Stanley M. Horton on General Council 2009 Res. 2
Today, in a Facebook status, Dr. Stanley M. Horton made the following comment (July 29, 2009 2:02pm CST):
Several of us have a problem with General Council Proposition 2. My mother was born in Ohio. If she were here, I believe she would gently ask everyone to take a closer look at Acts chapters 9 and 13.
You can see Resolution 2 online, here.
Later, in a very brief personal message through Facebook he further stated (Jul 29, 2009; 3:09pm CST):
Acts 9 shows that evangelization was the number 1 priority in what Anannias was told to tell Saul (Paul). Our founding fathers saw evangelization as the number one priority, and the result overseas is amazing.
Ok, so a bunch of people are kind of puzzled over Resolution 2. So here are my thoughts:
1. Worshiping God and evangelizing the world are not mutually exclusive.
2. Our historical identity as a fellowship has centered on the missionary Spirit of God empowering his missionary people.
- The stated purposes for the gathering which birthed the Assemblies of God involved unifying various Pentecostal groups both doctrinally, and organizationally for greater effectiveness in ministry and missions (See E.N. Bell, “General Convention of the Pentecostal Saints and Churches of God in Christ Hot Springs, Arkansas, April 2 to 12, 1914,” in Word and Witness (December 20, 1913), p. 1).
- The introduction in minutes of the first General Council states the motivation for the forming of the Assemblies of God (Combined Minutes of the General Council of the Assemblies of God in the United States of America, Canada and Foreign Lands–Held at–Hot Springs, Ark. April 2-12, 1914 and at the Stone Church, Chicago, Ill. Nov. 15-29, 1914, p. 2):
The Pentecostal saints in the United States and Canada especially have seen this great need of co-operation, fellowship and unity, according to the Scriptures, and have felt such a great need of the same in the Home and Foreign Mission work that in different parts of the country brethren have undertaken, we believe in the name of Jesus, to accomplish this end, but seemingly God has a more Scriptural basis and method and a broader field and a greater work than has been accomplished.Several months ago, men’s hearts were calling on God for help to adjust these matters, and open the way by which the Ministerial, Missionary, Publishing and School interests might be advanced to the glory of God. And we believe in answer to our heart’s cry, a number of representative workers of the Pentecostal Movement in various parts of the country, called a GENERAL COUNCIL, as was published in WORD AND WITNESS for sever months prior to the session, to be held at Hot Springs, Ark., April 2-12, 1914.
- At the second General Council (Nov 15-29, 1914) the following resolution was passed unanimously (Combined Minutes of the General Council of the Assemblies of God in the United States of America, Canada and Foreign Lands–Held at–Hot Springs, Ark. April 2-12, 1914 and at the Stone Church, Chicago, Ill. Nov. 15-29, 1914, p. 12):
As a Council, we hereby express our gratitude to God for His great blessing upon the movement in the past. We are grateful to Him for the results attending this forward movement and we commit ourselves, and the movement to Him for the greatest evangelism that the world has ever seen. We pledge our hearty co-operation, prayers and help to this end.
3. To this day, our Constitution and Bylaws (Revised August 8-11, 2007), consistently affirms our historical identity as a church concentrated on the mission of God.
- We can clearly see this in its constitution declaration We Believe section on page 3:
…That the priority reason-for-being of the Assemblies of God is to be an agency of God for evangelizing the world, to be a corporate body in which man may worship God, and to be a channel of God’s purpose to build a body of saints being perfected in the image of His Son.
That the Assemblies of God exists expressly to give continuing emphasis to this reason-for-being in the New Testament apostolic pattern by teaching and encouraging believers to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, which enables them to evangelize in the power of the Spirit with accompanying supernatural signs, adding a necessary dimension to worshipful relationship with God, and enabling them to respond to the full working of the Holy Spirit in expression of fruit and gifts and ministries as in New Testament times for the edifying of the body of Christ….
- We see this in ARTICLE III. PREROGATIVES, on page 4:
The prerogatives of The General Council of the Assemblies of God shall be:
a. To encourage and promote the evangelization of the world.
b. To encourage and promote the worship of God.
c. To encourage and promote the edification of believers.
d. To provide a basis of fellowship among Christians of like precious faith.
e. To respond to human need with ministries of compassion.
f. To establish and maintain such departments and institutions as may be necessary for the propagation of the gospel and the work of this Pentecostal fellowship.
g. To approve scriptural teachings and practices, and to disapprove unscriptural teachings and practices. A list of disapproved doctrines and practices is set forth in Articles IX and X of the Bylaws.
h. To have the right to own, hold in trust, use, sell, convey, mortgage, lease, or otherwise dispose of such property as may be needed for the prosecution of its work.
- We see this in ARTICLE IV. PRINCIPLES FOR FELLOWSHIP, also on page 4:
The Assemblies of God shall represent, as nearly as possible, the body of Christ as described in the New Testament. It shall recognize the principles inherent in the Body as also inherent in this Fellowship, particularly the principles of unity, cooperation, and equality. It recognizes that these principles will enable it to achieve its priority reason-for-being as an agency of God for evangelizing the world, as a corporate body in which man may worship God, and as a channel of God’s purpose to build a body of saints being perfected in the image of His Son.
