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Summary
- Apostolic churches, such as the United Pentecostal Church International, are Oneness Pentecostals: they speak in tongues and baptize believers by immersion like other Pentecostals, but they do not confess three persons in God.
- The UPCI believes in one God who has revealed himself as Father, through the Son and as the Holy Spirit, while the Assemblies of God confesses one God in three persons, and both cite the same verse, Deuteronomy 6:4.
- Oneness Pentecostals baptize in the name of Jesus Christ, as Peter preached in Acts 2:38, and teach that baptism is for the remission of sins, while the Assemblies of God baptizes in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as a sign of a salvation already received.
- For the UPCI, the baptism of the Holy Spirit with tongues is part of the new birth, and for the Assemblies of God it comes after the new birth and brings power for life and service.
- The UPCI takes literal bread and the fruit of the vine as emblems of Christ’s body and blood and also washes feet, while the Assemblies of God keeps an open table, often monthly, and names only two ordinances.
- Both churches teach that a believer can lose salvation, both confess the virgin birth, and the UPCI does not call Mary the mother of God.
- The two sides parted between a camp meeting at Arroyo Seco in 1913 and the Assemblies of God’s Statement of Fundamental Truths in 1916, and the UPCI took its present form in a merger in 1945.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version: Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; John 13:14; Acts 2:4, 2:38–39, 8:16, 19:5; 1 Corinthians 11:26; Colossians 2:9; Jude 1:21. Text from BibleGateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/King-James-Version-KJV-Bible/
- United Pentecostal Church International. “2023 UPCI Articles of Faith.” https://dmc.upci.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023-UPCI-ARTICLES-OF-FAITH.pdf
- United Pentecostal Church International. “Our Beliefs.” https://upci.org/our-beliefs/
- United Pentecostal Church International. “Oneness Pentecostalism” (adapted from David K. Bernard and Robin Johnston, On Being Pentecostal). https://upci.org/oneness-pentecostalism/
- United Pentecostal Church International. “About the UPCI.” https://upci.org/about-the-upci/
- United Pentecostal Church International. “The True Humanity of Jesus Christ.” Position paper adopted by the General Board in 2004. https://upci.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/The_True_Humanity_of_Jesus_Christ.pdf
- United Pentecostal Church International. “Church Government.” Position paper adopted by the General Board in 2019. https://upci.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Church_Government.pdf
- United Pentecostal Church International. “Unity of Oneness Believers.” Resolution adopted by the General Conference in 1975. https://upci.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Unity_of_Oneness_Believers.pdf
- Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus. “What We Believe: Doctrinal Principles.” https://aaofcj.com/what-we-believe/
- The General Council of the Assemblies of God. “Statement of Fundamental Truths.” Adopted 1916. https://ag.org/-/media/AGORGV2/Beliefs/Fundamental-Truths/Statement-of-Fundamental-Truths.pdf
- Assemblies of God (USA). “Position Paper on Assurance of Salvation.” Adopted by the General Presbytery, August 2017. https://ag.org/Beliefs/Position-Papers/Assurance-Of-Salvation
- Assemblies of God (USA). “History.” https://ag.org/About/About-the-AG/History
- George O. Wood. “Statement of Fundamental Truths Centennial.” AG News, 7 October 2016. https://news.ag.org/en/article-repository/news/2016/10/statement-of-fundamental-truths-centennial
- Darrin J. Rodgers. “This Week in AG History — Oct. 21, 1916.” AG News, 20 October 2022. https://news.ag.org/en/article-repository/news/2022/10/this-week-in-ag-history-oct-21-1916
- Allen Tennison. “What We Believe About Water Baptism.” Influence (Assemblies of God), 28 February 2024. https://influencemagazine.com/en/Practice/What-We-Believe-About-Water-Baptism
- Allen Tennison. “What We Believe About Communion.” Influence (Assemblies of God), 22 May 2024. https://influencemagazine.com/en/Practice/What-We-Believe-About-Communion
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