A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

Oneness Pentecostal Organizations
percent in reported Easter attendance. 102
Elsewhere in the world, the UPCI has grown quite
rapidly. From 1988 to 1998, it grew at a rate of 154 percent
in total constituency, or about 10 percent per year.
The increase in churches was 118 percent. 103
The largest UPCI national church or mission field is
the Apostolic Church of Ethiopia, started by UPCI missionaries.
Despite having faced severe persecution from
the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and repression from a
communist regime, the church has grown rapidly and
now reports over 1,000,000 constituents. An annual
outdoor crusade in Wara regularly attracts hundreds of
thousands of attendees. In the first such crusade, in
1992, an estimated 130,000 people attended, 20,000
claimed their healing, and 25,000 received the Holy
Spirit. 104 In 1999 an estimated 700,000 attended and
50,000 received the Holy Spirit. 105 The leadership of the
Ethiopian church holds the unusual view that Mary was
not the biological mother of Jesus but that His humanity
was a direct creation of God out of the substance of
His Word.
In other mission fields—including the Philippines, El
Salvador, and Papua New Guinea—thousands have
received the Holy Spirit in one service or in one week of
services. For example, in April 1999 in one service, 4,700
received the Holy Spirit in the Philippines. 106
The UPCI is the only Oneness organization to have a
large missions program in all areas of the world. For a
listing of UPCI national churches and mission fields with
over 10,000 constituents, see Appendix G.
Because of the historical events we have examined, the
UPCI is typically classified as a white organization, but this
101