A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

A History of Christian Doctrine
statement. It also voted to require that the words of
Matthew 28:19 be incorporated in the baptismal formula.
The Oneness ministers had no alternative but to leave the
organization. As they left the conference floor to discuss
their options, they heard the assembly sing, “Holy, holy,
holy, Lord God Almighty, blessed trinity.”
As a result of this conference, 156 out of 585 ministers
dropped out of the Assemblies of God—about onefourth
of the total. Presumably, almost all of them were
Oneness, although a few left because they objected to the
adoption of a statement of faith and felt that the handling
of the controversy was too harsh.
Robert Mapes Anderson, a non-Pentecostal historian,
concluded that doctrine was not the only factor in the dramatic
shakeup of the young Assemblies of God in 1915-
16, but a power struggle was also involved. 81 He noted
that the six most influential men in the formation of the
Assemblies of God in 1914 were Bell, Goss, Opperman,
Collins, Pinson, and Rodgers. They were all from the
South, and they had all been associated with the white
wing of the Church of God in Christ. All of them lost their
positions. The men who gained power during this time—
Flower, Welch, Kerr, and Leonard—were from the upper
Midwest and Northeast. Flower, Welch, and Kerr had formerly
belonged to the Christian and Missionary Alliance
(Welch and Kerr were former Alliance officials), and
Leonard had belonged to the Christian Church.
Anderson also raised the question of whether racism
played a role, particularly in light of Leonard’s animosity
toward Haywood. Practically all the blacks in the Finished
Work camp looked to Haywood for leadership, so by the
decision of 1916, the Assemblies of God became “an all
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