To fly or not to fly? Why are some churches choosing to not align so closely with their denominations?

I physically ducked out of the room, having that loss in my stomach you feel when you hit that first drop on a roller coaster. The family was raised culturally A/G, as I was, but their viewpoint would not abide even the presence of any other Christians outside of the A/G.

And his parents were the pastors of their church. And the boys were raised culturally to believe that the A/G was “The best boat floatin” and that other fellowships were second class or even unsaved.

That older brother eventually left the A/G school, which had over half its population from other denominations, and went to another school. Concluding, our A/G school was not A/G enough for him. He found himself at a school at the denomination’s headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, hoping to find his “Mecca” there.

That same year (1996), I attended a “District Council.” A denominational regional pastors conference. I arrived as a 20-year-old man in a maroon plaid Old Navy button-up shirt, a pair of khaki Gap cargo pants, and a pair of Converse high tops. My foster mom saw me there and did the “mom thing” and spit in her hand and “fixed” my hair while saying, “Oh, Joey.”  You see, every man there was in a 3-piece suit. And the language was very “holy”….”Brother” this, “Sister” that and “Chairman”…whatever… I walked out and swore I would never be in the Assemblies of God.

I tried to stick it out for several years after that and bounced in and out of the fellowship. Never really committed. Then a man named George Wood was elected as superintendent of the whole fellowship, and the whole atmosphere at these meetings began to change. He was smart, sensible, funny, genuine, and humble. The child of missionaries to Tibet, he understood the cost of ministry and was a breath of fresh air for over 10 years. He stepped down, and Doug Clay, our current Supt. was elected. He was even more down-to-earth and decent. If that were possible. And this month, I celebrate 30 years of serving God in ministry. Most of it in the Assemblies of God. What changed that kept me?

Remember the young man who grew up culturally A/G and left our school to find one that was more “Assemblies of God?”

That same young man became disillusioned with A/G denominationalism & today is a Russian Orthodox priest.

I have found the Assemblies of God to have become a healthier organization over the last 30 years, with less emphasis on denominationalism and more emphasis on gospel-centered preaching, healthy parenting, grace-based evangelism, and a balanced perspective on spiritual gifts.

No denomination is perfect. The Assemblies of God is far from perfect and has made mistakes, very publicly in its past. But it has also, as a fellowship, repented and worked to provide reconciliation, re-education, and restructuring in areas where it has failed. I feel we have become welcoming to the presence of “others” who love Jesus, but can’t swallow a strong focus on ideology or politics over genuine Christian love & charity. While we still fail, I feel we fail forward.

I say this as I preach through the 16 fundamentals of the A/G in my church for the 2nd time in 5 years.

But you will not find the A/G moniker on our building. Not because we are ashamed to live out our beliefs, but it will very clearly become obvious that we are Assemblies of God by what we do, not just what we say. The emphasis comes instead through the causes we give to and the evangelistic emphasis we draw from. But not, per se, the overfocus on spiritual gifts or the demonstrative presence of speaking in tongues above every other gift present in the body.

If you mention your denomination and even why your fellowship is better than others, once or multiple times in a sermon, as I have seen, the ideology of denominationalism is often detrimental because it tends to create confusion where believers will begin replacing the gospel with denominationalism. Then, judgmental actions & statements begin emanating from the members of your church towards others of like precious faith, accompanied with pride. I have lived through this too at churches my foster dad pastored, and at churches I became pastor of.

Skewered for changing the name of the sign from “First Assembly of God” to “First Assembly,” so we could make room for the church website on the LED sign facing the highway that had 210,000 cars a day drive by our sign. “He took God out of the name of the church!” But if folks visited the website, they would see our full name and read our doctrinal statements. More importantly, they were engaging and deciding whether to visit…and they did so much so that the church grew by over 260% in two years. Baptizing 63 and receiving 74 new members in that same time.

There have also been odd, baseless speculations and accusations thrown at A/G churches and pastors that have taken “Assembly of God” out of the name. Always launched by fellow A/G people or pastors of other A/G churches, I have heard firsthand. One accusation claims that taking “Assembly of God” out of the name is intentionally positioning the church to be more open to the LGBTQ community or women in ministry. As if it is signaling something.

These same credentialed ministers seem to have conveniently forgotten that their own fellowship has always been egalitarian and staunchly biblical and literal in its viewpoint on homosexuality as a sin, and the people practicing that sin as worthy of the same grace as anyone else caught in any other sin.

I have consulted with the Southern Baptists, the Free Methodists, the A/G, and several other denominationally based churches. While demonstrative, projected denominationalism can make for a strong church that knows its identity, it can also run the risk of poisoning the congregation’s relationships with new attendees through that very same strong identity. Your church can go down like a strong cup of coffee or a strong shot of whiskey. Either one will burn. One will bring energy and awaken, the other will blur reality and disconnect from truth. Denominationalism can continue to hurt those who have come from other denominations where strong denominationalism replaced gospel lifestyle. I have seen former Baptists, Catholics, and even former cult members; all broken people stumbling into A/G churches. Wanting God, but very astute and savvy to the dangers of ideology replacing the gospel.

I have seen former Catholics run out of A/G churches by other former Catholics who took their legalism and simply applied it to a strong, expressive A/G church. They became proud and territorial. A Catholic’s presence triggered an attack. In the end, their echo chamber literally destroyed their church. Pride goes before destruction. Their church eventually saw several pastors come and go, and its attendance dropped from 450 to 39. Same with the iconic Free Methodist church I consulted with. dropping from 1,200 to 200 in just a few years. While denominationalism was not the only factor in their collapse, aligning with and projecting this denominational identity over and above Christian values of healthy biblical behavior was not helpful in the slightest. We have managed to change our ministry style without compromising our values or beliefs.

After 30 years of ministry, I am glad to be A/G.

I would not have survived the cultural denominationalism presented 30 years ago. But then our fellowship began focusing on being as biblical as possible and less demonstrative. It served us to present a more genuine, less projected behavioral stance, which helped people see the Holy Spirit’s presence in our churches without the cultural baggage. I am glad my fellowship has changed. Has your denomination changed? Have they leaned into biblical behavior or political persuasion? Are they in sync with whatever government of denominational policy comes their way, or do they stand on the promises of God through biblical mandates of scripture itself? If they are standing on something other than true biblical principles, might I suggest finding a place of genuineness, grace, and a place where the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all recognized and no being of the Triune God is treated as the silent partner in your worship and praise of your God.