This week in Christian history: Assemblies of God, Charles Wesley's popular sermon, Knights Templar

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, March 29, 2020

Assemblies of God founded – April 2, 1914

Morning prayers led by the Pentecostal World Fellowship, with the Assemblies of God, Colombia on 26 April 2018 in Bogotá at The Global Christian Forum. | (Photo: WCC/Albin Hillert)

This week marks the beginning of a meeting of Pentecostal movement leaders in Hot Springs, Arkansas, that led to the founding of the Assemblies of God denomination.

Held April 2-12, the gathering was comprised of about 300 figures representing several churches and church networks. They elected Eudorus N. Bell as their first chairman, a position later renamed “general superintendent.”

“At its centennial in 2014, the Assemblies of God claimed a constituency in the United States of 3,146,741 adherents; 12,849 churches; and 36,884 ministers,” noted the modern Assemblies of God.

“The General Council supported 2,847 foreign missionaries and associates working with the broader World Assemblies of God Fellowship, whose adherents numbered more than 67 million.”