Pentecostal Family: Intrafaith Organizations

★586 ★

International Communion of Charismatic Churches

c/o Bishop Earl Paulk, Network of Kingdom Churches
4650 Flat Sholas Rd.
Decatur, GA 30034-5095

International Communion of Charismatic Churches (ICCC), an ecumenical association of Pentecostal/charismatic churches and ministries, was founded in 1982 as the World communion of Pentecostal churches by Bishop John Meares of Evangel Temple in Washington, D. C. (a leading congregation of the International Evangelical Church and Missionary Association) and Bishop Robert McAleister of Igreja Pentecostal da Nova Vida in Rio de Janero, Brazil. Bishop Benson Idahosa (d.1998), pastor of Faith Miracle Centre and founder of the Church of God Mission International based in Nigeria, was another early prominent member. It has as its stated purpose the promotion of dialogue between the newer churches of the Charismatic renewal and the older historic churches of Christian faith. It has been especially effective in bring together different elements of the charismatic renewal and supplying episcopal orders to those leaders who have built large movements.

Leadership of the ICCC is vested in a five member College of Bishops. It is currently led by Bishop Earl Paulk of the Network of Kingdom churches. In Australia, the ICCC is headed by Bishop Harry Westcott of the Go Tell It Ministry Worldwide of Churches.

Membership: Not reported.

Sources:

International Communion of Charismatic Churches. http://wordandfire.com/iccc/. 10 April 2002.

★587 ★

Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America

c/o Rodman Williams
PO Box 26902
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Formerly known as the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America. At the first meeting of the World Pentecostal Fellowship in Switzerland in 1947, it was suggested that area fellowships of a similar nature be organized. Thus, in 1948, representatives of eight Pentecostal churches met in Chicago to organize the North American Pentecostal Fellowship. That organization was effected later in the year at a second meeting in Des Moines, Iowa. Participants included the Assemblies of God, the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, the Pentecostal Holiness Church, and the Open Bible Standard Church. The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada was the only Canadian representative.

Like the World Pentecostal Fellowship, the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America seeks to provide member churches, to demonstrate the essential unity of Pentecostals, and to promote the commonly held beliefs.

The fellowship is led by a chairperson, two vice-presidents, a secretary, a treasurer, and a board of administration. The officers constitute an executive committee.

The church has an Internet site at http://www.pccna.org.

Membership: Members of the Fellowship include the following: Anchor Bay Evangelistic Association; Apostolic Church of Canada; Assemblies of God; Christian Church of North America; Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee); Church of God of Apostolic Faith; Church of God of the Mountain Assembly; Congregational Holiness Church; Elim Fellowship; Free Gospel Church; Garr Memorial Church/Carolina Evangelistic Association; International Church of the Foursquare Gospel; International Pentecostal Church of Christ; International Pentecostal Holiness Church; Italian Pentecostal Church of Canada; Open Bible Standard Churches; Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada; Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland; Pentecostal Church of God; Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church; and Pentecostal Holiness Church of Canada.

★588 ★

Pentecostal World Fellowship

1445 Boonvill Ave.
Springfield, MO 65804

Alternate Address: International Secretary: Rev. Jakob Zopfi, Heimstatte SPM, 6376 Emmetten NW, Switzerland.

Formerly known as the Pentecostal World Conference. The fellowship was founded in 1947 but the roots go back to 1922, a mere two decades after the founding of the movement and an initial international European Pentecostal Convention held in Amsterdam. Similar unofficial conventions were held periodically until the outbreak of war in 1939. Meanwhile, a number of fraternal delegates attended the 1937 meeting of the Assemblies of God, at which time the General Council called for a world Pentecostal conference to convene in London in 1940. The event was canceled by the war.

In 1946, in the wake of World War II, a group of Pentecostals meeting in Basle, Switzerland, became conscious of the immediate and desperate need of many victims of the war and called for an international gathering of Pentecostals to confront that need. The meeting, held in Zurich, Switzerland, in May 1947, became the catalyst for the organization of a permanent association, the opening of an international office in Basle, Switzerland, and the launching of a periodical, Pentecost, under the editorship of Donald Gee. The fellowship's constitution was ratified at a second conference in 1949 in Paris.

The fellowship exists to encourage a fraternal spirit and cooperation among various Pentecostal groups. In addition it assists in the evangelical tasks of the church, manifests the unity of Pentecostal peoples, and upholds the doctrinal consensus of the movement.

The fellowship meets triennially. At its international conferences, a 29-person World Conference Advisory Committee is elected to oversee the planning of the next conference.

The fellowship has an Internet site at http://pentecostalworldconf.org.

Membership: American participants in the fellowship include the following: Anchor Bay Evangelistic Association; Apostolic Church of Canada; Assemblies of God; Christian Church of North America; Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee); Church of God of Apostolic Faith; Church of God of the Mountain Assembly; Congregational Holiness Church; Elim Fellowship; Free Gospel Church; Garr Memorial Church/Carolina Evangelistic Association; International Church of the Foursquare Gospel; International Pentecostal Church of Christ; International Pentecostal Holiness Church; Italian Pentecostal Church of Canada; Open Bible Standard Churches; Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada; Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland; Pentecostal Church of God; Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church; and Pentecostal Holiness Church of Canada.

Periodicals: World Pentecost.

Sources:

Kendrick, Kalude. The Promise Fulfilled: A History of the Modern Pentecostal Movement. Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 1961.

★589 ★

United Fellowship Convention of the Original Azusa Street Mission

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The United Fellowship Convention of the Original Azusa Street Mission is an association of Holiness Pentecostal churches, all of which trace their lineage back to William J. Seymour and the beginnings of Pentecostalism in Los Angeles, California, at the Azusa Street Mission. Seymour, formerly a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, had entered into the Pentecosta experience in Houston, Texas, under the ministry of Charles Parham, but left to pastor a church in Los Angeles in 1905. Kicked out of his first parish because of his Pentecostal teachings, he began an independent work on Azusa Street which became the center of a worldwide movement during the years 1906–9. However, eventually racism reared its ugly head and the Apostolic Faith Mission which Seymour headed became a predominantly African-American institution.

Around 1909 Seymour and Charles H. Mason, founder of the Church of God in Christ, held a series of revival meetings in Washington, D.C. Among those converted in the meetings was Charles W. Lowe of Handsom, Virginia. He went on to found the Apostolic Faith Church of God, which over the decades of the twentieth century grew and became the source of a number of other churches. In 1987 these churches held a gathering to affirm their shared heritage and common belief.

Membership: Members of the fellowship include Apostolic Faith Church of God, Apostolic Faith Church of God and True Holiness, Apostolic Faith Church of God Live On, Apostolic Faith Churches of God, and Church of Christ Holiness unto the Lord.

Sources:

Payne, Wardell J., ed. Directory of African American Religious Bodies: A Compendium by the Howard University School of Divinity. Washington, DC: Howard University Press, 1991.