Apostolic Faith Mission
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The Apostolic Faith Mission or The Apostolic Faith Church is a worldwide Wesleyan-Pentecostal-holiness religious organization, with headquarters in Portland, Oregon. This is a distinct body from the Church of God of the Apostolic Faith headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Open Standard Churches, or the Apostolic Faith Church as seen on television. It also strongly dissociates itself from all Oneness Pentecostal and other Apostolic churches.
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[edit] History
In April of 1906, William J. Seymour, an African-American holiness movement preacher, was invited to preach in a black Nazarene church in Los Angeles, U.S.A.. After his first sermon, proclaiming that speaking in tongues was the "initial evidence" of being baptized in the Holy Spirit, he was locked out of that church. Subsequently, Seymour was invited to stay in a home at 214 Bonnie Brae Street and to hold services there with a small group of interdenominational persons.
This was the time Rayford W. Logan referred to as the low point in Afro-American history, the period before the NAACP, when Jim Crow laws were demonstrated in the churches in the United States. However, this was not so in the Pentecostal movement in Los Angeles, the parent-church of this particular Apostolic Faith Mission. Frank Bartleman, a trusted reporter for holiness groups, reported that "the color line has been washed away in the Blood."
The purpose of those attending these meetings was to seek for the infilling of the Holy Spirit, having heard, through Seymour, Charles Fox Parham (a white Pentecostal pioneer and teacher), and others of this Pentecostal experience being received by believers in the U.S. Midwest. When a number received this experience, the word spread, and the meetings were transferred to larger quarters in an old Methodist church on Azusa Street. Here, Seymour instituted the concept of no collection plates for his church. He, likely with others of the leaders, decided upon their statement of faith and the text of their doctrines and standards. These can be found in the first 13 Los Angeles editions of their church paper, The Apostolic Faith.
Among those attending the meetings on Azusa Street was Florence L. Crawford, a Methodist laywoman. There she received the experiences of sanctification and the power of the Holy Spirit. At her baptism in the Holy Spirit, she related that God "permitted me to speak in the Chinese tongue, which was understood by a Christian Chinese who was present." She also testified to receiving a miraculous healing of her eyes, which had been damaged by spinal meningitis.
Parham soon denounced the revival as a "darky camp meeting," saying, "God is sick at His stomach!" and "What good can come from a self-appointed Negro prophet." Indeed, he is not mentioned after the second The Apostolic Faith paper, dated October, 1906.
Only five months after Seymour's Los Angeles beginning, Crawford, a dynamic white woman, entered wholeheartedly into evangelistic work, assisting Seymour. Thousands of inquiries had begun coming in from people who wanted to know more about the Pentecostal outpouring, so Crawford, with the help of Seymour's secretary Clara Lum and others, began putting into newspaper format the record of what was being said and done in the meetings, titled The Apostolic Faith. [Note: Several publications fully credit Lum with all the Apostolic Faith writings of this time, calling Crawford the editor. Crawford's personal articles do have her byline, although those with bylines may not comprise the whole of her articles.]
In addition to her efforts in the publishing work, Crawford said that she felt God's call to travel beyond the boundaries of Los Angeles with the Pentecostal message. Her first ministries were along the West Coast where she worked as an itinerant home missionary. On December 25, 1906, she made her initial visit to Portland, Oregon.
In the meantime, Rev. Martin L. Ryan also attended the Apostolic Faith Mission in Los Angeles in 1906 and had been accepted into their group, after having experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He opened an Apostolic church in Portland, OR, on Second and Main.
According to the Portland Apostolic Faith Mission's history book The Apostolic Faith: Trinitarian Fundamental Evangelistic, Crawford had been invited to preach in "an independent church on Second and Main Street." Soon afterward, Ryan, his wife, and three children moved to Spokane, WA to start another Apostolic church.
In 1908, Crawford, with a mailing list from Seymour's Apostolic Faith Mission in Los Angeles, moved to Portland and began printing The Apostolic Faith newspaper. A representative of the Portland Apostolic Faith Mission wrote that the publication of The Apostolic Faith newspaper continued uninterrupted, with the final edition from Los Angeles being printed in June, 1908. Los Angeles did, indeed, have a 13th and final edition, marked that it was from Los Angeles and dated May, 1908. Writing nothing specific of any other editions of the 13th issue, a representative of the Apostolic Faith Mission in Portland explained, "The first edition of the 13th issue of The Apostolic Faith paper which was published in Los Angeles in May 1908, (after Florence Crawford moved to Portland) contained this note: 'For the next issue of this paper address The Apostolic Faith Campmeeting [sic], Portland, Oregon.' It also refers to Florence Crawford as 'Sister Crawford' and mentions her activities in Portland." Such a notation does appear on the second page of that paper; however, another edition of the 13th issue apparently came out in July-August, 1908, from Portland. A search of the Los Angeles 13th edition did not find the words "Sister Crawford," Crawford's name, or a mention of the Portland work. It did, however, have an article that was apparently by the paper's editor, Florence Crawford, with the byline "F. L. C." Her work in Portland is not directly mentioned in this issue; it is basically a short testimonial and sermonette.
