The church has its origins in a vision of "Foursquare Gospel" (or "Full Gospel") during a sermon in October 1922 in Oakland, California by the evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. [1] According to chapter 1 of Book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel had a vision of God as revealed to be four different aspects: a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle. It also represents the four aspects of Christ: "Savior, Baptizer with the Holy Spirit, Healer and Soon and Coming King."[2] This was the vision and name she gave at Foursquare Church, founded in 1923 in Los Angeles.[3] Despite some affinities with Pentecostals, her beliefs are interdenominational. [4] She opened the Angelus Temple in Echo Park in 1923, seating 5,300 people.[5] The attendance has become a megachurch with 10,000 people.[6] McPherson was a flamboyant celebrity in her day, participating in publicity events, such as weekly Sunday parades through the streets of Los Angeles, along with the mayor and movie stars, directly to Angelus Temple. She built the temple, as well as what is now known as Life Pacific University adjacent to it, on the northwest corner of land that she owned in the middle of the city.
On May 31, 1988, John R. Holland became the Church's third President, a position he held until July 1997.[11]
Harold Helms served as interim president from July 1997 until July 1998; he was followed by Paul C. Risser, who became the president on April 16, 1998, at the church's 75th annual convention.[15]
In October 2003, under Risser's tenure, the church sold Los Angeles radio station KFSG-FM to the Spanish Broadcasting System for $250 million.[16] Risser's leadership led to another high-profile controversy for the church, when, without the involvement of the denomination's board of directors and finance council, church funds were invested in firms that targeted the "close-knit evangelical community" but turned out to be Ponzi schemes.[17] Risser resigned his leadership position under fire in March 2004.
The Foursquare denomination, under Hayford's leadership, is in "Missional Conversation" with the emerging church movement, claimed to be part of a "Church Multiplication" effort.[19] "Church Multiplication" also supports the house church movement through resources that support the expansion of "Foursquare Simple Church Networks."[20]
In 2020, Randy Remington became the President of The Foursquare Church.[21]
Statistics
On the denomination's website, they claim that in 2022, it had 67,500 churches, with 8.8 million members in 150 countries.[22]
Beliefs
The beliefs of the Foursquare Church are expressed in its Declaration of Faith, compiled by its founder Aimee Semple McPherson.[23] McPherson also authored a shorter, more concise creedal statement.[24]
The Foursquare Church is a Finished Work Pentecostal denomination, teaching that sanctification is a continual process of spiritual growth.[30]Christian perfection and holiness can be attained through surrender and consecration to God. This spiritual growth is believed to be promoted by Bible study and prayer.[31] The Foursquare Church believes in the baptism with the Holy Spirit as an event separate from conversion that empowers the individual and the wider church to fulfill the church's mission of evangelization. The Foursquare Church expects Spirit baptism to be received in the same manner as recorded in the Book of Acts, namely that the believer will receive spiritual gifts, including speaking in tongues.[32] The church believes that spiritual gifts continue in operation for the edification of the church.[33]
The denomination's church government has an "episcopal character" that dates back to its founder. McPherson had veto power over church decisions, appointed all officers, and hired all employees.[39]
The Foursquare Convention is the chief decision making body of the Foursquare Church. Meeting regularly every year, the convention's voting membership includes international officers and licensed ministers. Each Foursquare church located in the United States has the right to send one voting delegate per every 50 church members.[40] National Foursquare Churches outside of the United States may send one official delegate to the convention.[41]
A board of 12 to 20 directors manages the Foursquare Church. In addition to overseeing the Church's activities, the board of directors appoints officers and is responsible for licensing and ordaining ministers. Members of the board include the president, vice presidents, and at least nine ministers representing geographic regions. Church members in good standing may also be appointed to the board.[42]
Local Foursquare churches are subordinate parts of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and are operated according to the bylaws of the international church. There are two categories of Foursquare churches.[43] A "charter member church" is a member church that has no legal existence apart from the international church and whose property is owned by the international church. The second category is "covenant member church", which include "pioneer churches" and previously non-member churches. Pioneer churches are recently established church plants that have not been upgraded to charter member status. Covenant member churches might also be previously non-member churches that join the Foursquare Church but choose not to transfer their real property to the international church.[44] Non-member churches may choose to affiliate with the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel without becoming a full member of the international church. These "community member churches" retain their separate legal identities and autonomy.[45]
In 2006, membership in the United States was 353,995 in 1,875 churches.[46] While congregations are concentrated along the West Coast, the denomination is well distributed across the United States.[47] The states with the highest membership rates are Oregon, Hawaii, Montana, Washington, and California.[47]
South America
Foursquare Church in Ecuador
The Foursquare Church arrived in Ecuador in 1956 with the arrival of a couple by the name of Gadberry. Acting as missionaries under the auspices of the Los Angeles congregation, they began by founding churches in Guayaquil. They remained in Ecuador until 1960, but returned a year later to found the first Foursquare church in Quito. As of 2012, there were 200 Foursquare churches in Ecuador, with 32 in Guayaquil alone.[48]
Controversies
In 2004, the denomination's president and treasurer resigned after losing US$14 million of the denomination for approving two financial investment projects that were in fact a scam.[49]
In 2013, under Burris' leadership, the Church lost $2 million in a failed investment of a Broadway play based on the life of Aimee Semple McPherson.[50]
A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets.
