Assemblies Of God Research Articles

Informação, política e fé: o jornal Mensageiro da Paz no contexto de redemocratização do Brasil (1980-1990)

A Assembleia de Deus enfrentou uma série de pressões sociais relacionadas às mudanças que se processaram no Brasil na década de 1980: novos governos, nova Constituição, novos planos econômicos, novos movimentos políticos e manifestações culturais eram alguns dos elementos que direta ou indiretamente impunham novos desafios a essa Igreja na penúltima década do século XX. A Igreja, que até então mantivera uma postura de negação aos assuntos políticos, por julgar que esse tipo de tema pertencia estritamente ao plano terreno, recorreu a uma série de medidas para defender seus interesses e pontos de vista em uma nova conjuntura. O jornal Mensageiro da Paz teve, então, papel central como instrumento de propagação das suas mensagens. O artigo busca analisar as mensagens veiculadas nesse mensário por meio das quais a liderança assembleiana expressava seu descontentamento com os rumos políticos da nação brasileira e articulava a inserção de representantes da Igreja nas principais esferas políticas do país.

David du Plessis and the Assemblies of God: The Struggle for the Soul of a Movement

David du Plessis and the Assemblies of God: The Struggle for the Soul of a Movement

Spousal Violence among Christians: Taiwan, South Australia and Ghana

Local, often unconscious, understanding of male and female informs people's views irrespective of the religious ideology of (for Christians) the imago dei. This affects church teaching about and dealings with spousal violence, usually against wives, and can be an indicator of the failure of contextualising, from Edinburgh to Tonga and Seoul to Accra, actually to challenge context and ‘speak the Word of God’ rather than of elite-defined culture. In examining five denominations (Assembly of God, Methodist, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, True Jesus Church) in Ghana, South Australia and Taiwan, ecclesial attitudes to divorce are shown to have a crucial effect on an abused woman's decision regarding the marriage, especially where stated clerical practice differs from precept. Adding that to the effects of church teaching, the side-lining of pressure and support groups and the common failure of churches to censure spousal violence of pastors, leads the writer to suggest that any prophetic voice is strangled by shameful culture-bound collusion.

Religion as a Protective Mechanism for Families Affected by HIV/AIDS

The aim of the study was to investigate the role of the church in helping HIV and AIDS affected families cope with HIV and AIDS related challenges. A qualitative study was conducted using one-on-one semi structured interviews to gather information from HIV and AIDS affected families and church members, including church leaders. The findings revealed adequate knowledge of HIV and AIDS; prevention, transmission and treatment, however these families’ perception about HIV and AIDS still has elements of stigma and discrimination. Not all churches take an active role in the struggle against HIV and AIDS. 50% of the affected families reported that their churches were not fully participating, 20% not participating at all and 30% actively involved. The study revealed that amongst the churches which are not fully participating but aware of the existence of HIV and AIDS are Charismatic churches, such as, the Assemblies of God and the City of Light. HIV/AIDS affected families do not disclose at church because of fear of being stigmatised and discriminated against as HIV/AIDS is attributed to God’s punishment for promiscuity. Furthermore, much as most church leaders and congregants are doing their best in helping the affected families, only three churches out of ten have got programmes put in place for helping the infected and affected families. These include workshops and home and hospital visits for both the affected families and infected church members. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n14p269

A Discovery of the only Middle English Version of the Legenda Aurea Prologue in The Assembly of Gods

A Discovery of the only Middle English Version of the Legenda Aurea Prologue in The Assembly of Gods

Theological Education of Assemblies of God Ghana

This article gives a carefully researched account of ministerial training in Ghana. Assemblies of God, Ghana, now with roughly 2,000 congregations, has made a double transition: first the country itself became independent and then the denomination adapted itself once missionaries relinquished control.

