C
Canuckster1127
Guest
I’m late to the party here, but I was a pastor and district worker in the C&MA for about 15 years.
I think you covered everything pretty well in this thread.
A.B. Simpson was Presbyterian in his roots. His leaving Presbyterianism wasn’t particularly on the most friendly of terms. He questioned and moved away from a lot of his Calvinist roots in some areas and in particular, at his last church in New York City he took exception with his Church leaderships unwillingness to seek to intergrate and include many of the “lower class” social strata that he was reaching through his evangelistic efforts. He also had strong convictions by that point that money was better spent on actual ministry than extravagent buildings and when his Church, over his objections, chose an elaborate building that was the breaking point for him, and so he left the Presbyterian Church and went out on his own as an independent.
He founded two organizations, The Missionary Alliance which was non-denominational and then The Christian Alliance which was a loose association of independent churches with sympathies toward world-wise missions. They eventually merged and began functioning as a denomination. Simpson never wanted to see another denomination formed and so the C&MA functioned for years without calling themselves a denomination until 1970.
The C&MA is neither calvinistic nor holiness in it’s official doctrine and statement of faith. Early churches were of both camps and the attitude was one of in cardinal doctrines, unity and in non-cardinal doctrines, freedom. Some churches and districts in the C&MA had leanings in on way or another, but officially there’s no official doctrinal statements.
Many don’t know this but in the 1920s and 1930s the Alliance went through a lot of turmoil with the Asuza Street revivals and the advocasy of charismatic gifts. A great deal of C&MA people and churches and professors from the Nyack College (the primary educational organization of the Alliance) left the C&MA and were very influential in the founding of what became the Assemblies of God. The original AoG statement of faith is almost identical to the C&MAs in large portions, because of this. So today C&MA officially takes no position on the Charismatic gifts but in practice the influence of this past split still has some impact and C&MA churches are mostly non-charismatic.
Tozer was the primary voice known from the C&MA. He was the editor of the Alliance Life and his writing attracted a lot of attention. One of his books, Wingspread is biography of A.B. Simpson and it’s a great window not only into Simpson but also Tozer himself.
Today the C&MA is still struggling to find an identity. Doctrinally they are pretty much generic Evangelicals. There’s some effort to make the 4 fold Gospel of Christ as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer and Coming king a form of doctriinal distinctive, but in practice the element of Sanctifier has diminished and few Alliance Churches teach Sanctification as both a process and crisis experience which was the original doctrine. Healer too is diminished and very few Alliance Churches are aggressive in teaching and practicing healing as a primary thrust of ministry. The real distinctive is the organizations focus on Missions. My stats may be old as I’m not longer in the C&MA but in the times I was there, the worldwide membership in the C&MA is higher in several countries that used to be mission fields than in the US. It’s particularly strong in the Philippines, Laos, Viet Nam and West Africa. The Alliance was one of the few denomination following WWII that was aggressive about allowing mission countries autonomy as soon as possible and promoting local leadership as quickly as possible with a diminished role for missionaries.
Hope this helps. If I can give more insight, let me know and I’ll try to give as honest and accurate an answer as I can.
blessings,
bart
I think you covered everything pretty well in this thread.
A.B. Simpson was Presbyterian in his roots. His leaving Presbyterianism wasn’t particularly on the most friendly of terms. He questioned and moved away from a lot of his Calvinist roots in some areas and in particular, at his last church in New York City he took exception with his Church leaderships unwillingness to seek to intergrate and include many of the “lower class” social strata that he was reaching through his evangelistic efforts. He also had strong convictions by that point that money was better spent on actual ministry than extravagent buildings and when his Church, over his objections, chose an elaborate building that was the breaking point for him, and so he left the Presbyterian Church and went out on his own as an independent.
He founded two organizations, The Missionary Alliance which was non-denominational and then The Christian Alliance which was a loose association of independent churches with sympathies toward world-wise missions. They eventually merged and began functioning as a denomination. Simpson never wanted to see another denomination formed and so the C&MA functioned for years without calling themselves a denomination until 1970.
The C&MA is neither calvinistic nor holiness in it’s official doctrine and statement of faith. Early churches were of both camps and the attitude was one of in cardinal doctrines, unity and in non-cardinal doctrines, freedom. Some churches and districts in the C&MA had leanings in on way or another, but officially there’s no official doctrinal statements.
Many don’t know this but in the 1920s and 1930s the Alliance went through a lot of turmoil with the Asuza Street revivals and the advocasy of charismatic gifts. A great deal of C&MA people and churches and professors from the Nyack College (the primary educational organization of the Alliance) left the C&MA and were very influential in the founding of what became the Assemblies of God. The original AoG statement of faith is almost identical to the C&MAs in large portions, because of this. So today C&MA officially takes no position on the Charismatic gifts but in practice the influence of this past split still has some impact and C&MA churches are mostly non-charismatic.
Tozer was the primary voice known from the C&MA. He was the editor of the Alliance Life and his writing attracted a lot of attention. One of his books, Wingspread is biography of A.B. Simpson and it’s a great window not only into Simpson but also Tozer himself.
Today the C&MA is still struggling to find an identity. Doctrinally they are pretty much generic Evangelicals. There’s some effort to make the 4 fold Gospel of Christ as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer and Coming king a form of doctriinal distinctive, but in practice the element of Sanctifier has diminished and few Alliance Churches teach Sanctification as both a process and crisis experience which was the original doctrine. Healer too is diminished and very few Alliance Churches are aggressive in teaching and practicing healing as a primary thrust of ministry. The real distinctive is the organizations focus on Missions. My stats may be old as I’m not longer in the C&MA but in the times I was there, the worldwide membership in the C&MA is higher in several countries that used to be mission fields than in the US. It’s particularly strong in the Philippines, Laos, Viet Nam and West Africa. The Alliance was one of the few denomination following WWII that was aggressive about allowing mission countries autonomy as soon as possible and promoting local leadership as quickly as possible with a diminished role for missionaries.
Hope this helps. If I can give more insight, let me know and I’ll try to give as honest and accurate an answer as I can.
blessings,
bart
