Foursquare Church

There are two ministries whose names have intrigued me over the years.

One is Four Square Gospel Church.

I thought a lot about why they were called Four Square.

Second, full gospel business men's fellowship.

But because of that, she founded a new church.

That's the Four Square Church.

today, is based on divorce.

That she was not accepted by the church at that time for what it was the standard they have.

So I gather that among the Pentecostals, there are several different denominations that engage in this practice.

There's Church of God in Christ, and there's the Assemblies of God, and there's dozens of others, Foursquare.

My work is mostly with Assemblies of God, but then also outside of what they call traditional Pentecostalism, there's the Charismatic Church, or the Charismatics, and so there's the And that was initially the Catholics in 1968 who started speaking in tongues.

But then you have all the sort of neo-charismatics, the non-denominational groups throughout the world, many of whom They don't call themselves Pentecostal, but they do speak in tongues.

So because of that, she founded a new church.

That's the Foursquare Church today.

It's based on divorce that she was not accepted by the church at that time for what it was the standard they have.

So it creates all these strange-- not strange, but different shifting definitions of holiness.

William Ronald Hearst told his editors to Puff Graham, and he became a globally recognized evangelist.

Amy Simone McPherson with the Four Square Church, she's like evangelist to the stars, pioneering radio ministry.

And then he had a great movie, The Ten Commandments, and Jesus and Nazareth, and the Jesus film.

In fact, my literary agent, he's in Morocco right now doing the $60 million remake of the Jesus film, which has now been seen, I think it's been viewed 11 billion times in 650 million professions of faith in Christ.

You, you might be forced to take views about your family's status as Christians- So then, then it becomes now it's not just about you and your experience, but you're actually embodying a judgment on your home church.

Now, I grew up Pentecostal, uh, Foursquare Church here in Southern California.

Love lots of things about it, uh, very friendly, uh, and comfortable around Pentecostals of various kinds, but I am not myself Pentecostal.

When I came of age, studied the Bible for myself, made some theological judgments...

Jasmine wrote, We recently became confirmed in the Anglican Church and are new to saying priest.

Can you explain the differences between saying priest, pastor, or father in the different traditions? I grew up in the Foursquare Church in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, and the pastor was lucky to be called pastor and not just by his first name.

Great question, and let me ask you, all listeners, what do you call people in leadership at your church? It can be a fascinating litmus test for how you understand the New Testament and church history as well as for societal norms.

Let's start with the idea of how it helps us to understand how you read the New Testament.

That's 1 Peter 2, 9.

I think it's helpful to ask why we use certain titles, what they might convey, how we might counterbalance leaning too far in one direction.

An overseer or an elder or a deacon is certainly a weighty and important office, but is it Old Testament priest-like? I myself am probably most comfortable in the more radical traditions, Jasmine, like the Foursquare Church, and everyone calls everyone brother and sister, but that's just me.

I have friends who really like the clarity that distinct offices and titles bring, so long as we understand that these are historical traditions and not necessarily from the New Testament.

Um-

Was she the founder of the Foursquare Gospel Church?

Yes.

She was originally ordained in the Assemblies of God, and then, uh, uh, unlike, you know, all of our groups, um, they broke away a lot, Pentecostals-

There's a church Hayford in-

...

Church on the Way and-

Yes.