Young People, Sexuality, and HIV Prevention Within Christian Faith Communities in South Africa: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Faith communities exert a powerful influence on the life of their members, and studies are needed about how they may be able to influence young people's attitudes regarding sexuality and HIV prevention. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire from young people (811), aged 15-24 years, affiliated to the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church and the Assemblies of God. The majority of participants perceived themselves at risk of HIV infection (53 %). Premarital sexual abstinence was the most frequently (88 %) reported prevention message, followed by faithfulness (23 %), HIV testing (18 %) and condom use (17 %). Furthermore, religious affiliation was associated with education on sexuality and HIV in youth groups, with better information given to members of the Lutheran and Catholic churches. Faith communities need to strengthen their capacity to educate young people in a more holistic way about sexuality and HIV prevention.

Genre, conversion personnelle et individualisme en pentecôtisme: les Assemblées de Dieu de Polynésie française

While the Assemblies of God (AoG) in French Polynesia insist on the dimension of choice in their definition of Pentecostal belonging, in contrast with the ‘historical’ Protestant identity inherited from parents, the conditions under which Pentecostal conversions take place lead us to qualify this simplistic opposition. The institutional recognition of personal conversion (through immersion baptism) by AoG ministers depends, in fact, on the regularisation of the conjugal situation. In so doing, they alter the process of conversion by transforming a supposedly personal decision into a conjugal and family negotiation. Adopting a gender perspective, the author first shows how the modalities of conversion to Pentecostalism and responsibility for such conversion vary significantly according to the gender and conjugal situation of the individual concerned. She goes on to question the signification of the ‘autonomy’ and ‘individual freedom’ promoted by Pentecostalism in so far as these are associated with a traditional division of gendered roles focused on the upholding of ‘familial values’.

William F.P. Burton and the Rupture With the PMU

This paper is the third and last in a series on the period covering the association between William F.P. Burton and the PMU which lasted from June 1911 until February 1914 and needs to be read in the light of the previous articles. This covers only the final months of Burton's association with the PMU during which differences he had with the Council came to a head.2 For the treatment of the entire period in this body of literature cf. David J. Garrard ‘William F.P. Burton & the PMU Years from1911-1914: An analysis of the PMU materials’, (A paper presented to the 41st Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies held from February 29 -March 3 , 2012, at Virginia Beach, VA, USA).It is likely that had Burton lived in today's postmodern era no one would have thought much of his questioning of authority but in a day when such questioning would have been greatly frowned upon it is understandable that it was this aspect of the man which finally led to his rejection by the PMU. It is necessary to grasp that there were a number of reasons for this final breakdown but it is evident that what appeared to be Burton's intransigent position on doctrine and practice were ultimately the reason for this separation. In any case this parting of the ways signalled neither the end of Burton's ministry nor that of the PMU which was eventually amalgamated with what became the Assemblies of God in 1924.3 Cf. William K. Kay, ‘Assemblies of God in Great Britain and Ireland’, in NIDPCM, (Eds.S Burgess & E. Van Der Maas, Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2002), 340.The rupture with the PMU does not mean that all those who were part of organisation ceased to have any meaningful fellowship with him. There were men like Thomas Myerscough4 Myerscough was responsible for the Men's Training School of the PMU at Preston and a member of the PMU Council., Burton's mentor and friend and John Nelson Parr, the well known and unconventional pastor from Bethshan Tabernacle in Manchester, as well as a number of his colleagues in the training centre at Preston, who continued to have an important role in Burton's life and ministry. Nevertheless, it is the goal of this paper to underline the significance of the issues leading to the rupture between Burton and the PMU Council and especially Alexander Boddy's central role in terminating their association.5 The PMU materials have been digitised during 2011 and will be available on the web. However, the material from which I draw was discovered too late to be included in that collection. It will likely be added later.

The Assemblies of God: Godly Love and the Revitalization of American Pentecostalism. By Margaret M. Poloma and John C. Green. New York: New York University Press, 2010. ix + 259 pp. $47.00 cloth.

