Upscale Growth : Assemblies of God: It’s Moving Fast

Once regarded as the church “on the other side of the tracks,” the Assemblies of God has become the denomination on the fast track of growth.

And, lately, notoriety.

Many of the major players in the soap opera-like drama surrounding the troubled PTL ministry founded by television evangelists Jim and Tammy Bakker have Assemblies connections.

The church, founded after a fervent, tongues-speaking revival that swept around the globe in the 1900s, is now the largest Pentecostal body in the world and the 11th-largest Protestant body in the nation. Over the last 10 years, the Assemblies has outstripped the growth rate of every mainline religious group in the country.

This rapid growth has been accompanied by an upward social mobility among many adherents. In recent years, Assemblies churches have attracted more affluent and better-educated people. And second-generation Assemblies families have moved up the economic and social ladder as their values and life styles have changed.

‘Redemptive Lift’

George Edgerly, the Assemblies of God growth and administration consultant, observed that the beginnings of a religious movement “tend to be with the poor, the dispossessed, the disenfranchised. . . . When these people are converted, there is a ‘redemptive lift’ that changes their economic standard of living.

“The Assemblies was the church in the inner city and across the tracks. Now, we also have prime locations and some of the nicest buildings in the community.”

But with a loose organizational structure that allows its churches and ministers nearly total autonomy, the movement, with more than 2 million U.S. adherents and another 14 million worldwide, has suffered from growing pains--and the sudden glare of unfavorable publicity.

Stripped of Credentials

Bakker and his right-hand man, Richard Dortch, were Assemblies ministers until the sex-and-money debacle broke in March and they resigned under a growing cloud of allegations. Last week, both were stripped of their ministerial credentials by the church’s national board--Bakker for his confessed tryst with a church secretary and alleged “bisexual activity,” Dortch for arranging clandestine payments to cover up Bakker’s immorality.

Assemblies leaders say they are struggling to cope positively with “the fallout of this horrendous matter,” which they admit “will leave some lost on the battlefield. . . .”

“We are deeply saddened, ashamed and repentant before God for these church problems in our church family,” the members of the Executive Presbytery said in a statement that calls for a day of fasting and prayer in all Assemblies of God churches this Sunday.

Though highly embarrassed by these sensational developments and the media’s almost gleeful attention to the revelations, Assemblies of God adherents are deeply divided over loyalties to the Bakkers and to their own denomination.

Assemblies executives, interviewed in the church’s sky-blue glass-and-marble headquarters here in the heart of the Ozarks Bible Belt, said they did not foresee a split in the denomination as a result of the clash.

But Martin Marty, an expert on American religion at the University of Chicago, perceives “two separate success movements” within the Assemblies of God membership.

The Assemblies typically handles educational, economic and cultural diversity by having two churches in the same town, Marty said in an interview.

Enjoying Their Money

“In one, there are pickup trucks in the parking lot and handbills advertising square dances on the bulletin board. . . . At the other, there are Oldsmobiles and the people go to weekend retreats on how to make money.”

Bakker and other Assemblies ministers capitalized on an evolving “health-and-wealth” theology, which followed the 1960s penetration of Pentecostal religion into the mainline denominations and among the affluent.

The concept essentially is that “good Christians” will enjoy prosperity and physical well-being because of their faith. No apologies are made for instant gratification or luxuries.

Thus, replacing the old-line Pentecostal teachings of self-denial, austerity and separation from “worldliness,” the new theology permits religious women to wear makeup, expensive jewelry and revealing swimsuits, for example.

Tammy Bakker even marketed her own line of cosmetics through Heritage USA, the PTL theme park and shopping mall.

“A lot of people had a hard time accepting Tammy Faye over that,” Richard Champion, editor of the Pentecostal Evangel, the denomination’s 285,000-circulation weekly magazine, said with a chuckle. “Some of these taboos go back to holiness (movement) standards and were frozen into the denomination at the time it was being formed from 1914 to 1930.”

What God Wants

Today, however, the loosening constraints have become the rationalization for “upward mobility,” said Prof. William Martin, a sociologist in religion at Houston’s Rice University. “It also serves to justify the lavish life of a preacher like Bakker: God wanted it.”

A major Assemblies figure in what has been dubbed the electronic church “unholy wars” is TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, a fiery, stage-stalking preacher who has been a key informant to denominational officials about the alleged sexual and doctrinal aberrations of fellow Assemblies ministers, including Bakker.

Bakker and Swaggart exemplify the tension between Pentecostals who openly proclaim that “God wants you rich and well,” and those who favor a sterner image of righteousness.

The Bakkers received $1.6 million in salaries and bonuses last year, while Dortch was paid about $350,000. Swaggart, who has expressed disgust at the high-rolling style of evangelists like Bakker, lives well on a salary near $100,000 a year and in homes in the million-dollar class. Swaggart insists, however, that his money comes from his record royalties and not from donations.

“It’s a classic example of the outsider moving inside . . . who doesn’t know which way to go,” Marty said.

Swaggart, Marty believes, though “a slick version of what the Assemblies of God was,” is still “dealing with the blue-collar image,” while Bakker moved upscale.

Tolerance of diversity became a hallmark of the Assemblies under the 26-year leadership of Gen. Supt. Thomas Zimmerman, who retired in 1985.

Some religious analysts say it also sowed the seeds of discord that now mark the movement, founded 73 years ago last month in Hot Springs, Ark., as an outgrowth of the holiness and healing ministries of Charles F. Parham in Topeka, Kan., and the Azusa Street Mission revival of black Baptist holiness preacher William J. Seymour in Los Angeles.

