Alliance World Fellowship

The Alliance World Fellowship is the international governing body of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (The Alliance, also C&MA). The Alliance is an evangelical Protestant denomination within the Keswickian Higher Life movement of Christianity.[2][1] The headquarters is in São Paulo, Brazil.

Alliance World Fellowship
ClassificationProtestant
OrientationEvangelical
TheologyKeswickian[1]
PolityElements of Congregationalist, Presbyterian and non-sacramental Episcopal polities
PresidentJura Yanagihara
Region88 countries
HeadquartersSão Paulo, Brazil
FounderAlbert Benjamin Simpson[1]
Origin1975
Congregations22,000
Members6,200,000
Official websiteawf.world

History
Building of Zamboanga Alliance Evangelical Church, member of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Churches of the Philippines (Alliance World Fellowship), Zamboanga, Philippines

The Alliance has its origins in two organizations founded by Albert Benjamin Simpson in 1887 in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, in the United States, The Christian Alliance, which concentrated on domestic missions, and The Evangelical Missionary Alliance, which focused on overseas missions.[3] These two organizations merged in 1897 to form the Christian and Missionary Alliance.[4]

During the start of the 20th century, Simpson became closely involved with the growing Pentecostal movement, an offshoot of the Holiness movement. It became common for Pentecostal pastors and missionaries to receive their training at the Missionary Training Institute that Simpson founded. Consequently, Simpson and the Alliance had a great influence on Pentecostalism, in particular the Assemblies of God and the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. This influence included evangelical emphasis, Alliance doctrine, Simpson's hymns and books, and the use of the term 'Gospel Tabernacle,' which led to many Pentecostal churches being known as 'Full Gospel Tabernacles.'

Eventually, there developed severe division within the Alliance over issues surrounding Pentecostalism (such as speaking in tongues and charismatic worship styles). By 1912, this crisis was a catalyst for the emergence of the Alliance as an organized denomination, shifting more authority to the council and becoming more ecclesiastical. To ensure the survival of the Alliance in the face of division, Simpson put all property in the name of the Alliance. In the event of separation, all property would revert to Alliance.[5]

After Simpson's death in 1919, the C&MA distanced itself from Pentecostalism, rejecting the premise that speaking in tongues is a necessary indicator of being filled with the Holy Spirit, and instead focused on the deeper Christian life.[5] By 1930, most local branches of the Alliance functioned as churches, but still did not view themselves as such.

By 1965, the churches adopted a denominational function and established a formal statement of faith.[6] In 1975, the Alliance World Fellowship (AWF) was officially organized.[7] In 2010, it was present in 50 countries.[8]

Statistics

According to a census of the denomination, in 2020, it had 22,000 churches, 6,200,000 members and 90 theological institutes in 88 countries.[9]

Beliefs

The denomination has an evangelical theology,[10][11][12] and is a part of the Higher Life movement.[2][1][13] A.B. Simpson articulated the Alliance's core theology as the Christological "Fourfold Gospel": Jesus Christ as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Soon Coming King.[14] Sanctification is sometimes described as "the deeper Christian life".[15] This teaching is that of other churches aligned with the Higher Life movement and its Keswick Conventions. It is perhaps best exemplified by the writings of A. W. Tozer. The Alliance also emphasizes missionary work, and believes that the fulfillment of the Great Commission is the reason it exists.[16]

Espousing Keswickian theology, the Christian and Missionary Alliance, as with Simpson, differs from the Wesleyan-Holiness movement in that the Christian and Missionary Alliance does not see entire sanctification as cleansing one from original sin, whereas adherents of the Wesleyan-Holiness movement affirm this teaching of John Wesley.[17][1]

Ministries

CAMA Services

Associated with the denomination is CAMA Services. “CAMA” stands for “Compassion and Mercy Associates”. Services include a variety of relief and development efforts providing food, clothing, medical care, and job training to people in crisis situations around the globe in the name of Jesus.[18]

Begun in 1974 by Andy Bishop as an outreach to refugees fleeing the Indochina conflict, CAMA now works in refugee camps in Thailand, and has worked with refugees in Hong Kong, Lebanon, Jordan, and Guinea, and famine victims in Burkina Faso and Mali.[19] CAMA Services worked together with local C&MA churches in 2005 to provide Hurricane Katrina relief in the United States.

Seminaries and colleges

As of 1998, there are two C&MA graduate schools, four C&MA colleges, and one C&MA seminary accredited by The Association of Theological Schools. Seminaries in other countries may be accredited by other organizations. For C&MA educational institutions in the Philippines, see Christian and Missionary Alliance Churches of the Philippines.

North America

South America

Africa

Asia & Middle East

Oceania

Controversies

In the 1980s alumni of Mamou Alliance Academy in Guinea, West Africa, began to write letters to C&MA headquarters informing leadership of systemic child abuse that occurred at the school. Phone calls and letter writing of this nature to the C&MA continued for ten years.[26]

The alumni reported that the C&MA response was evasive, deceptive, and employed “stonewalling” tactics. Alumni were reportedly told that they should forgive, and that they would "hurt the name of Jesus" by coming forward. One alumnus said that "the only way that we could get the Alliance to do anything was through the media. It was only through shaming them by putting the truth out there". Robert Fetherlin, vice president for International Ministries for the C&MA, said "We heard as far back as the 1980s that there were some questionable events that took place at Mamou. That there may have been mistreatment of children, however, we were slower than we should have been in responding to that."[26]