The Assemblies of God: Godly Love and the Revitalization of American Pentecostalism. By Margaret M. Poloma and John C. Green. New York: New York University Press, 2010. ix + 259 pp. $47.00 cloth. - Volume 82 Issue 1

European Pentecostalism

European Pentecostalism is volume 7 of 12 in the “Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies” series published by Brill. This is very impressive, considering the series published its first book in 2009, and it says something about the growth of Pentecostal studies in the past decade. It was not that long ago that most scholarship on Pentecostalism relied upon popular histories and accounts of the movement. A disproportionate amount of research was focused on the United States and the Assemblies of God, the largest Pentecostal denomination. Beginning in the late 1990s, researchers focused on the growth of Pentecostalism in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Some research examined the impact of Pentecostalism as it returned or was transplanted in North America and Europe. However, this is the first sustained overview of Pentecostalism in Europe that examines its origins and historical development with a statistical description of its incidence across a range of European countries.

Faith Tabernacle Congregation and the Emergence of Pentecostalism in Colonial Nigeria, 1910s-1941

Abstract Faith Tabernacle literature first spread into the Christian community in Lagos from Western Ghana in the 1910s. By at least 1917 Faith Tabernacle literature was being read in Lagos, and the first formal branch was established in Lagos in 1920. During the early 1920s Faith Tabernacle literature was being spread throughout Nigeria as Faith Tabernacle members traveled across the colony as labor migrants, leading to the rapid spread of the church, particularly in the major cities. By early 1929 Faith Tabernacle had established 61 branches in Nigeria with over 1,200 members. However, due to the schisms of 1925 and 1929, many Faith Tabernacle leaders, members, communicants, and entire congregations left the church to establish the first Pentecostal denominations in Nigeria, which were the Apostolic Faith (1928), the Apostolic Church (1931), the Assemblies of God (1939), and the Christ Apostolic Church (1941).

Restorationism and the Initial Evidence Doctrine

The relationship between restorationism and Pentecostalism has long been noted. What has not been observed is the close relationship between restorationism and the Pentecostal doctrine of Initial Physical Evidence. This paper examines that relationship, showing that it was the restorationist mindset that led Pentecostal pioneers to identify speaking in tongues as the initial evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit in the early days of the movement in the United States. It begins by showing that the restorationist mindset so prevalent amongst protofundamentalists as well as leaders in the Holiness movement had already begun asking if tongues might not be restored as a part of the outpouring of the Spirit. The importance of the Azusa Street Revival in promulgating the doctrine is examined. Then the rapidity of the spread and acceptance of this teaching is shown, beginning with Charles Parham in Topeka, Kansas and extending to virtually every corner of the United States, as well as Europe, Africa, and Asia through missionaries and others affected by the Azusa Street Revival. Finally, the debate particularly within the Assemblies of God in the United States and the almost immediate renewal of commitment to the teaching is examined.

Poloma, Margaret M., and John C. Green. The Assemblies of God: Godly Love and the Revitalization of American Pentecostalism. New York: New York University Press, 2010. ix+259 pp. $47.00 (cloth).

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsPoloma, Margaret M., and John C. Green. The Assemblies of God: Godly Love and the Revitalization of American Pentecostalism. New York: New York University Press, 2010. ix+259 pp. $47.00 (cloth).Candy Gunther BrownCandy Gunther BrownIndiana University. Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Religion Volume 92, Number 3July 2012 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/667564 Views: 14Total views on this site © 2012 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Book review: The assemblies of God: Godly love and the revitalization of American Pentecostalism

Book review: The assemblies of God: Godly love and the revitalization of American Pentecostalism

A notícia política na mídia evangélica: o Mensageiro da Paz e a Folha Universal em perspectiva comparada

This article analyzes the editions published from May 2010 to January 2011 of Folha Universal, the weekly newspaper of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Brazil, with a circulation of 2.7 million, and O Mensageiro da Paz, the Assembly of God's monthly publication. During Brazil's last elections, the Evangelicals' political force and their capacity to define the agenda of the Presidential campaign attracted constant news attention in the lay press. However, little was said about this world's internal diversity or the different ways these religious people think of politics. Wagering on a dialectic interweaving worldview and communication, we focused on the symbolic expressiveness of these publications as a window on the way politics was portrayed and experienced by the two main forces in the Brazilian Evangelical/Pentecostal community during the last electoral campaign.

