Elgin Assembly of
God Church
Our Beliefs
The Assembly of God Church Beliefs:
Change is common to all human life. We are not today what we were yesterday; we will not be tomorrow what we are today. Like our world, much of what we are, do, and say is temporal.
However,
there are a few things in life that never change-nor should they.
Such is God. Unlike the human condition, God never changes
(Malachi 3:6). He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And
like Him-His truth is also everlasting. It remains the single
constant in our ever dynamic world of shifting cultural values.
These truths of God are His word. They are recorded in the Bible
and are foundational to successful happy living.
When the Assemblies of God formed in 1914, America was in the midst of a sweeping global revival. This revival was deeply spiritual, and like none other of its day. Unlike many present day revivals, this one was not planned, or heavily promoted-nor was it the work of any single person or tied to any church or denomination. In reality this was more than a revival-it was a sovereign move of God's Spirit. It was one that transcended all boundaries and reached across people of all colors, ages, and denominations.
In this revival people began experiencing the baptism in the Holy Spirit in similar fashion as that recorded in the New Testament. Like the 120 believers in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2), people involved in this revival were filled with the Holy Spirit. They too began speaking in unknown languages. Outstanding miracles and signs of God's presence and annointing were magnificently changed. Participants of the revival were given the name Pentecostals.
As news of the revival spread, sightseers and news reporters came to mock and investigate this new outpouring of God. Many who came to scoff were convicted under the power of the Holy Spirit and became converts to the cause of Christ.
As participants of the revival returned to their homes, they were now changed. All carried the message and reports of God's outpouring with them. Some were welcomed back, many weren't. Still others had been so moved by the Spirit that they involved themselves in full-time ministry.
Problems soon arose. The mainline churches quickly rejected the new Baptism phenomenon. Those involved were asked to leave or made to feel uncomfortable in their churches. Many were ostracized and ridiculed by their communities. Others, now involved in ministry and efforts to continue the revival, were isolated from friends of similar belief.
Soon Pentecostal leaders recognized the need for some type of organization or framework for supporting their ministries and continuing fellowship with one another. A call went out for the Pentecostals to meet and consider the possibility of establishing a new church.
However, many having just been scorned by their former churches didn't want anything to do with creating a new denomination. These Pentecostals felt it best for local churches to remain totally independent. Still others thought organizing a new church was the only way to continue the wonderful Holy Spirit revival.
In
April 1914 some 300 of the Pentecostal leaders met in Hot
Springs, Arkansas, to discuss the matter. With division in the
ranks they opened the meeting with 3 days of prayer. Afterwards
they voted to organize, but not as a denomination. Instead they
chose to form themselves in what is best described as a loosely
knit fellowship. A fellowship that allowed local churches the
needed freedom to conduct their own ministries, yet provided the
vital network for servicing the Pentecostal work of the Holy
Spirit. So was born the General Council of the Assemblies of God
in April 1914.
The first years of a headquarters operation consisted primarily of printing a paper to carry reports of the ministry, establishing a fund for supporting the work of missionaries, and formally credentialing ministers.
It wasn't until two years later in 1916 that the new fellowship saw the need to establish a set of doctrinal standards. After only a few months, an unscriptual practice of baptizing converts in water using "only the name of Jesus", surfaced. The teaching spread like wildfire in many churches where entire congregations were being rebaptized. At stake for the young Assemblies of God was the danger of leaving the Trinitarian ranks of Christianity, creating further isolation from other Christian groups and setting sail on ill winds of biblical error.
However, bible scholars stepped forward explaining the Scriptures, and pointing out the error of the new teaching. Nearly all involved in the "Jesus only" teaching admitted their error and reputed the practice.
It
is in this context that the young Assemblies of God realized its
need for outlining some essential standards of truth-standards
that would navigate the church on a biblical course. In a meeting
held in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1916, the Assemblies of God
established 16 doctrinal standards called the Statement of
Fundamental Truths, standards that have withstood the test of
time and served the church well.
Today's Assemblies of God Statement of Fundamental Truths is the same as that established in 1916. Only minor adjustments in wording and clarification have been made since the first statement. Based on the eternal, inerrant Word of God, the Statement needs no alteration of the truth it proclaims.
The
Assemblies of God, like every Bible believing group, must speak
God's eternal truth to each generation and to each individual.
Sometimes a statement of fundamental truths, with its theological
terminology, speaks more to the theologians than it does to the
man and woman on the street or in the pew. This publication of
the 16 fundamental doctrines of the Assemblies of God expresses
the doctrines in non-theological terminology. We desire that
every man, woman, and child understand the truth of the Scripture
as did our predecessors who searched the Bible, composed the
Statement, experienced its truth, and left it to us as a precious
heritage.
For more of the Assemblies of God Statement of Fundamental Truths, please visit their official site.