A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

Trinitarian Pentecostal Organizations
sion. The Oneness movement arose within this branch,
but the groups we will discuss rejected that doctrine and
remained trinitarian.
The largest Pentecostal denomination in the world is
the Assemblies of God (AG) (30,000,000). It was founded
in 1914 as the first Finished Work group. (See chapter 3.)
The AG did not explicitly exclude those who believed in
sanctification as a second work, however.
The Assemblies of God is the first or second largest
Protestant church in about thirty countries of the world.
Its total constituency includes 16,000,000 in Brazil. The
church there is actually an indigenous church founded in
1911 that later affiliated with the AG but retained its own
government.
In the U.S. the AG had 118 churches and 6,703 adherents
in 1916. For 1996 the AG reported 11,823 churches,
32,314 ministers, 1,573,108 in Sunday morning
attendance, 1,407,941 members, and an estimated
2,467,588 constituents (“persons of all ages who identify
with an A/G church”). Of the total churches, 14.7 percent
identified themselves as Hispanic and 1.4 percent as
black. Average annual water baptisms per reporting
church were 15.2, and average annual Spirit baptisms
were 12.2. 161
In 1916, in response to the Oneness controversy, the
AG adopted a Statement of Fundamental Truths. The preamble
explained: 162
This Statement of Fundamental Truths is not intended
as a creed for the Church, nor as a basis of fellowship
among Christians, but only as a basis of unity for the
ministry alone. . . . The human phraseology employed
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