How the Holy Spirt Marked a Movement

It’s a Matter of Numbers

Today the AG frequently refers to itself as the world’s largest Pentecostal denomination, yet even this needs some clarification. In the U.S. the Assemblies has 3.1 million members, much less than the 6.1 million often attributed to the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). But I’ve talked to COGIC leaders who admit that the numbers are estimates since the denomination doesn’t keep detailed statistics.

AG leaders will tell you numbers aren’t as important as their overall vision for accomplishing “the greatest evangelism that the world has ever seen.” That’s meant that historically the Assemblies doesn’t emphasize membership the way other denominations do, in part to distance itself from the countless churches with bloated numbers from “CEO” members—those who attend Christmas and Easter Only. Countless people will attend an AG church yet never become members. Because of this, the AG more frequently refers to its “adherents” both here and overseas—those who attend regularly but aren’t necessarily members.

What about the adherents worldwide (there’s no official term to identify them like Methodists or Catholics)? Are they all AG? Each country has its own denomination, only loosely affiliated in the World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF). In Canada, for example, the largest of three WAGF-affiliated groups is known as the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. (There are also the Canadian Assemblies of God and the Pentecostal Assemblies of God.) In Korea there are the Korean Assemblies of God and the Jesus Assemblies of God, due to a denominational split.

In the U.S. people call the Assemblies of God “AG” for short. But don’t use that term in Australia; there it’s called AOG. In the past several decades the AOG has exploded, helping Pentecostals become the second-largest segment of Christendom in the country, surpassed only by Roman Catholics. The Pentecostal movement has been shaped by many things in Australia, but one of the major influencers has been Hillsong Church in Sydney, where Senior Pastor Brian Houston and former worship pastor Darlene Zschech made the church known globally for its intense worship, fiery preaching, strong integrity and doctrinal purity—all while “being trendy.”

In some ways that reflects where the Assemblies is today: aiming to be relevant and accepted yet also trying to remain doctrinally pure and morally strong in a world light years removed from 1914, when its founders met in the Grand Opera House in Hot Springs, Arkansas (see “History in the Assembling” sidebar). Today’s AG churches are among the largest in the U.S., and in most metro areas the largest Pentecostal or charismatic church is AG, though it may not use the denominational name. And true to form, the Assemblies is just fine with that.