Alliance World Fellowship

Last updated
Alliance World Fellowship
Alliance World Fellowship logo.png
Classification Protestant
Orientation Evangelical
Theology Keswickian [1] [2]
Polity Mixed polity, including Congregationalist, Presbyterian and Episcopal elements
PresidentJura Yanagihara
Region88 countries
Headquarters Reynoldsburg, United States
Founder Albert Benjamin Simpson [1]
Origin1975
Separations Assemblies of God
Congregations22,000
Members6,200,000
Seminaries 90
Official website awf.world

The Alliance World Fellowship (or The Alliance, also C&MA and CMA) is an evangelical Christian denomination [3] [1] [2] It includes 6.2 million members throughout 88 countries within 22,000 churches.

Contents

History

The Alliance has its origins in two organizations founded by Albert Benjamin Simpson in 1887 in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, in the United States, The Christian Alliance, which concentrated on domestic missions, and The Evangelical Missionary Alliance, which focused on overseas missions. [4] These two organizations merged in 1897 to form the Christian and Missionary Alliance. [5]

In 1887, in a series of sermons called The Fourfold Gospel in New York, United States, which will characterize his teaching, Simpson summarizes the Gospel in four aspects; Jesus Christ Savior, Sanctifier, Healer and Soon Coming King. [6]

The Missionary Training Institute (later including Alliance Theological Seminary), founded in 1882 by Simpson in Nyack, near New York, contributed to the development of the union. In the 21st century, the school moved again to New York City and changed its name to Alliance University. [7] After losing its accreditation, Alliance University ceased operations in 2023, with its records transferred to Houghton College.

A.B. Simpson was influenced by Keswickian cleric W.E. Boardman in his view of sanctification. [8] During the start of the 20th century, Simpson became closely involved with the growing Pentecostal movement. It became common for Pentecostal pastors and missionaries to receive their training at the Missionary Training Institute that Simpson founded. Consequently, Simpson and the Alliance had a great influence on Pentecostalism, in particular the Assemblies of God and the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. This influence included evangelical emphasis, Alliance doctrine, Simpson's hymns and books, and the use of the term 'Gospel Tabernacle,' which led to many Pentecostal churches being known as 'Full Gospel Tabernacles.'

Eventually, there developed severe division within the Alliance over issues surrounding Pentecostalism (such as speaking in tongues and charismatic worship styles). By 1912, this crisis was a catalyst for the emergence of the Alliance as an organized Christian denomination, shifting more authority to the council and becoming more ecclesiastical. To ensure the survival of the Alliance in the face of division, Simpson put all property in the name of the Alliance. In the event of separation, all property would revert to Alliance. [9]

After Simpson's death in 1919, the C&MA distanced itself from Pentecostalism, rejecting the premise that speaking in tongues is a necessary indicator of being filled with the Holy Spirit, and instead focused on the deeper Christian life. [9] By 1930, most local branches of the Alliance functioned as churches, but still did not view themselves as such.

By 1965, the churches adopted a denominational function and established a formal statement of faith. [10] In 1975, the Alliance World Fellowship (AWF) was officially organized. [11] In 2010, it was present in 50 countries. [12]

In June 2023, the Christian and Missionary Alliance of the United States approved women being ordained as pastors, but only if the women's local church leadership approves, and never as senior or lead pastors. [13]

Statistics

According to a census published by the association in 2022, it has 22,000 churches, 6,200,000 members in 88 countries. [14]

Beliefs

The denomination has an evangelical theology, [15] [5] [16] and is largely aligned with the Higher Life movement. [2] [3] [1] [17] A.B. Simpson articulated the Alliance's core theology as the Christological "Fourfold Gospel": Jesus Christ as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Soon Coming King. [18] These are represented by a cross, laver, oil pitcher, and crown in the Alliance's logo. [19] Sanctification is sometimes described as "the deeper Christian life". [20] This teaching is that of other churches aligned with the Higher Life movement and its Keswick Conventions. [8] [2] [21] It is perhaps best exemplified by the writings of A. W. Tozer. Simpson, however, departed from traditional Keswickian teaching in his view of progressive sanctification and his rejection of suppressionism. [22] [23] The Alliance also emphasizes missionary work, and believes that the fulfillment of the Great Commission is the reason it exists. [24]