The Bakker scandal has left many wondering how such fleshly transgressions could befall the clergy of a church that from its beginnings has been committed to strict scriptural truths and puritanical moral behavior.

In the wake of the upheaval, Assemblies Home Missions Director Robert Pirtle ruefully said the other day, “To be an Assemblies of God pastor around this town is to be suspect. . . .”

Indeed, the church bylaws include a section warning of “the alarming erosion of national moral standards” and deploring “inordinate love of or preoccupation with pleasures, position or possessions which lead to their misuse; manifestation of extreme behavior, unbecoming speech or inappropriate appearance; any fascination or association which lessens one’s affection for spiritual things.”

The Rev. G. Raymond Carlson, the Assemblies general superintendent, acknowledged that “a high percentage of Assemblies ministers with high visibility have failed. . . . Power, money and prestige have caused internal rot.” But, in his opinion, the Assemblies doesn’t have a great problem with moral failures in its ministerial ranks.

The Rev. Joseph R. Flower, general secretary of the Assemblies, noted that less than one-half of 1% of its ministers are dismissed each year.

But the issues involved go to the root of Christian theology and the application of Christian teachings to the modern world.

The 30,000 U.S. ministers of the Assemblies of God, which describes itself as a “fellowship” of 10,886 sovereign churches nationwide, are expected to embrace 16 “fundamental truths” that form the denomination’s statement of faith.

These include belief in personal salvation through Jesus Christ, water baptism by immersion, divine faith-healing, speaking in tongues, and the visible return of Jesus to reign on Earth for 1,000 years before the final judgment of the wicked. The Bible is considered “the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice.”

The distinctive doctrine of Pentecostalism--which sets the Assemblies of God apart from many other evangelical Christian bodies--is the belief that after the initial experience of conversion, all believers should seek a later experience known as the “baptism of the Holy Spirit.” This phenomenon is evidenced by the immediate gift of glossolalia, or speaking in tongues. These apparent languages are spoken spontaneously and are usually unintelligible even to the person speaking them.

Biblical Instructions

The “baptism of the Holy Spirit” is the event described in the second chapter of the biblical Book of Acts, when the disciples of Jesus gathered to observe the Feast of Pentecost 50 days after the Passover ceremonies, when Jesus was crucified.

Assemblies of God worship services are often punctuated by ecstatic outbursts of “tongues” as well as prophecy and “interpretation” of glossolalia. Worship in most Assemblies churches is fervent and informal, with spirited singing and instrumental music.

But there is a wide range, from raucous, “Southern-style” shouting to a more sedate “fairly high liturgy,” according to the Rev. Cecil M. Robeck Jr., an Assemblies of God minister who is assistant professor of church history at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena.

Assemblies officials credit the Holy Spirit for “blessing and expanding the work” throughout the world.

Evangelical Zeal

And they cite evangelistic zeal, conservatism on social issues and strong ministerial and missionary leadership as factors in the church’s remarkable growth.

“I suppose it’s partly because we’re a young movement,” mused Flower, the general secretary. “I think there’s more dedication than in some of the old-line denominations.”

A survey of church attendance in 1985 by the Lynchburg, Va.-based Church Leadership Institute found that an Assemblies of God church had achieved the largest yearly increase in attendance in 32 of the 50 states. The denomination has outpaced the U.S. population growth rate by three to nine times each year during the last decade. During the same period, an average of 332 new Assemblies churches were started each year.

Church statistician Sherri Doty said Assemblies growth, traditionally fastest in the Southwest and West, is now occurring most rapidly in the industrial Northeast and in Florida.

Ethnic Ministries

About 10% of Assemblies members are Latinos, and the denomination stresses ethnic and intercultural ministries. The Latino Assemblies--the largest Protestant Latino group in North America with 2,732 ministers--has formed separate “Hispanic districts.” These churches conduct services in Spanish.

Assemblies outreach is also strong to American Indians (more than 100 Indians are ordained Assemblies ministers), Jews, and the deaf. The Assemblies also operates 18 colleges and Bible institutes and 1,121 Christian day schools.

In addition, the Division of Home Missions supports police, prison, military and hospital chaplains, as well as special chaplains for rodeos, racetracks and truckers. The church’s Teen Challenge program has long been known for its effective outreach to young drug abusers and gang members.

Missionary Work

Overseas, Assemblies membership is doubling every seven years. The church has more missionaries abroad than any other evangelical group--1,450 work in 118 countries. Growth is most rapid in Brazil, South Korea (the Rev. Paul Yonggi Cho’s Full Gospel Church in Seoul has 550,000 members), Italy, Africa and Central America.

Last year, $135 million was contributed to the world ministries of the denomination. Of that, $69 million went to Foreign Missions, $24 million for Home Missions, and $42 million for all administrative expenses, Treasurer Raymond H. Hudson said. The church’s headquarters, seminary and printing complex in Springfield is valued at $50 million.

Assemblies executive salaries are not disclosed, but each of the four top officials has a total yearly compensation “in the $100,000 range,” said Carlson, the general superintendent.

Reflecting on the Bakker controversy and its impact, Carlson said the churchwide day of fasting and prayer Sunday will provide a time for “self-cleansing, looking at ourselves and our dedication to the basics. . . . A time to ask whether materialism has gotten too much of a hold on us.”