A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

Trinitarian Pentecostal Organizations
ferent, but in 1916 the die was cast that would mold
future generations.
Trinitarian Pentecostals thus consciously sought to
identify more with Fundamentalists who did not receive
the Spirit—and indeed who denounced the move of the
Spirit—than fellow Pentecostals with whom they had
been closely associated. In fact, early leaders such as AG
editor Stanley Frodsham spoke of themselves as
Pentecostal Fundamentalists—Fundamentalists whose
only important difference from the others was that they
spoke in tongues. 186 J. R. Flower—AG orchestrator of the
anti-Oneness wing and a key denominational leader from
the beginning in 1914 until his retirement in 1959—said,
“We are fundamentalists, but we are more than that.”
When the AG was invited to help form the National
Association of Evangelicals in 1943, he led the AG in
doing so, noting that some Pentecostals kept their “fingers
crossed” lest they lose this “good fortune.” 187 From
the 1940s onward, the influence of Evangelicals became
stronger. As we shall see in chapters 9 and 10, the Latter
Rain movement in the 1950s and the Charismatic movement
in the 1960s and beyond also had a significant
impact in diluting Pentecostal uniqueness.
As a result, Trinitarian Pentecostals gradually adopted
many Evangelical positions and methodologies. For
example, one of the arguments that arose against certain
holiness practices was that other Christians—including
prominent ministers to whom the Pentecostals looked for
instruction and leadership—did not see the need for
them. When the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America
was formed in 1947, it simply adopted the statement of
faith of the National Association of Evangelicals and
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