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Saturday, January 07, 2012
Assemblies of God Founded More Than One Church Per Day in 2011
A Pentecostal fellowship ended up opening more churches in the United States of America in 2011 than there were days in the year.
According to its records, the Assemblies of God, a denomination with around 3 million members, opened up 368 new churches in 2011.
Pastoral training and funding for these endeavors came through the Assemblies of God’s “Church Multiplication Network,” which is a department in the organization’s National Leadership and Resource Center.
“The reason this all matters is because new churches are incredibly effective at helping people far from God begin to follow Jesus,” said Steve Pike, national director of the Church Multiplication Network, in an interview with The Christian Post.
“CMN equips, funds and networks AG church planting projects from a national perspective.”
Pike attributed this growth to “a strong sense of dependency on and expectation of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.” To read more, click here.
I wouldn't trust those numbers. They have a tendency to exaggerate success. At one time they said they had 6 million adherents. Your article is quoting 3 million members. The altar call and Arminian theology counts every "decision" and every tiny church plant as a "church". Pentecostals have founded many tiny store front churches since the inception of the movement at the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, CA in 1906.
Also, their theology is so heterodox on the practical level that many of their churches are cult-like and teach aberrant views on the doctrine of Christ and other essentials of the faith.
Actually, the Assemblies of God keeps pretty excellent statistics. Also, the AG has NEVER claimed 6 million members in the USA. You can look at denominational statistics going all the way back to 1925 at http://www.thearda.com/Denoms/D_1021.asp
However, they do claim 60 million members worldwide, and are experiencing massive growth in Africa and Latin America.
I wouldn't trust those numbers. They have a tendency to exaggerate success. At one time they said they had 6 million adherents. Your article is quoting 3 million members. The altar call and Arminian theology counts every "decision" and every tiny church plant as a "church". Pentecostals have founded many tiny store front churches since the inception of the movement at the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, CA in 1906.
ReplyDeleteAlso, their theology is so heterodox on the practical level that many of their churches are cult-like and teach aberrant views on the doctrine of Christ and other essentials of the faith.
Actually, the Assemblies of God keeps pretty excellent statistics. Also, the AG has NEVER claimed 6 million members in the USA. You can look at denominational statistics going all the way back to 1925 at http://www.thearda.com/Denoms/D_1021.asp
ReplyDeleteHowever, they do claim 60 million members worldwide, and are experiencing massive growth in Africa and Latin America.