pentecostal believers to convene in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the following year. This became the founding meeting of the General Council of the Assemblies of God.3
Five basic reasons were given for calling the General Council of April 2–12, 1914. They were “(1) to achieve better understanding and unity of doctrine, (2) to know how to conserve God’s work at home and abroad, (3) to consult on protection of funds for missionary endeavors, (4) to explore the possibilities of chartering churches under a legal name, and (5) to consider the establishment of a Bible training school with a literary division.”4 More than three hundred attended and elected E. N. Bell as the chairman of their new Assemblies of God fellowship. Then in 1916, a “statement of truths” was prepared, primarily by Daniel Warren Kerr, of Cleveland, Ohio.5 It was adopted with the following preamble:
This statement of Fundamental Truths is not intended as a creed for the church, nor as a basic of fellowship among Christians, but only as a basis of unity for the ministry alone (i.e., that we all speak the same thing, 1 Cor. 1:10; Acts 2:42). The human phraseology employed in such statement is not inspired nor contended for, but the truth set forth in such phraseology is held to be essential to a full Gospel ministry. No claim is made that it contains all truth in the Bible, only that it covers our present needs as to these fundamental matters.6
The original statement served the Assemblies of God well for many years. There was little dissatisfaction with any of the sixteen points.7 However, since some of the doctrines were stated quite briefly, it was felt that some of needed clarification and enlarging. In 1960, a committee worked on this and minor rewording and clarity. The work was approved and adopted by the General Council in 1961. The only significant change was in dropping the term “entire sanctification,” because it was understood in different ways by different theologians and was thus ambiguous. “The clarification of 1961 specified the belief that the imputed righteousness accorded the believer at his justification was to be exhibited in a life of holiness.”8
The concern for the preservation of doctrinal integrity within the Movement has also resulted in a number of position papers. These papers were called for by ministers of Assemblies of God churches from time to time, as the need for further help and clarification on various subjects was felt on the field. Most of them were prepared by the Commission on Doctrinal Purity, a standing committee appointed by the Executive Presbytery of the Assemblies of God. A number of pastors, district officials, and professors of the Bible colleges and seminary have served on that committee at various times. The papers were approved by the Executive Presbytery and the General Presbytery, the leadership bodies of the Assemblies of God, and then printed. All papers up to 1989 have been collected and published under the title Where We Stand.9 Their titles follow: (1) “The Inerrancy of Scripture”; (2) “Can Born-again Believers Be Demon Possessed?” (3) “Divorce and Remarriage”; (4) “The Ministry of the Body of Christ”; (5) “Divine Healing: An Integral Part of the Gospel”; (6) “The Discipleship and Submission Movement”; (7) “Transcendental Meditation”; (8) “Deacons and Trustees”; (9) “Eternal Punishment”; (10) “The Assemblies of God View of Ordination”; (11) “The Doctrine of Creation”; (12) “The Security of the Believer”; (13) “Homosexuality”; (14) “The Rapture of the Church”; (15) “The Believer and Positive Confession”; (16) “The Initial Physical Evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit”; (17) “A Biblical Perspective on Gambling”; (18) “Abstinence”; (19) “A Biblical Perspective on Abortion”; and (20) “The Kingdom of God as Described in Holy Scripture.” Since the publication of Where We Stand, another position paper has been published: The Role of Women in Ministry as Described in Holy Scripture. Others will be prepared as the need arises. They are a valuable supplement to our understanding of Assemblies of God doctrine and practice. Where it seems appropriate, some of the material from these position papers will be discussed in this book.
We would also like to acknowledge the foundation laid by Peter Christopher Nelson in his book, Bible Doctrines, which in 1948 was the first written commentary on the Statement of Fundamental Truths.
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1 William W. Menzies, Anointed to Serve: The Story of the Assemblies of God (Springfield, Mo.: Gospel Publishing House, 1971), 33.
2 Stanley H. Frodsham, With Signs Following, rev. ed. (Springfield, Mo.: Gospel Publishing House, 1946), 20.
3 Gary B. McGee, “A Brief History of the Modern Pentecostal Outpouring,” Paraclete 18 (Spring 1984): 22.
4 In the Last Days: An Early History of the Assemblies of God (Springfield, Mo.: Assemblies of God, 1962), 11.
5 Carl Brumback, Like a River: The Early Years of the Assemblies of God (Springfield, Mo.: Gospel Publishing House, 1977), 55.
6 General Council of the Assemblies of God, General Council Minutes, October 2–7, 1916. This is slightly modified in the current statement, which is available in booklet form: The General Council of the Assemblies of God Statement of Fundamental Truths, rev. (Springfield, Mo.: Gospel Publishing House, 1983).
7 There were 17 points originally. Revision combined points 2 and 13, added one on Christ’s deity, and combined points 10 and 11, leaving 16 all together.
8 Menzies, Anointed, 318 (see pages 317—318 for further discussion on this change).
9 Where We Stand (Springfield, Mo.: Gospel Publishing House, 1990). The position papers are also available individually.