Reasons to Begin
Indeed, the story of the Assemblies is one of apparent contradiction—including theories over how and why it was started. The year 1914 marked the start of World War I. Most Pentecostals of the day were pacifists, much like Mennonites are viewed today. These early Pentecostals, as well as other pacifist evangelicals at the turn of the 20th century, opposed war because they believed they should focus on working for the heavenly King. They viewed killing people on behalf of earthly kings as moral compromise. Because of this, some have hypothesized the AG became a haven for anti-war peacekeepers, yet that sentiment had essentially left by the time World War II began.
It’s also said that the AG was formed to give covering to the many freelance missionaries spreading the gospel and Pentecostal message around the world. Indeed, the denomination has been undeniably missions-minded since its origins, and evangelism and world missions have continued to be pillars of its organizational structure.
The father and grandparents of the late Paul Crouch, founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network, were among the earliest missionaries who helped start the Assemblies of God. Today the AG USA has more than 2,800 missionaries serving in countries around the world, and the relationship with the AG USA and other national bodies is a strong one, but without any governance or structural control from headquarters in the U.S.
“There’s never been anything like what the Assemblies of God has done through its missionaries and missions strategy of developing the indigenous church: self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating,” Wood says. “We’ve had scores of missionaries lay down their lives on foreign soil for the gospel. Our churches and pastors have prayed and sacrificed to send missionaries to the far-flung parts of this world.”
Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), recently told Wood: “If you took the Assemblies of God out of the Kingdom of God, you would blow a pretty big hole in the Kingdom of God.”
