Mainline Cults?

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Steve Starcher wrote:

>Apostolics should not be eager to embrace the theology
>of conservative Evangelicalism.  Apostolics should
>develop their own theology which expresses the reality
>of the Apostolic faith from its experiential
>foundations in the Apostolic community.

Thank you for sharing your heart in yet another challenging post, Bro. Steve.

Examining the history and possible future paths of the broader Pentecostal
movement (both Trinitarian and Oneness), D. William Faupel expressed very
similar thoughts in his 1992 presidential address to the Society for
Pentecostal Studies.

Faupel says Pentecostals have reached a crucial crossroads, confronted with
a choice between two competing visions: "One vision sees the Movement as a
subgroup of Evangelicalism, sharings its assumptions, its agenda and its
mission." Those holding a second, still-emerging view, "perceive
Pentecostalism to be an authentic expression of Christian Faith in its own
right and not as a subgroup of Evangelicalism. They conclude that the
movement has its own mission, its own hermeneutic, and its own agenda."

For Apostolics, I believe the questions of self-identity and future
direction are even more acute, for we face the additional challenge of
determining our relationship with the broader Pentecostal movement. Shall
we be viewed as a subgroup of Pentecostalism, or shall we chart our own
course as a movement with "its own mission, its own hermeneutic, and its
own agenda"?

And, does charting our own course entail freeing ourselves from the
boundaries of Evangelical and Trinitarian Pentecostal hyper-orthodoxy, and
possibly entering into dialogue with the larger Christian world, while
holding fast without shame to our distinctive beliefs and spiritual
experience? Or, does charting our own course mean proceeding in continued
isolation from the rest of Christendom, proclaiming our vital apostolic
message from within a paradigm that equates the Christian church
exclusively with our own movement?

>Finally, it seems that Apostolics have forgotten a great
>deal of Pentecostal and Apostolic history.  The
>Fundamentalists, and now the neo-Fundamentalists, have
>always been the greatest adversaries of the Pentecostal
>revival.

Early Pentecostals, finding their reformational message ignored by liberal
churches and branded heretical by the Fundamentalists, often attempted to
legitimize the movement theologically by identifying with the tenets of
Fundamentalism, with a few Pentecostal additions.

James Sheppard has pointed out that this was particularly true of
Trinitarian Pentecostals, who drew heavily from Fundamentalist dogma in the
doctrinal statements which forced Oneness believers out of the young
Assemblies of God. By the 1940s, Trinitarian Pentecostal identification
with the less sectarian stream of Fundamentalism (neo-Fundamentalism)
culminated in the membership of several Pentecostal bodies in the new
National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).

It's speculation on my part, but perhaps relations between Oneness and
Trinitarian Pentecostals would have taken a somewhat different course if
these Trinitarian groups had not bound themselves so tightly to the
Evangelical agenda. For when the inter-denominational Pentecostal
Fellowship of North America (PFNA) was born in 1948, it was merely, as
Faupel has noted, "a subgroup of Evangelicalism," stating its doctrine
"verbatim in NAE categories with one additional doctrine, namely, the
baptism of the Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking in tongues."

Until the formation of the exclusively Trinitarian PFNA, there had always,
to some extent, been efforts to build greater understanding between Oneness
and Trinitarian Pentecostals (albeit with limited success). In fact, during
the initial stages of the PFNA's organization, Howard Goss was involved,
officially representing the United Pentecostal Church. But, once again,
Apostolics were excluded by the adoption of a Trinitarian doctrinal
statement. No doubt this was largely due to J. Roswell Flower, one of four
men who drew up the PFNA articles of fellowship. Flower had been the most
aggressive, outspoken opponent of Oneness in the early AG, and was largely
responsible for the Trinitarian doctrinal statement that officially divided
the AG.

Even back in 1921, Trinitarian Warren Carothers, an AG pastor at the time,
was the principal drafter of a resolution passed by the AG general council,
lamenting divisions among Pentecostals. He and Bro. Goss formed a
committee, which continued until the mid-'30s, to promote Pentecostal unity.

>I could not incorporate the reality of my spiritual
>experience in that Episcopal church into my Apostolic
>theology. Simplistic answers weren't satisfying.

One of the first positive Christian influences on my life was a wonderful
woman named Dodie, mother of my best friend in Grade 7. Our family moved
away, but, several years later, after my own conversion, I was thrilled to
meet her again and learn that she was, in fact, filled with the Holy Ghost.
I was much less thrilled to learn that she did not attend a Pentecostal
church of any sort, but instead was active in the United Church of Canada,
the country's most liberal mainline denomination! (I was raised in the same
denomination fo several years, although I have a rich Apostolic heritage.)

Dodie told me that should would love to join a Pentecostal church, but that
she chose to remain in the United Church in deference to her husband's wishes.

My mother and I went to the United Church to hear Dodie give the morning
message the day she came to our town. The love of Christ radiated from her
face as she shared the joy of her salvation with the members of that
church. A church that, to me, represented little more than apostasy and dry
formalism. How she flooded the parched soil with the love of God that morning!

As far as I know, Dodie is still active in the United Church, shining light
into darkened corners. Her son, my best friend of years past, was raised in
the United Church but, influenced by the love and example of his
Spirit-filled mother, later joined an Apostolic church. His walk with
Christ influenced another friend and, in turn, his friend's brother. Both
brothers, sons of an Anglican (Episcopal) priest, attended an Apostolic
Bible school, and at least one entered the ministry.

The Apostolic faith is rooted in my heart more deeply today than ever
before. I cherish it. I believe it. I declare it.

I am also convinced, more strongly than ever, that our Apostolic boundaries
can never confine the Spirit of God.

The wind blows where it wills.

Cary Robison