Espousing a modified form of Keswickian theology, the Christian and Missionary Alliance, as with Simpson, differs from the Wesleyan-Holiness movement in that the Christian and Missionary Alliance does not see entire sanctification as cleansing one from original sin, whereas adherents of the Wesleyan-Holiness movement affirm this Methodistic teaching of John Wesley. [21] [25] [1]

Ministries

CAMA Services

Associated with the denomination is CAMA Services. "CAMA" stands for "Compassion and Mercy Associates". Services include a variety of relief and development efforts providing food, clothing, medical care, and job training to people in crisis situations around the globe in the name of Jesus. [26]

Begun in 1974 by Andy Bishop as an outreach to refugees fleeing the Indochina conflict, CAMA now works in refugee camps in Thailand, and has worked with refugees in Hong Kong, Lebanon, Jordan, and Guinea, and famine victims in Burkina Faso and Mali. [27] CAMA Services worked together with local C&MA churches in 2005 to provide Hurricane Katrina relief in the United States.

Seminaries and colleges

Grace Chapel and Performing Arts Center, Toccoa Falls College in Toccoa Falls, Georgia, United States Toccoa Falls College, Grace Chapel3.JPG
Grace Chapel and Performing Arts Center, Toccoa Falls College in Toccoa Falls, Georgia, United States

It had 90 theological colleges. [14]

Controversies

In the 1980s, alumni of Mamou Alliance Academy in Guinea, West Africa, began to write letters to C&MA headquarters informing leadership of systemic child abuse that occurred at the school. Phone calls and letter writing of this nature to the C&MA continued for ten years. [28]

The alumni reported that the C&MA response was evasive, deceptive, and employed "stonewalling" tactics. Alumni were reportedly told that they should forgive, and that they would "hurt the name of Jesus" by coming forward. One alumnus said that "the only way that we could get the Alliance to do anything was through the media. It was only through shaming them by putting the truth out there". Robert Fetherlin, vice president for International Ministries for the C&MA, said "We heard as far back as the 1980s that there were some questionable events that took place at Mamou. That there may have been mistreatment of children, however, we were slower than we should have been in responding to that." [28]

In 1995, 30 alumni from Mamou approached the C&MA for an investigation and restitution. [29] They reported systemic abuse including psychological abuse, excessive beating, sadistic dental practices performed without novocaine, sexual molestation, and rape. [28] The following year an independent commission of inquiry (ICI) was formed and 80 testimonies were heard. In April 1998 the ICI released a report which found the denomination negligent in monitoring Mamou and in training teachers. The report identified nine offenders, of whom four were retired, three deceased and two no longer with the C&MA. [29]

The US C&MA Board of Directors issued an open letter to the victims of abuse asking for "forgiveness for the pain and trauma that you suffered while under the care of C&MA dorm parents, teachers and missionaries." [30]

Since these abuses occurred, the Alliance changed its policies and practices. Fetherlin said that the Alliance tried "to keep families together as much as possible, as opposed to asking parents to commit to sending their elementary children off to 'missionary kid' boarding schools", and supported homeschooling, which they had previously opposed.

The Alliance also established a Sensitive Issues Consultative Group made up of professional counselors and caregivers as part of its response to the commission's recommendations. A publication on child safety and protection entitled Safe Place was produced, a child safety and protection policy for its international work introduced, and a revised Uniform Discipline, Restoration and Appeal policy implemented that mandates denomination-wide zero-tolerance when there is a finding of sexual abuse of a child or vulnerable adult. A child protection training program which every overseas Alliance worker is required to attend was set up. Child Protection and Safety policies were published on the Alliance Web site. [31]

See also

Related Research Articles

Evangelicalism, also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that puts primary emphasis on evangelization. The word evangelic comes from the Greek word for 'good news'. The Gospel story of the salvation from sin is considered "the good news". The process of personal conversion involves complete surrender to Jesus Christ. The conversion process is authoritatively guided by the Bible, the God in Christianity's revelation to humanity. Critics of the conceptualization of evangelicalism argue that it is too broad, too diverse, or too ill-defined to be adequately seen as a movement or a single movement.

Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement that emphasizes direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, an event that commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of the Nazarene</span> Evangelical Christian denomination

The Church of the Nazarene is a Christian denomination that emerged in North America from the 19th-century Wesleyan-Holiness movement within Methodism. It is headquartered in Lenexa, Kansas. With its members commonly referred to as Nazarenes, it is the largest denomination in the world aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement and is a member of the World Methodist Council.

The Holiness movement is a Christian movement that emerged chiefly within 19th-century Methodism, and to a lesser extent influenced other traditions such as Quakerism, Anabaptism, and Restorationism. Churches aligned with the holiness movement teach that the life of a born again Christian should be free of sin. The movement is historically distinguished by its emphasis on the doctrine of a second work of grace, which is called entire sanctification or Christian perfection. The word Holiness refers specifically to this belief in entire sanctification as an instantaneous, definite second work of grace, in which original sin is cleansed, the heart is made perfect in love, and the believer is empowered to serve God. For the Holiness movement, "the term 'perfection' signifies completeness of Christian character; its freedom from all sin, and possession of all the graces of the Spirit, complete in kind." A number of Christian denominations, parachurch organizations, and movements emphasize those Holiness beliefs as central doctrine.

The term Full Gospel or Fourfold Gospel is an evangelical doctrine that summarizes the Gospel in four aspects, namely the salvation, sanctification, faith healing and Second Coming of Christ. It has been used in various Christian traditions, including Keswickian, Pentecostal, Anabaptist, and Baptist denominations.

Sanctification literally means "to set apart for special use or purpose", that is, to make holy or sacred. Therefore, sanctification refers to the state or process of being set apart, i.e. "made holy", as a vessel, full of the Holy Spirit of God. The concept of sanctification is widespread among religions, including Judaism and especially Christianity. The term can be used to refer to objects which are set apart for special purposes, but the most common use within Christian theology is in reference to the change brought about by God in a believer, begun at the point of salvation and continuing throughout the life of the believer. Many forms of Christianity believe that this process will only be completed in Heaven, but some believe that complete entire sanctification is possible in this life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Benjamin Simpson</span> Canadian theologian

Albert Benjamin Simpson, also known as A. B. Simpson, was a Canadian preacher, theologian, author, and founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), an evangelical denomination with an emphasis on global evangelism that has been characterized as being Keswickian in theology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian perfection</span> Process of achieving spiritual perfection

Within many denominations of Christianity, Christian perfection is the theological concept of the process or the event of achieving spiritual maturity or perfection. The ultimate goal of this process is union with God characterized by pure love of God and other people as well as personal holiness or sanctification. Other terms used for this or similar concepts include entire sanctification, holiness, perfect love, the baptism with the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, baptism by fire, the second blessing, and the second work of grace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Higher Life movement</span> Movement devoted to Christian holiness in England

The Higher Life movement, also known as deeper Christian life, the Keswick movement or Keswickianism, is a Protestant theological tradition within evangelical Christianity that espouses a distinct teaching on the doctrine of entire sanctification.

