The Assemblies of God was founded in 1914 at Hot Springs, Arkansas. Representatives from 20 states and a few foreign countries gathered to discuss the possibility and advisability of forming a cooperative fellowship of Pentecostal believers. A fellowship emerged that was incorporated as the General Council of the Assemblies of God. E. N. (Eudorus Neander) Bell (1866-1923) was elected the first chairman. Central Bible College was started in the basement of the Central Assembly of God church in Springfield in 1922.
The Assemblies of God has forerunners in groups that existed before its incorporation in 1914. In April of 1906, the Apostolic Faith Movement began in Orchard, Texas. A group of 20 ministers organized as the Church of God (not connected with the Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee movement) near Slocumb, Alabama in February 1911. This Church of God and the Apostolic Faith Movement united around 1912. It was this group, now called Churches of God in Christ, that issued the call for a general council to meet in Hot Springs in 1914. The Holiness Baptist Churches of Southwestern Arkansas (org. 1903), under the leadership of William Jethro Walthall (1858-1931), united with the Assemblies of God in 1917.
As of 2004, they have approximately 15 million members worldwide, with 12,100 churches in the United States and 236,022 churches worldwide. Its biggest international branch is the Brazilian Assemblies of God, with 3.5 million members. National headquarters are in Springfield, Missouri, where the administration building, Gospel Publishing House, and International Distribution Center are located. The Assemblies of God is a member of the National Association of Evangelicals.
Each congregation of the Assemblies of God is considered a self-governing "assembly." The General Council is not directly involved in running the local congregations.
The assembly, entitled "A Convention of Pentecostal Saints and Churches of Christ" (Melton, 375) was called for the purpose of "(1) doctrinal unity; (2) chartering churches under a common name for legal purposes; (3) the need for a Bible Training School; (4) conservation of the work; (5) foreign mission interests" (Assemblies of God.
This is the the official homepage for the Assemblies of God.
The Assemblies of God denomination is the second largest Pentecostal faith group in the United States.
As seen elsewhere in conservative Christendom, the Assemblies of God consider all forms of same-sex sexuality as a sin: whether they occur within a loving, committed, consensual relationship, or take the form of homosexual rape, prostitution, orgies, or child sexual abuse.
Hopefully, the Assemblies of God will revisit the topic soon, study what is now known about human sexuality, and study alternative interpretations of passages from Genesis, the rest of the Old Testament and the New Testament.
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