A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

A History of Christian Doctrine
views on the essentiality of the Holy Spirit, only 72 percent
of members have spoken in tongues—still higher
than trinitarian churches but very low for a Oneness
group. In the Pentecostal Methodist Church of Chile, a
trinitarian group that does not teach tongues as the sole
initial evidence, only 50 percent of the ministers have
spoken in tongues. 192
On secondary doctrinal issues, Trinitarian Pentecostal
denominations have gradually solidified their position in
a way that corresponds to Fundamentalism, while
Oneness Pentecostals allow greater diversity, as was
characteristic of early Pentecostals. For example, the AG
officially teaches the pretribulation Rapture, while the
UPCI has no official position. The AG officially opposes
the doctrine of annihilation, while the UPCI has generally
treated it as a part of eschatology and therefore open to
different interpretations. In the 1980s, however, the UPCI
passed a rule against licensing new ministers who teach
the doctrine, while still allowing ministers to hold the
view.
Longtime participants in Trinitarian Pentecostalism
have told UPCI audiences and ministers that UPCI camp
meetings and conferences are quite similar to early
Pentecostal services in the fervency of worship, racial
integration of audiences, and physical demonstrations. 193
Some of them state that they no longer experience the
intensity of the move of the Spirit in their groups that
they did in early times. 194 Some of them even urge
Oneness Pentecostals to maintain their original zeal, consecration,
worship, and emphasis on the Holy Ghost, and
not follow the example of groups such as the AG and CG,
who have in many ways become more Evangelical than
162