In the meantime, Seymour's secretary Clara Lum soon followed Crawford to Portland, bringing another copy of that mailing list, and began working for Crawford, and Seymour suddenly quit publishing the Los Angeles The Apostolic Faith paper. As seen above, the Portland Apostolic Faith Mission defends this, but while some other church organizations are carefully and specifically silent about the incident, others have stated that the reason was that Seymour no longer had his mailing list, which was also his list of supporters from all over the United States and the world, and especially those in the Midwest. However, the Portland Apostolic Faith Mission has replied to this that Crawford and Lum only took two lists, leaving twenty other copies of the list with Seymour. Interestingly, the Portland-based church indeed boasts many supporters from the Midwest in their own early history, in the above-mentioned book titled The Apostolic Faith: Trinitarian Fundamental Evangelistic, which is called an "historical account" of this reorganized church in Portland.
The Los Angeles Apostolic Faith Mission, without its supporters, quickly declined. In 1909, Seymour's wife Jennie Seymour, with two others (not Mr. Seymour), signed the papers making Crawford's organization an independent entity.
While the organization in Portland marks Crawford's arrival there as the beginning, the Apostolic Faith Mission actually began sometime earlier with Seymour opening his own, with that name emblazoned upon the clapboard side of an old, forgotten Methodist church on Azusa Street. Seymour continued to preach to his fast-dwindling congregation until his death in 1922, after which Mrs. Seymour took over the services. That first Apostolic Faith Mission building was demolished in 1931 and the land lost in foreclosure in 1938, two years after Mrs. Seymour's death.
Rev. Martin L. Ryan (who had the first Portland Apostolic church) and several others, depending upon the tongues received in the mission in Los Angeles to help them with languages, went on to attempt to evangelize in many countries around the world. In order to evangelize, some eventually tried to learn the country's languages where they served, and others resorted to teaching English in these countries. Still more spread out across the American continent, starting various churches and missions, some retaining the name "Apostolic."
Portland was then established as the headquarters of this particular Apostolic Faith Mission spin-off movement. In 1922, its headquarters building, a landmark in downtown Portland, was erected. A large neon sign with the message "Jesus the Light of the World," first displayed in 1917, was transferred to the new structure. Since then, a new headquarters building has been built in south Portland near its camp ground, new church, and parsonage.
[edit] Liturgy
The Apostolic Faith Mission has a basic service structure which the headquarters church and the branch churches usually follow:
- Organ Prelude.
- In most of the churches, if not all, the ministerial staff enters, turns, and kneels in prayer before the congregation at chairs placed at the front of the platform.
- Ministerial staff arises and sits facing congregation.
- Musical presentation(s) as the prelude continues. Presentations may be vocal or instrumental, solo or group. The Apostolic Faith Mission churches, as much as local talent allows, present excellent music, often classical. The larger churches have excellent music programs, including concerts which present both classical and religious vocals and instrumentals, monetary awards for music students who excel, and regular practices. The larger churches have fine orchestras which play throughout the services.
- Congregational singing, usually from a hymnal. Most of the churches use the same hymnals, following the lead of the headquarters church.
- Prayer and announcements.
- Testimonies interspersed with special music, hymns, and choruses.
- Sermon (usually non-interactive).
- Individual public prayer by the congregation, aloud, altogether, at wooden altars located between the platform and the front pews. This prayer at an altar after every service is held as an ideal in the Apostolic Faith Mission.
[edit] Church doctrines and teachings
Through the years, the Apostolic Faith Church's leaders have maintained the doctrines outlined in Seymour's editions of the The Apostolic Faith papers printed in 1906 through 1908. As a Trinitarian and fundamental church, their doctrinal position centers on a belief in a born-again experience, supports the Wesleyan teaching of holiness, and stresses the need of sanctified believers to receive the Pentecostal experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. While it has been preached from their pulpit that they hold to an Arminian teaching of salvation, there are great differences, the main one being that true believers consistently maintain completely sinless and any sin, no matter how minute, ends their salvation. Their teachings are in very strong defiance of Calvinistic beliefs regarding sin, predestination, and eternal security.
While they will say that some in other churches could possibly be saved, they maintain that this particular Apostolic Faith Church has the "whole gospel," while others have a "lesser gospel." For decades, members were forbidden to read outside materials or attend other churches, or, at least, strongly warned not to do so. While this attitude has changed some in the last decade, with members and ministry often reading and recommending outside literature to one another, it continues in some of the churches. Even Bible studies in members' homes are, in some of the churches, strongly warned against as leading to trouble; others of the pastors absolutely forbid them.
Further, the Apostolic Faith Mission continues and strongly protects the idea Seymour brought to the Apostolic Faith Mission -- the concept of its being a church that will not pass a collection plate. Rather, small slotted boxes are placed upon the walls of various rooms in the churches to receive "tithes and offerings." Most of the Apostolic Faith Church's pastors hold to the concept of paying "tithes" to the church, which they teach comprises 10% of one's whole income. Some of their pastors, however, encourage that a tithe be paid upon not just all of one's income but also upon all gifts and all personal purchases, although this is not usually done by the membership. The membership is also strongly encouraged to channel all of their charitable giving through the church rather than through any other charitable entities because, it is said, the church knows better where the needs are.