Pilgrim Holiness Church (PHC) or International Apostolic Holiness Church (IAHC) is a Christian denomination associated with the holiness movement that split from the Methodist Episcopal Church through the efforts of Martin Wells Knapp in 1897. It was first organized in Cincinnati, Ohio, as the International Holiness Union and Prayer League (IHU/IAHC). Knapp, founder of the IAHC, ordained and his Worldwide Missions Board sent Charles and Lettie Cowman who had attended God's Bible School to Japan in December 1900. By the International Apostolic Holiness Churches Foreign Missionary Board and the co-board of the Revivalist the Cowmans had been appointed the General Superintendents and the Kilbournes the vice-General Superintendent for Korea, Japan and China December 29, 1905. The organization later became the Pilgrim Holiness Church in 1922, the majority of which merged with the Wesleyan Methodists in 1968 to form the Wesleyan Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conservative holiness movement</span> Christian movement

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The Evangelical Church of North America (ECNA) is a Wesleyan-Holiness, Protestant Christian denomination headquartered in Clackamas, Oregon. As of 2000, the Church had 12,475 members in 133 local churches. The Church sponsors missionaries in seven countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assemblies of God USA</span> Pentecostal Christian denomination

The Assemblies of God USA (AG), officially The General Council of the Assemblies of God, is a Pentecostal Christian denomination in the United States and the U.S. branch of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, the world's largest Pentecostal body. The AG reported 2.9 million adherents in 2022. In 2011, it was the ninth largest Christian denomination and the second largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States. The Assemblies of God is a Finished Work denomination, and it holds to a conservative, evangelical and classical Arminian theology as expressed in the Statement of Fundamental Truths and position papers, which emphasize such core Pentecostal doctrines as the baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, divine healing and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second work of grace</span> Christian belief of interaction with God

