The International Church of the Four-Sided Gospel is a Christian Pentecostal church. In the United States unites almost 2 thousand churches and 350 thousand believers [1] . Outside the United States, in 129 countries, the church has another 65 thousand churches and 7.2 million believers [2] .
The name of the church in Russian is sometimes translated as " International Church of the Foursquare Gospel ", less often - " International Church of the Square Gospel ".
The church is an active participant in the Pentecostal Universal Brotherhood . The headquarters of the movement is in Los Angeles .
Content
History
The church was founded by Amy Semple Macpherson - one of the most prominent Christian women ministers of the 20th century. The date of foundation of the church is 1927, although the independent ministry of “Sister Amy” began much earlier. In June 1915, MacPherson delivered the first sermon in Ontario , Canada; in 1917, she moved to Los Angeles, which became the center of its activities. On January 1, 1923, she opened the grandiose Temple of Angels in Los Angeles, which housed 5,300 people. The temple became the center of international ministry, and in 1992 was declared a national historical monument of the United States . In 1925, the church launches its own radio station, in 1926 - the Bible College [3] .
In 1948, the Church of the Four-Sided Gospel, the Assembly of God , the Pentecostal Church of Holiness and the Church of the Open Biblical Standard created the Pentecostal Brotherhood of North America (see Pentecostals in the USA ).
Manual
The International Church of the Four-Sided Gospel is led by a board of directors under the direction of the president of the church. The first president was the founder of the church, Amy Semple MacPherson , who led the movement until her death in 1944. After the death of MacPherson, her son Rolf Kennedy MacPherson , who ruled the union for 44 years, became president of the church.
The third president was Dr. John Holland (1988–1997). Dr. Harold Helms served as interim leader in 1997–98. He was replaced by Dr. Paul Reisser (1998–2004) and Dr. Jack Hayford (2004–2009). Since June 2009, Glenn Barris, Jr. has led the International Church of the Four-Sided Gospel.
Spread
Already in 1923, Amy Semple Macpherson opened subsidiary churches in the city of Long Beach , California. In 1927, the church sent the first overseas missionary to the Philippines. The following year, missionary work began in Panama. In 1929, the missionaries of the church arrived in South Africa.
Radio was widely used to preach in the United States. Sometimes the invitation flyers were scattered from the plane. There was a plan (although it is difficult to say whether they were serious about it) to fly over the territory of the USSR by plane, scattering leaflets calling on the Bolsheviks to turn to God [3] .
Greece became the first European country where the church of the four-sided Gospel was formed (in 1952). The largest branch of the church is the Brazilian Union of Churches of the Four-Sided Gospel (formerly the National Crusade of Evangelization ), which has 1.8 million believers [4] .
Regional Statistics
The table shows the statistics of the church by region (excluding the United States) [2] :
| Name of the region | Countries | Churches | Members |
|---|---|---|---|
| America | 26 | 17578 | 3550710 |
| Europe | 25 | 351 | 17330 |
| Africa and the Middle East | 48 | 6342 | 415600 |
| Asia | 18 | 18249 | 805291 |
| Southeast Asia and Oceania | 12 | 22576 | 2409585 |
Religious and Liturgical Practices
The International Church of the Four-Sided Gospel is a Protestant church that belongs to the Pentecostal churches of two blessings . The doctrinal provisions of the church are expressed in the Declaration of Faith worked out by Amy Semple Macpherson . The church believes in the inspiration of the Bible , the trinity of God and the divinity of Christ. Among the sacraments, the church recognizes water baptism and the Lord's supper . Great attention in the church is given to the baptism of the Holy Spirit . The gift of speaking in tongues is considered the physical sign of spiritual baptism. The missionary activity of the church is carried out at the expense of voluntary donations from parishioners.
Church Name
In 1922, MacPherson developed a unique presentation of the Pentecostal doctrine, called the "four-sided gospel." The name of the church indicates the four sides of the ministry of Jesus Christ - the Savior, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Healer and the coming King .
See also
- List of Pentecostal Denominations
- Pentecost in the USA
Notes
- AR The ARDA - Gospel International Church of the Foursquare
- ↑ 1 2 FMI Annual Report
- ↑ 1 2 International Quadran Gospel Church // Churches in the USA / Yu.A. Zamoshkin, D.E. Furman . - Issue 4. - M .: Printing and Reproduction Laboratory of the Institute of the USA and Canada, USSR Academy of Sciences , 1982. - P. 89-92. - 219 s. - (Directory "Churches in the United States"). - 200 copies
- ↑ [1] População residente, por situação do domicílio e sexo, segundo os grupos de religião - Brasil - 2010]