Parentally Mandated Religious Healing for Children: A Therapeutic Justice Approach

Significant controversy surrounds individuals' reliance on religious healing approaches to the treatment of illness, particularly when such efforts focus on the provision of care for children. These approaches, rooted in organized religions and their theologies, encompass a wide range of practices, ranging from prayer, meditation, and the laying on of hands, to exorcism, speaking in tongues, Spiritism, shamanic intervention, and various rituals of Santería. Numerous faith communities espouse one or more forms of religious healing while discouraging reliance on conventional medical treatments: These communities include the Christian Science Church, the Church of the First Born, End Time Ministries, Faith Tabernacle, Followers of Christ Church, Bible Believers' Fellowship, Christ Assembly, Christ Miracle Healing Center, Church of God Chapel, Church of God of the Union Assembly, Holiness Church, Jesus Through Jon and Judy, “No Name” Fellowship, Northeast Kingdom Community Church, and The Source.Others, such as the Assemblies of God, have moved away from an exclusive reliance on religious healing practices to a more holistic approach that combines religious-healing with at least some aspects of biomedicine. For many of these listed groups, health and illness represent the physical manifestation of moral concerns relating to salvation, which can only be addressed through religious healing.

‘Thy Daughters Shall Prophesy’: The Assemblies of God, Inerrancy, and the Question of Clergywomen

In 1935, the General Council of the Assemblies of God (USA) officially opened the pastorate to ‘matured women…who have developed in the ministry of the Word’. Today, the AG remains the only major conservative denomination to fully affirm female ordination. Unfortunately, this achievement remains largely ignored in contemporary scholarly literature, largely due to the influence of an article by Barfoot and Sheppard in 1980 which dismissed the AG’s official endorsement of clergywomen as having little lasting impact as the denomination matured into ‘priestly’ tranquility. In this article, I argue that such an interpretation is historically outdated. By extending Barfoot and Sheppard’s analysis of the General Council minutes to the present day, we find instead that significant progress has been made. Such a positive trend invites a reappraisal of the Assemblies of God’s scriptural hermeneutic underlying its enthusiastic endorsement of female ordination and also suggests cross-denominational application among similarly inerrantist denominations.

Pentecostalism and Citizenship in Brazil: Between Escapism and Dominance

Abstract Brazil is, today, the most Catholic, but also the most Pentecostal country in the world. The Pentecostal churches, namely the Assemblies of God, have been particularly successful among the poorest of the poor. There is little discourse on citizenship in Pentecostal churches, and its theological bases still seem to foster escapism; yet, believers regain a sense of dignity and respect for themselves and for others as they discover themselves as bearers of the Holy Spirit. In addition, contrary to the general perception, there are signs of a sense of responsibility for the whole human being, the environment and the common good. However, the relatively recent principle of ‘brother votes for brother’ tends to narrow down internal and external attention in terms of politics to the election of Pentecostal politicians, with all its ambivalences and a danger to seek dominance. This article argues that a third way between escapism and dominance, guided by a public theology, is possible.

The Assemblies of God: Godly Love and the Revitalization of American Pentecostalism – By Margaret M. Poloma and John C. Green

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 37, Issue 3 p. 185-185 The Assemblies of God: Godly Love and the Revitalization of American Pentecostalism – By Margaret M. Poloma and John C. Green Geoffrey W. Sutton, Geoffrey W. Sutton Evangel UniversitySearch for more papers by this author Geoffrey W. Sutton, Geoffrey W. Sutton Evangel UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: 14 September 2011 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-0922.2011.01528_4.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume37, Issue3September 2011Pages 185-185 RelatedInformation