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Wu, Dongsheng John (1 April 2012). Understanding Watchman Nee: Spirituality, Knowledge, and Formation. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 58. ISBN   978-1-63087-573-2. D. D. Bundy notes that A. B. Simpson (1843–1919)—Presbyterian founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance—who never accepted the Wesleyan doctrine of eradication of sin, accepted the Keswickian understanding of sanctification.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Kenyon, Howard N. (29 October 2019). Ethics in the Age of the Spirit: Race, Women, War, and the Assemblies of God. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN   978-1-4982-8522-3. Much of the Keswickian influence came through A.B. Simpson's Christian and Missionary Alliance, itself an ecumenical missionary movement
  3. 1 2 Knight III, Henry H. (11 August 2010). From Aldersgate to Azusa Street: Wesleyan, Holiness, and Pentecostal Visions of the New Creation. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 365. ISBN   978-1-63087-656-2.
  4. ↑ George A. Rawlyk, Aspects of the Canadian Evangelical Experience, MQUP, Canada, 1997, p. 281
  5. 1 2 Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition, Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, p. 156
  6. ↑ Daryn Henry, A.B. Simpson and the Making of Modern Evangelicalism, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, Canada, 2019, p. 168
  7. ↑ George Thomas Kurian, Mark A. Lamport, Encyclopedia of Christian Education, Volume 3, Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2015, p. 132
  8. 1 2 Burgess, Stanley M.; Maas, Eduard M. van der (3 August 2010). The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements: Revised and Expanded Edition. Zondervan. ISBN   978-0-310-87335-8. A.B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA), influenced by A.J. Gordon and W.E. Boardman, adopted a Keswickian understanding of sanctification.
  9. 1 2 Burgess, Stanley, et al. 1993. Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements . Grand Rapids: Zondervan. p. 166.
  10. ↑ Samuel S. Hill, Charles H. Lippy, Charles Reagan Wilson, Encyclopedia of Religion in the South, Mercer University Press, USA, 2005, p. 182
  11. ↑ J. Gordon Melton, Martin Baumann, Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, ABC-CLIO, USA, 2010, p. 80
  12. ↑ J. Gordon Melton, Martin Baumann, Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, ABC-CLIO, USA, 2010, p. 605
  13. ↑ Ian M. Giatti, In historic vote, Christian and Missionary Alliance approves 'priestly' roles for women, christianpost.com, USA, June 07, 2023
  14. 1 2 Alliance World Fellowship, Statistics, awf.world, USA, retrieved November 5, 2022
  15. ↑ George Thomas Kurian, Mark A. Lamport, Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States, Volume 5, Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2016, p. 462
  16. ↑ Alliance World Fellowship, Statement of Faith, awf.world, USA, retrieved May 9, 2020
  17. ↑ III, Henry H. Knight (1 February 2014). Anticipating Heaven Below: Optimism of Grace from Wesley to the Pentecostals. Wipf and Stock Publishers. pp. 91–92. ISBN   978-1-63087-125-3. It is the other christological strand, that of the indwelling Christ, that is the heart of the distinctive sanctification theology of A. B. Simpson. A Presbyterian who ultimately founded the Christian and Missionary Alliance, Simpson operates within a Keswick framework while also drawing upon Wesleyan ideals. Like Wesley, Simpson described sin as in the motive or intent of the heart most especially lack of love for God and neighbour. While he agrees with Keswick that we can't ever be freed from this sinful nature in this life, he insisted, as Van De Walle puts it, "the power of the resurrected Christ would more than enable the believer to consider the sin nature a vanquished foe and to behave as though it were.
  18. ↑ "Fourfold Gospel". Christian and Missionary Alliance. Archived from the original on 2013-03-30. Retrieved 2013-03-29.
  19. ↑ Crow, Eric (January 21, 2021). "The Fourfold Gospel". The Alliance Canada. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
  20. ↑ Pardington, George P. The Crisis of the Deeper Life Archived 2011-06-05 at the Wayback Machine . New York: The Christian Alliance Publishing Company, 1925. Accessed May 31, 2011.
  21. 1 2 Murphy, Karen (23 May 2018). Pentecostals and Roman Catholics on Becoming a Christian: Spirit-Baptism, Faith, Conversion, Experience, and Discipleship in Ecumenical Perspective. Brill Academic Publishers. p. 131. ISBN   978-90-04-36786-9. ... the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) ... accepted the Keswickian teaching over the Wesleyan-Holiness belief.
  22. ↑ Bernie A. Van De Walle, The Heart of the Gospel: A. B. Simpson, the Fourfold Gospel, and Late Nineteenth-Century Evangelical Theology, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2009, p. 93; "Despite similarities, Simpson's sanctification doctrine included its own distinctives, not duplicating either Keswick or Holiness soteriology", p. 94 ; "Richard Gilbertson, like McGraw, distinguishes between Simpson's view of sanctification and those of Keswick and Wesleyanism: There have been frequent attempts to categorize Simpson and the C&MA. Often the assertion is made that Simpson held to a Keswick-type view of sanctification. More precisely, Simpson should be seen as having been influenced by Boardman's Higher Christian Life, a book which also impacted the Keswick movement. Other than an 1885 invitation to speak at one of their conferences, Simpson had little formal contact with the British Keswick movement."
  23. ↑ Gordon T. Smith, Conversion and Sanctification in the Christian & Missionary Alliance Archived 2020-01-09 at the Wayback Machine , awf.world, USA, 1992 : "He differed in some notable ways from the teachings of his contemporaries: he rejected the perfectionism of the Wesleyan-methodists; he did not accept the suppressionism of the Keswick movement." And "In these respects, the C&MA is distinct from the Keswick movement. The Alliance heritage is more life and work affirming. Our actions in the world do make a difference and are meaningful."
  24. ↑ "The Great Commission". Christian and Missionary Alliance. Archived from the original on 2013-04-29. Retrieved 2013-03-29.
  25. ↑ "The Radical Holiness Movement and The Christian and Missionary Alliance: Twins, perhaps, but not Identical". Bernie A. Van De Walle. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  26. ↑ Michael G. Yount, A. B. Simpson: His Message and Impact on the Third Great Awakening, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2016, p. 188
  27. ↑ "Our Work". Our Work. Compassion and Mercy Associates. 2014-05-17. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  28. 1 2 3 All God's Children – Documentary - 2008
  29. 1 2 "A Badly Broken Boarding School". Christianity Today. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
  30. ↑ Board of Directors of the U.S. C&MA. "alife". Alliance Life. Retrieved 2013-03-29.
  31. ↑ "Child Safety & Abuse Reporting". Cmalliance.org. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
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