A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

A History of Christian Doctrine
350
7,668 in the United States and Canada in 1992. 336
• Claim: “Oneness Pentecostalism worldwide comprises
about 90 denominations in 57 countries.”
Response: The UPCI by itself exists in 137 countries. 337
• Claim: “Estimated affiliated [Oneness Pentecostal] church
members worldwide in 1990 totaled about 1.4 million.”
The cited source is David Barrett (1988).
Response: The author misread his source, because
Barrett listed two categories of Oneness Pentecostals
totaling 4,704,960. 338 Moreover, this estimate is over ten
years old and incomplete. In June 1997, Charisma magazine
reported 17 million Oneness believers. 339 The most
thorough study of this subject, presented as a master’s
thesis for Wheaton College in 1998, documents 13.7 million
Oneness Pentecostals and estimates a total of 15 to
20 million. 340
• Claim: “About 75 percent (1.03 million) were affiliated
with the UPCI.”
Response: In 1997, the UPCI published the following
statistics as of midyear: In the U.S. and Canada, there
were 8,091 ministers; 3,821 churches (not including
daughter works); and a reported Easter attendance of
428,513. In the rest of the world, there were 14,588 ministers;
20,348 churches and preaching points; and
1,908,943 constituents. 341 If we estimate total constituency
to be approximately 60 percent more than
average attendance, as does the Assemblies of God, then
as of 1998 the total worldwide constituency was almost
4 million.
• Claim: “The schism of 1993 throws membership figures
in doubt from that year forward. Before the schism
[1992], worldwide membership was about 1.1 million.
About two years later [1994], it decreased to about 1.02
million.”
Response: The booklet provides no source for these