In 1995, 30 alumni from Mamou approached the C&MA for an investigation and restitution.[27] They reported systemic abuse including psychological abuse, excessive beating, sadistic dental practices performed without novocaine, sexual molestation, and rape.[26] The following year an independent commission of inquiry (ICI) was formed and 80 testimonies were heard. In April 1998 the ICI released a report which found the denomination negligent in monitoring Mamou and in training teachers. The report identified nine offenders, of whom four were retired, three deceased and two no longer with the C&MA.[27]

The US C&MA Board of Directors issued an open letter to the victims of abuse asking for "forgiveness for the pain and trauma that you suffered while under the care of C&MA dorm parents, teachers and missionaries."[28]

Since these abuses occurred, the Alliance changed its policies and practices. Fetherlin said that the Alliance tried "to keep families together as much as possible, as opposed to asking parents to commit to sending their elementary children off to 'missionary kid' boarding schools", and supported homeschooling, which they had previously opposed.

The Alliance also established a Sensitive Issues Consultative Group made up of professional counselors and caregivers as part of its response to the commission's recommendations. A publication on child safety and protection entitled Safe Place was produced, a child safety and protection policy for its international work introduced, and a revised Uniform Discipline, Restoration and Appeal policy implemented that mandates denomination-wide zero-tolerance when there is a finding of sexual abuse of a child or vulnerable adult. A child protection training program which every overseas Alliance worker is required to attend was set up. Child Protection and Safety policies were published on the Alliance Web site.[29]

See also

References
  1. Wu, Dongsheng John (1 April 2012). Understanding Watchman Nee: Spirituality, Knowledge, and Formation. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-63087-573-2. D. D. Bundy notes that A. B. Simpson (1843–1919)—Presbyterian founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance—who never accepted the Wesleyan doctrine of eradication of sin, accepted the Keswickian understanding of sanctification.
  2. Knight III, Henry H. (11 August 2010). From Aldersgate to Azusa Street: Wesleyan, Holiness, and Pentecostal Visions of the New Creation. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 365. ISBN 978-1-63087-656-2.
  3. George A. Rawlyk, Aspects of the Canadian Evangelical Experience, MQUP, Canada, 1997, p. 281
  4. Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition, Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, p. 156
  5. Burgess, Stanley, et al. 1993. Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. p. 166.
  6. Samuel S. Hill, Charles H. Lippy, Charles Reagan Wilson, Encyclopedia of Religion in the South, Mercer University Press, USA, 2005, p. 182
  7. J. Gordon Melton, Martin Baumann, Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, ABC-CLIO, USA, 2010, p. 80
  8. J. Gordon Melton, Martin Baumann, Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, ABC-CLIO, USA, 2010, p. 605
  9. Alliance World Fellowship, Statistics, awf.world, Brazil, retrieved May 9, 2020
  10. George Thomas Kurian, Mark A. Lamport, Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States, Volume 5, Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2016, p. 462
  11. Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition, Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, p. 156
  12. Alliance World Fellowship, Statement of Faith, awf.world, Brazil, retrieved May 9, 2020
  13. III, Henry H. Knight (1 February 2014). Anticipating Heaven Below: Optimism of Grace from Wesley to the Pentecostals. Wipf and Stock Publishers. pp. 91–92. ISBN 978-1-63087-125-3. It is the other christological strand, that of the indwelling Christ, that is the heart of the distinctive sanctification theology of A. B. Simpson. A Presbyterian who ultimately founded the Christian and Missionary Alliance, Simpson operates within a Keswick framework while also drawing upon Wesleyan ideals. Like Wesley, Simpson described sin as in the motive or intent of the heart most especially lack of love for God and neighbour. While he agrees with Keswick that we can't ever be freed from this sinful nature in this life, he insisted, as Van De Walle puts it, "the power of the resurrected Christ would more than enable the believer to consider the sin nature a vanquished foe and to behave as though it were.
  14. "Fourfold Gospel". Christian and Missionary Alliance. Retrieved 2013-03-29.
  15. Pardington, George P. The Crisis of the Deeper Life. New York: The Christian Alliance Publishing Company, 1925. Accessed May 31, 2011.
  16. "The Great Commission". Christian and Missionary Alliance. Retrieved 2013-03-29.
  17. "The Radical Holiness Movement and The Christian and Missionary Alliance: Twins, perhaps, but not Identical". Bernie A. Van De Walle. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  18. Michael G. Yount, A. B. Simpson: His Message and Impact on the Third Great Awakening, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2016, p. 188
  19. "Our Work". Our Work. Compassion and Mercy Associates. 2014-05-17. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  20. "ITAM". Seminarioacym.com. Archived from the original on 2012-11-14. Retrieved 2013-03-29.
  21. "Seminario Biblico Alianza de Colombia Educación Teológica a Distancia". Sebacdistancia.org. Archived from the original on 2007-12-07. Retrieved 2013-03-29.
  22. "Evangelical Alliance Church in the Holy Land". Each-cma.org. Retrieved 2013-03-29.
  23. "Alliance Graduate School". AGS. Retrieved 2017-10-31.
  24. "Alliance Bible Seminary". Abs.edu. Retrieved 2013-03-29.
  25. "Siam Mission". Siam Mission. Archived from the original on 2013-06-06. Retrieved 2013-03-29.
  26. All God's Children – Documentary - 2008
  27. "A Badly Broken Boarding School". Christianity Today. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
  28. Board of Directors of the U.S. C&MA. "alife". Alliance Life. Retrieved 2013-03-29.
  29. "Child Safety & Protection". Cmalliance.org. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
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