The pastors and preachers in the Apostolic Faith are not seminary-taught. In more recent years, some have had non-religious college educations, or some years in college, but church leaders do not trust formal educators. Rather, those who preach are chosen from the congregations by their pastors, because of certain exhibited criteria, and taught by those pastors. These men and women are expected to further educate themselves by reading the KJV Bible, reading other Apostolic Faith pastors' sermons, listening to Apostolic Faith preachers' recordings, and attending yearly camp meetings. Classes on church doctrine and on social, spiritual, and economic concepts are given by various members of the ministerial staff, usually at the above-mentioned yearly two-week camp meeting. All ministers are encouraged to attend these classes, and a ministers' manual has been published by the church. Ministers are expected and encouraged to seek God for knowledge not covered in these classes and manual and for desernment.
The Apostolic Faith Church uses the KJV Bible. They distribute no literature other than that they publish themselves, which includes tracts, all Sunday school materials, and a bimonthly magazine called Higher Way, their replacement for the early paper The Apostolic Faith (1908 - 1981) and the later magazine The Light of Hope (1981 - 1995). Outside materials that support their beliefs may be distributed surreptitiously by individuals, but this is very rare. They also allow very few outside speakers to teach in their churches.
They allow no remarriage while a previous (first-marriage) spouse is still living, except to the original spouse. All such marriages, other than those to the original spouse, are considered adultery. Should one join their membership while in what the church considers to be an adulterous marriage, the couple must separate immediately in order to maintain that membership.
Among other prohibitions for members, the church allows no dancing, alcohol/wine consumption, or smoking, considering these to be sins. Any jewelry which touches the person, including wedding bands, is prohibited, except for those particular watches they deem acceptable or medical jewelry. Once severely frowned upon, higher education, some sports attendance, and pants worn by women while off the church grounds are now sometimes accepted. Certain card-playing and television, once all considered sins, are now common among both the leadership and members.
[edit] Organization
The church is governed by a board of five trustees which guides the General Overseer from Portland, Oregon, where they maintain a camp ground and a publishing house. Rev. Darrel Lee is currently serving as overseer. Both home and foreign missions have emerged on a large scale, with works in Africa, Asia, the West Indies, and Europe. While each of these have their own leaderships, the Portland headquarters is still seen as having final authority.
American congregations are also, of course, under the leadership and direction of the headquarters in Portland. Although visits to the individual churches are both few and irregular, the headquarters makes the final decisions for the churches in their most important matters. However, although direct contact with the individual congregations by the overseer or his staff may be sporadic, pastors stay in constant contact both with their district overseer and the general overseer. Discipline of both teachings and church practice are maintained through yearly visits by all of the ministerial staff that can attend, and most of those in the congregations, to the camp meetings.
[edit] Church motto
"Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints" [Jude 3], the Scripture that appeared under the heading of Seymour's The Apostolic Faith papers.
[edit] Periodicals
- Higher Way
- Focus
[edit] Other Printed Materials
- Sunday school materials
- Tracts
[edit] Membership
In 1997 the church reported approximately 4,000 members, in 50 congregations with 160 ministers in the United States, and 10 congregations and 25 ministers in Canada. There are approximately 50,000 members in foreign lands. The largest mission field is in Nigeria, where there are approximately 20,000 members in about 600 churches. Membership is only an estimate, as there in no official membership registry. While records of baptisms are kept, the church includes as members those who attend regularly, claim salvation, and are compliant with their basic teachings.
[edit] Film
In 2006, on the centennial anniversary of the Azusa Street Revival, filmmaker Richard Rossi began production on Azusa Street, a feature dramatic film about the Apostolic Faith Mission. See http://www.azusastreetmovie.com.
[edit] External links
- The Apostolic Faith Church (http://www.apostolicfaith.org)
- (http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/journey_3/p_9.html)
- (http://www.azusastreet.org/TheApostolicFaith.htm)
- (http://www.dunamai.com)
- (http://www.parbarwestward.org/frmRejected.htm)
- (http://www.apts.edu/ajps/02-1/02-1-PShew.pdf)
- (http://www.negia.net/~dorme/mcintosh2002n.html)
- (http://pctii.org/arc/iphc.html)
- (http://www.sendrevival.com/history/azusa_street/)
- (http://www.sendrevival.com/history/azusa_street/william_joseph_seymor.htm)
- (http://www.sendrevival.com/history/azusa_street/azusa_street_bartleman_vinson_3_leaders.htm)
- (http://www.spirithome.com/histpen1.html)
- (http://www.ubcpress.ca/books/pdf/chapters/phillipsandgartner/intro.pdf)
- (http://www.healing-ministries.net/etudes/past_revivals/Asuza%20Street/revival_16.html)
- (http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/rootsof.htm)
- (http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/strange1.htm)
