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SMM762
Guest
Can anyone give me a crash course here?
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CopticChristian
Guest
Crash course on what. Anglicanism gave roots to Methodism that gave roots to the holiness movement that sprang forth Pentacostals and AOG. They are similar.
AOG is Protestant, Pentacostal in nature,
Here is their website…click on beliefs and core doctrines and you will find out what they profess including “Baptism in the Spirit”
ag.org/top/
They believe in glosollalia, speaking in tongue, and have all sorts of Bible references, KJV.
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Church_Militant
Guest
I was a deacon in one of the local AoG churches. What do you want to know?
They generally are like Baptists except they speak in tongues and do not accept OSAS.
They generally are like Baptists except they speak in tongues and do not accept OSAS.
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Izdaari
Guest
I would estimate no more than 5% of my AG congregation carries a KJV with them to church. NIV is the version in the racks on the back of the pews, and what our pastor usually preaches from, though occasionally he has also used the NLT2, The Message and the KJV.
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Izdaari
Guest
Pretty much this. Or conservative Methodists + the Pentecostal Gifts.
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CopticChristian
Guest
I never inferred that they were KJV alone. If you go to the site you will see that the references are all KJV. You took a giant leap to believe I was saying AOG was KJ only.
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Izdaari
Guest
I didn’t assume you were saying that, but I wanted to make sure no one took that away from it, which I felt someone might. It’s all good, homes.
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CopticChristian
Guest
We have communicated before and for some reason I thought we had registered as friends but no that is not true. Anyhow as you say it is good.I didn’t assume you were saying that, but I wanted to make sure no one inferred that. It’s all good, homes.
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Izdaari
Guest
We hadn’t, although I’d be fine with it. I think you and I do have a tendency to not quite get each others point, due perhaps to different cultural backgrounds and personalities, but you are an interesting person to converse with and seem to be of good will.
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CopticChristian
Guest
Then we can look forward to agreeable disagreement. I will try to remind myself that you see me as of good will and I will do my best to purport myself that way.We hadn’t, although I’d be fine with it. I think you and I do have a tendency to not quite get each others point, due perhaps to different cultural backgrounds and personalities, but you are an interesting person to converse with and seem to be of good will.
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Church_Militant
Guest
Was my experience as well. Very much the NIV, which is pretty similar to our own NAB 'cept we haz all 73 books.
(BTW I have befriended you both.)
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Nicea325
Guest
Do they have sacraments? Or they call it something else…like ordinances?
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Izdaari
Guest
Baptism and Communion, called ordinances, not sacraments. Which is the same as most Protestant churches.
AG does not take baptism as optional, in that it is a requirement for membership. We don’t care in what church you were baptized, so long as it was trinitarian and by immersion. And we’ll take your word for it, no need for documentation.
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ltwin
Guest
The longstanding description of the Assemblies of God has been “Evangelicals plus Tongues.” This is actually a pretty good summary (they are the largest member denomination in the National Association of Evangelicals). They are strongly evangelical in the Arminian tradition (they reject OSAS). They also believe in baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. In addition, they also emphasize divine healing. Their eschatology: the imminent second coming (including rapture and tribulation, etc.)
Their governmental system is a hybrid of congregationalism (church members elect pastor and board members and will vote on important business matters) and presbyterianism (Elected district and general presbyteries provide oversight on the regional and national levels. A General Council, composed of all ordained and licensed ministers plus congregational delegates, is the highest governing body.).
Because they are congregational, AG churches come in many different varieties. There are churches that look more like a traditional Pentecostal church would. On the other hand, there are other churches that act more like a generic evangelical church. There are very contemporary churches and churches which adopt the seeker sensitive/ mega church models as well. Probably the most famous AG church is Hillsong Church Australia (which is very contemporary and teaches a form of prosperity gospel).
They are the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world. They are the largest (predominantly) white Pentecostal denomination in the USA. (The Church of God in Christ, predominantly black, is the largest Pentecostal denomination in the US.) However, they have a lot of Hispanic churches and Spanish language districts. They also have a good deal of black congregations as well.
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Izdaari
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My particular AG church is medium large (not a megachurch), ethnically diverse, contemporary and “seeker sensitive”, rather like a smaller version of Hillsong, except that we don’t go for the “prosperity gospel”. There is some influence from the less extreme Emergent thinkers, such as Donald Miller and Rob Bell, which IMO is a good thing.
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4Squarebaby
Guest
Where are the Black congregations? More so then other faith movements you can see the lasting legacy of the prior centuries racial separation with the large number of COGIC churches and only Spanish language AoG churches in my community. When on the other hand you can see African Methodist Episcopal and United Methodist, Missionary Baptist and Southern Baptist Convention member churches along with primarily Black congregations of most other denominations.
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ltwin
Guest
Wow. I can see you feel quite strongly about this. However, just because something is true in your area, doesn’t mean it is the overall reality. In the Southern California district, there are 9,957 black AG adherents.
The AG, as of 2011 statistical reports, has 277,324 black adherents in the USA. National percentages are:
*White: 61.1
*Hispanic: 20.4
*Black: 9.1
*Asian/Pacific Islander: 4.1
*Other/Mixed: 3.7
*Native American 1. 6
Among other ethnic fellowships in the USA, there are:
*African Assemblies Of God Fellowship, U.S.A.
*National Black Fellowship Of The Assemblies Of God
*Haitian American Fellowship Of The Assemblies Of God
So, its not like the AG in the USA is lily white.
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graceandglory
Guest
I don’t like how the pastor was able to give me a “membership card” when I didn’t request one. I was concerned about that when I came back to the Catholic Church.
I was a youth group leader, married to an elder, whose sister, brother and dad were all A of G pastors.
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graceandglory
Guest
“A church in ever city.”
Because of this vision, there is a lot of very bad teaching. There isn’t any accountability or oversight, unless you are in a very large megachurch. There is little Christian orthodoxy, even from a protestant standpoint, taught within many AG churches.
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ltwin
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That is a very generalized description. Can you back that up? Every denomination has a few bad apples, but you don’t see the AG going the route of the Episcopal Church or the Presbyterian Church (USA) or the Evangelical Lutheran Church, etc which are splitting over the refusal of their leadership to condemn heretical teaching and practice. The AG still believes that Jesus is the only way to the Father and takes the Bible seriously. A lot of Christian churches can’t say that.
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