Reference the picture of the congregation of the First Assembly of God Church on South Main Street in Malvern Arkansas. The charter of this church is one of the oldest AOG in existence, Mamie Tillery was a charter member. This picture was taken around 1946/7, two new churches have since been built on the same site. The pastor then was Rev. G. E. Chambers. He and his wife are shown on the right side of the picture (as you look at it), he has his jacket open and is wearing a white shirt. The couple centered in the left set of doors (as you look at them) is my father-in-law and mother-in-law, Walter and Mamie Tillery. This is a high resolution picture therefore it can be �blown up� for more detail. My wife Betty Sue can recall many of the faces and put names to most of the faces she recalls. Here are some she recognizes: Otts, Parker, Helms, Grissom, Harp, Sheridan, Cotton, Taylor, Byerly, Adams, Hall, Ault, Oswald, Mays, Ross, Tooley, Robertson, McReynolds, Eldridge, Westerman, Tripp, Sulton, Clem, Clements, Battles, Ricketts, Wheatley, Denison, Hightower, Hudson, Phelps, Dickie, Wilson, Schaffer, Holt, Rogers, Jones, and Crutchfield.
History of the Assemblies of God
The Assemblies of God came into being at the first General Council, April 6-12, 1914, in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The December 20, 1913, issue of The Word and Witness, a periodical edited by E.N. Bell in Malvern, Arkansas, issued a formal call for a "General convention of Pentecostal saints and churches of God in Christ." In spite of heated controversy among Pentecostal believers over the issue of forming an organization, the Hot Springs convention brought representatives from many parts of the United States, as well as several foreign countries. More than 300 people attended these historic meetings, of whom 128 officially registered. The roster lists many of the great leaders of the earliest days of the 20th-century Pentecostal movement. It was here that a unanimous resolution was adopted to form a voluntary, cooperative fellowship of Pentecostal churches to be called the General Council of the Assemblies of God.
The 1914 Hot Springs meeting was not the first attempt to gather Pentecostal believers together. Between 1905 and 1913, a variety of camp meetings and conferences were held, chiefly in the south-central United States, with as many as 15 of these gatherings being publicized by the summer of 1913. Some regional associations developed. Short-term Bible institutes were conducted by respected leaders like D.C.O. Opperman to train young preachers. A flurry of periodicals appeared between 1901 and the gathering in 1914 in Hot Springs. These publications helped to give a sense of unity of purpose to the fledgling revival movement and pointed in the direction of a more formal organization.
What caused these early independent Pentecostals to agree to unite to form a new organization? There were at least four reasons.
1. Fellowship. Although there were isolated episodes of Pentecostal revival prior to this time, it was in Topeka, Kansas, in 1901, that the Pentecostal experience was given its first theological identity: a belief in a baptism in the Spirit accompanied by the biblical sign of speaking in other tongues, subsequent to new birth. The teaching of a baptism in the Spirit as an endowment of power for witnessing was commonly taught among evangelicals by the 1890s. Pentecostals possessed an expectation that tongues -- and other manifestations of the Spirit listed in the New Testament -- could be experienced today. This understanding was a cause of great controversy among Christians. Pentecostals were virtually cut off from fellowship with other believers. They felt the need for a new fellowship sharing common faith.
2. Discipline. A widespread tendency for clusters of Pentecostal believers to gravitate to strong leaders produced a divisive, and even contentious spirit among some Pentecostals. More mature leaders were uneasy about the splintering effect this personality-centered loyalty was producing. Some of these local leaders were guilty of various abuses, some more serious than others. It became apparent that a means for disciplining leadership was going to be required if the good name of responsible churches was to be preserved. Standards of conduct and practice were needed.
3. Doctrine. A third reason for organizing a Pentecostal fellowship was the felt need for doctrinal harmony. Many of the early Pentecostal preachers were untrained, lacking an adequate biblical foundation for feeding the flock of God. Enthusiasm was not always matched by wisdom. Some allowed personal experience to govern their teaching. This often created a bewildering assortment of conflicting teachings that led to division and confusion. A precise doctrinal statement was not shaped at this initial General Council, but by 1916 doctrinal controversy precipitated the need for a "Statement of Fundamental Truths," incorporating the salient points of Assemblies of God teaching.
4. Missions. From the earliest days of the Pentecostal revival, a common thread in the various assemblies was a widespread response to reach the lost for Christ, not only at home, but abroad. Foreign missions and pioneer domestic ministry were high priorities among these early believers. It became apparent very quickly that local churches were not very good foreign missions agencies. The need for correlating foreign work, arranging for forwarding funds to the foreign field, legal representation with foreign governments, and the need for endorsement for holding of mission properties in foreign lands, all pointed toward the need for a more centralized missions enterprise. Stories of missionaries abandoned in isolation on lonely mission fields fueled the sense of urgency. The desire to formulate a more cohesive strategy for sending and supporting missionaries was clearly one of the principal reasons Pentecostals shed their independent ways to form a cooperative fellowship. From the beginnings, the Assemblies of God has been strongly committed to the challenge of world evangelization.
The above is a reprint of an article entitled "The birth of the Assemblies of God" written by William W. Menzies that appeared in the May 31, 1998 issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Written on Feb 23rd, 2003 by:
George Evans Taylor, Jr.
209 Lakeshore Drive
Muscle Shoals, Al 35661
Last revised 11-28-2005
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