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.
Aimee Elizabeth Semple McPherson, also known as Sister Aimee or Sister, was a Canadian Pentecostal evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s, famous for founding the Foursquare Church. McPherson pioneered the use of broadcast mass media for wider dissemination of both religious services and appeals for donations, using radio to draw in both additional audience and revenue with the growing appeal of popular entertainment and incorporating stage techniques into her weekly sermons at Angelus Temple, an early megachurch.
The term Full Gospel or Fourfold Gospel is a theological doctrine used by some evangelical denominations that summarizes the Gospel in four aspects, namely salvation, sanctification, divine healing and second coming of Christ.
The Statement of Fundamental Truths is a confession of faith outlining the 16 essential doctrines adhered to by the Assemblies of God USA. These doctrines are heavily based on other evangelical confessions of faith but differ by being clearly Pentecostal. Of the 16 articles, four are considered core beliefs "due to the key role they play in reaching the lost and building the believer and the church". They are the doctrines concerning salvation, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, divine healing, and the Second Coming of Christ. The Statement of Fundamental Truths has undergone several permutations since its original adoption in 1916 despite common claims that it has remained largely unchanged.
The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination.
The Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA) is an interdenominational fellowship of Pentecostal and charismatic churches and denominations in North America, existing for the purpose of promoting cooperation and understanding. It is a successor to the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America (PFNA). PCCNA headquarters are in Los Angeles, California.
The Pentecostal World Fellowship is a fellowship of Evangelical Pentecostal churches and denominations from across the world. The headquarters is in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Its leader is William Wilson.
Open Bible Churches (OBC), formerly known as Open Bible Standard Churches (OBSC), is an association of Pentecostal churches with headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, United States.
The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) is a Pentecostal Christian denomination and the largest evangelical church in Canada. It reports 239,267 adherents and 1,076 member congregations throughout Canada. Its headquarters is located in Mississauga, Ontario.
Dr. Rolf Potter Kennedy McPherson was the pastor of Angelus Temple and president of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, serving in that capacity from 1944 to 1988. By his retirement, the evangelical Pentecostal denomination had grown from 29,000 members in 410 churches to 1.2 million members in more than 19,000 churches located in 63 countries.
Angelus Temple is a Pentecostal megachurch of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles, California, United States. The senior pastor is Matthew Barnett. The maximum capacity is 8,975 persons.
Life Pacific University (LPU) is a private Christian Bible college endorsed by the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and located in San Dimas, California. LPU serves as the denomination's flagship institution for higher education. The university also operates an extension site, LPU Virginia, in Christiansburg, Virginia.
The Assemblies of God USA (AG), officially the General Council of the Assemblies of God, is a Pentecostal Christian denomination in the United States founded in 1914 during a meeting of white Pentecostal ministers at Hot Springs, Arkansas, separating from the historically black Church of God in Christ. The Assemblies of God is a Finished Work Pentecostal denomination and is the U.S. branch of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, the world's largest Pentecostal body. With a constituency of over 3 million, the Assemblies of God was the ninth largest Christian denomination and the second largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States in 2011.