- We see this in STATEMENT 10. THE CHURCH AND ITS MISSION, in the Statement of Fundamental Truths on page 7-8:
The Church is the body of Christ, the habitation of God through the Spirit, with divine appointments for the fulfillment of her Great Commission. Each believer, born of the Spirit, is an integral part of the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven (Ephesians 1:22,23; 2:22; Hebrews 12:23).
Since God’s purpose concerning man is to seek and to save that which is lost, to be worshiped by man, and to build a body of believers in the image of His Son, the priority reason-for-being of the Assemblies of God as part of the Church is:a. To be an agency of God for evangelizing the world (Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:19,20; Mark 16:15,16).
b. To be a corporate body in which man may worship God (1 Corinthians 12:13).
c. To be a channel of God’s purpose to build a body of saints being perfected in the image of His Son (Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Corinthians 12:28; 14:12).
The Assemblies of God exists expressly to give continuing emphasis to this reason-for-being in the New Testament apostolic pattern by teaching and encouraging believers to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. This experience:
a. Enables them to evangelize in the power of the Spirit with accompanying supernatural signs (Mark 16:15-20; Acts 4:29-31; Hebrews 2:3,4).
b. Adds a necessary dimension to a worshipful relationship with God (1 Corinthians 2:10-16; 1 Corinthians 12-14).
c. Enables them to respond to the full working of the Holy Spirit in expression of fruit and gifts and ministries as in New Testament times for the edifying of the body of Christ (Galatians 5:22-26; 1 Corinthians 14:12; Ephesians 4:11,12; 1 Corinthians 12:28; Colossians 1:29).
- Again, we see this in STATEMENT 11. MINISTRY, in the Statement of Fundamental Truths on page 8:
A divinely called and scripturally ordained ministry has been provided by our Lord for the threefold purpose of leading the Church in: (1) evangelization of the world (Mark 16:15-20), (2) worship of God (John 4:23,24), and (3) building a Body of saints being perfected in the image of His Son (Ephesians 4:11,16).
4. To change the prioritizing of worship over evangelism in this one place (ARTICLE III.) would be inconsistent with the Constitution as a whole, including the Statement of Fundamental Truths.
5. Instead of arguing over which one is “a)” and which one is “b)”, let’s just leave them as they are, recognizing the necessity and value of both evangelism and worship, while upholding the Assemblies of God’s historical and contemporary identity as a Spirit-empowered missionary fellowship.
Amen sir! i completely agree with you and the esteemed Dr. Horton.
If I were writing from scratch a mission of the church, promoting the worship of God would definitely be first. I could even make the case that building up believers should come before evangelism. This would declare that the church equips believers to evangelize, not that the church evangelizes.
However, as George Wood said on his page, this is not a hill to die over. If I were the author, I would be ready to withdraw the resolution if things got hot.
Don’t we get “the mission of the Church” in an integrated way in the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20)? I wish to see the concepts of worship, discipleship, and evangelism integrated. At the same time, I believe the Assemblies of God can validly and should uphold its historical and contemporary identity as a Spirit-empowered community of believers focused and concentrated on fulfilling the Great Commission in this integrated manner!
No where in our Constitution does it say that some sort of non-human institution evangelizes, the church is understood as believers…I think you are using a straw man argument.
I don’t think I am using a straw man argument. My only point is that is that putting training believers before evangelism fits the concept of believer evangelism better. Further, I think that putting evangelism first on the list probably invokes church service evangelism in the minds of many people since we have a long history of that approach.
But I agree completely that an integrated model is best. Unfortunately, any time you make a list, people read priorities into it. And that’s what the Ohio District is addressing. Perhaps we would be better off re-writing the whole thing to make it not a list.
And, as I said, this is not important enough to shed blood over.
BTW, thanks for posting this to begin with.
You said: “I think that putting evangelism first on the list probably invokes church service evangelism in the minds of many people since we have a long history of that approach.” Well, with that line of thinking, “worship” can be charged with a similar challenge since “it probably invokes ’singing songs time’ in a church service in the minds of many people since we have a long history of that approach.” This looks like a straw man argument to me; the Constitution obviously does not define “evangelism” in this narrow and exclusive way, especially since it specifically says that it is the prerogative of the Assemblies of God “to encourage and promote….”
With an integrated approach, the list is sound in whatever order (maybe making them bullet points will calm the analytical types [like myself]). Nevertheless, in regards to the Assemblies of God’s historical and contemporary “reason-for-being” as an organic organization of believers, the driving motivation is to fulfill the Great Commission with greater effectiveness as a Spirit-empowered cooperative fellowship.
Thanks for your comments Bob!
I’m followiing this on my own blog. But rather than attempting to discuss this in terms of the AoG’s historical approach to the issue, I’m trying to discuss it as a biblical-theological question.
Oops! Left out my blog, which is http://dalebrueggemann.blogspot.com/
See this argument, from John Piper: http://www.reallifeboston.com/getinvolved/LetTheNationsBeGlad.pdf