How does the Assemblies of God differ from other churches?

Answer 1

Today there is very little difference between the two churches. You would find their beliefs and worship services almost identical. Both are Pentecostal denominations which means they believe in a post-salvation experience called the Baptism with the Holy Ghost where the believer is filled with the Holy Spirit and speaks in tongues. Originally, the Church of God comes from a Holiness Movement background and put great emphasis on a crisis experience in the believer's life of deeper surrender and consecration to God in Holiness known as sanctification which was a doctrine taught by John Wesley and the early Methodists. They taught that you needed such and experience after being saved before you could be a candidate to be filled with the Holy Spirit. They taught three experiences: Salvation, Sanctification, and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. The Assemblies of God on the other hand, coming from a Baptist background taught only two experiences: Salvation and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. They believe that sanctification is a gradual experience in growth throughout the entire life of the believer and not a specific crisis experience after salvation. Today in the Church of God, both views exist now with the majority of people now believing the way the Assemblies of God have always believed. Another difference between the two churches was that the Church of God believed and practiced "foot washing" (just like Jesus washed the disciples feet after the Last Supper) as and ordinance alongside Communion and water baptism, whereas the Assemblies of God never did. This practice still exists in the Church of God, but it is becoming less and less frequent and common in many places.

The principal difference today between the two denominations is the form of church government. The Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn) has a centralized, or episcopal type form of government while the Assemblies of God has a congregational form of government and each local church is autonomous within the fellowship of the Assemblies of God

(I have attended both denominations for years!)

Answer 2

A Baptist view

Differences in Doctrine:

First, anyone who responds to this question will have a bias. Typically, that includes those who primarily hold to either the Baptist or the Assembly of God doctrine, as well as those who want to harmoniously bridge all differences so that everyone gets along. Additionally, some will be emphatic that it is your own personal experience in the church that matters and not the trivialities of any particular doctrine.

The Assembly of God doctrine is commonly referred to as the "16 Fundamental Truths of the Assemblies of God." The points listed below are from a subset of this which they call their "four cardinal doctrines:"

Even though I am a baptist in doctrine, I hold no ill intent for those of the Assembly of God persuasion. However, there are seriously disturbing deviations from The Bible's teaching in the Assembly of God doctrine. These include:

1. You can lose your salvation - a person can "fall from grace". Have to maintain a certain level of spirituality to remain saved. It is in effect, a "works" salvation.

2. The anti-biblical confusion of speaking in tongues - taught as a necessary result of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Those who defend this often change the subject and defend the practice of speaking on tongues. Not the issue here! The point is whether speaking in tongues is a necessary sign as to whether a person has received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

3. Hands-on faith-healing services. Though the Bible does teach us to pray for the sick, there is no guarantee that everyone will be healed. They teach that Jesus died on the cross to guarantee us physical healing. This practice includes "Slaying in the Spirit."

An Assemblies of God viewAs an Assembly of God member who once attended a Baptist church, here's my take. Often the diverse nature of both denominations is not taken into account.

1. There often arises misunderstanding on the Assemblies of God position on this topic. We do believe in the possibility of salvation being lost. But, we do not generally believe that one has to "maintain a certain level of spirituality to remain saved." We emphatically do not believe that we lose our salvation every time we sin - if so, none of us would make it. But we do believe that as salvation is through faith, we will lose our salvation if we renounce our faith. Individual sins will not forfeit salvation, but continuous sin can - and ultimately will, if not renounced - seriously undermine our faith. If our faith dies, so does our salvation. I should point out that there are Baptists who believe and teach this doctrine, too - David Pawson being a well known example (he takes this teaching much, much further than the Assemblies of God do, by the way - see his book, "Once Saved, Always Saved?").

2. We do teach that speaking in tongues is the evidence of being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Some of us would state that less dogmatically than others, but it is our official doctrine. The simple fact is that the apostles asked for no other sign that a believer was baptized in the Holy Spirit. This teaching, of course, presupposes a distinction between being born again and being baptized in the Holy Spirit - a distinction that some Baptist churches deny. Once again, however, some Baptists believe in this distinction as fervently as Pentecostals do, and I have heard it preached from at least one Baptist pulpit.

3. The Assemblies of God do not "guarantee" healing to everyone. We do teach that healing is in the Atonement, and I make no apology for that. But we recognize that not everybody gets healed. Why not is a difficult question. My own answer is like sickness, death itself is also broken by the Atonement - but all of us are going to die of something sooner or later, unless Jesus comes back in the meantime. Does that mean that the Atonement is void? No, but we'll have to wait until the resurrection of the righteous before we can experienced the totality of its provisions. By the way, I have attended Baptist services in which I have seen the laying on of hands, slaying in the Spirit, etc., every bit as much as in the Assemblies of God. It is important not to omit the diversity of Baptist theology.

Answer 3

The Assemblies of God differs from most non-Pentecostal and non-Charismatic churches in that the Assemblies of God believes that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is still applicable for today. The Assemblies of God also believes that God still heals people today. Other ways that the Assemblies of God differs from other churches is that the Assemblies of God holds traditional Pentecostal believes.

Answer 4

The main differences are the foursquare church had its origin in California whereas assembly of God had its origin in Midwest. The other difference is that AOG states in their doctrines.