The Christian Ministers' Association (CMA) is a Canadian Pentecostal group of over 450 members. The CMA originates from the Pentecostal movement of the early 20th century. It is not a traditional Christian denomination, but "a relational networking of friends and colleagues." As a Pentecostal fellowship, CMA believes in the Pentecostal distinctive of baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.
The Bastion of Truth Reformed Churches in the Philippines is a denomination of Christian churches all located in Southern Luzon, the Philippines.
Francisco Olazábal (1886–1937) was a Pentecostal evangelist, who conducted an evangelistic healing ministry and founded the Interdenominational Mexican Council of Christian Churches in 1923, later renamed as Latin American Council of Christian Churches or Concilio Latino Americano de Iglesias Cristianas (CLADIC). Francisco Olazábal committed 30 years to his evangelistic healing ministry. Olazábal held healing campaigns across the United States, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.
Pentecostalism is the fastest-growing Christian denomination in Brazil. Pentecostalism has surged since the 1990s while the largest denomination, Roman Catholicism, has undergone in a decline. At some points, churches were appearing as rapidly as one church per day. Pentecostalism in Brazil traces its roots to the Azusa Street Revival in 1906 in Los Angeles and, like Pentecostal movements in other countries, emphasizes a second act of grace following conversion that results in gifts of the Spirit such as glossolalia and healing.
Evangelical theology is the teaching and doctrine that relates to spiritual matters in evangelical Christianity and a Christian theology. The main points concern the place of the Bible, the Trinity, worship, Salvation, sanctification, charity, evangelism and the end of time.
References
↑ Matthew Avery Sutton, Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America, Harvard University Press, USA, 2007, p. 44
↑ Edith Waldvogel Blumhofer, Aimee Semple McPherson: everybody's sister, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, USA, 1993, p. 246–247
↑ Edith Waldvogel Blumhofer, Aimee Semple McPherson: everybody's sister, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, USA, 1993, p. 250
↑ Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism, Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, page 295
↑ Thomas, Lately Storming Heaven: The Lives and Turmoils of Minnie Kennedy and Aimee Semple McPherson, Ballantine Books, USA, 1970) page 32
↑ Epstein, Daniel Mark, Sister Aimee: The Life of Aimee Semple McPherson (Orlando: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1993) pp. 296, chapter "Kidnapped"
↑ Matthew Avery Sutton, Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007)p90, chapters "Kidnapping the Bride of Christ and p119, "Unraveling the Mystery"
↑ Cox, Raymond L. The Verdict is In, ( R.L. Cox and Heritage Committee, California, 1983) entire book focuses on the reported kidnapping
↑ J. Gordon Melton and Martin Baumann, Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, ABC-CLIO, USA, 2010, page 1461
1 2 "Our History". Victoria Foursquare Church website. Archived from the original on 2008-10-21. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
↑ Ron Rhodes, The Complete Guide to Christian Denominations: Understanding the History, Beliefs, and Differences, Harvest House Publishers, USA, 2015, p. 340
↑ Douglas A. Sweeney, The American Evangelical Story: A History of the Movement, Baker Academic, USA, 2005, page 1
↑ "Calvary Chapel History". calvarychapel.com. CalvaryChapel. 2020. Retrieved August 24, 2020. In 1965, Pastor Chuck Smith began his ministry at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa with just twenty-five people.
↑ "Church Multiplication: Missional Conversation". Archived from the original on 2008-07-31. Retrieved 2008-08-05. The missional conversation has arisen as a result of many diverse followers of Jesus re-thinking and re-imagining what it means to be church in the 21st century. We are welcoming this conversation, and as the Spirit leads, inviting all to learn and contribute to what we believe will shape the prophetic future of the church.
↑ "Church Multiplication: Simple Church". Archived from the original on 2008-08-06. Retrieved 2008-08-05. The main purpose of this site will be to give you a place to connect with others who are hearing God's call to explore the simple church world and to provide you with a growing body of resources pertinent to the simple church journey.
↑ The Foursquare Church, FoursquareLeader, foursquare.org, USA, retrieved May 30, 2020
↑ The Foursquare Church, History, foursquare.org, USA, retrieved November 5, 2022.
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