Apostolic Friends Forum - Who are the "founders" of Oneness Pentecostalism?

For those of you who like to point back to the roots of Oneness Pentecostalism and stop at the founders in the early 20th century, here's an article by JR Ensey from his blog that puts the "founders" into perspective:

Quote:

Who are the “founders”?

A friend shared with me that some he had heard or read after were troubled by the article on the “light doctrine” we published in last month’s blog. In his words, their attitude was, “It is the elephant in the room. We have a nice room. Why do you have to point out the elephant?” They wrote their opinions on forums, I gather, but since I don’t frequent forums, I didn’t see them. All the responses I received were positive. He suggested that a few felt the article seemed to be at variance with the attitude of some of the Pentecostal movement’s “founders,” that some of them would have been uncomfortable with “formulaic salvation.”

Here was the essence of my response to him:

It is an elephant, for sure…a white one! As far as the “founders” issue is concerned, I don’t look at Seymour, Parham, Goss or any others of that era as founders, but as “finders.” They were in the process of “finding” the doctrinal path the true founders laid out for us 2000 years ago. None of them claimed to be the founder of the modern Oneness movement and we don’t enshrine anyone on that pedestal. The real founders of the movement we are in were Christ and John and Paul and Peter and the other apostles. We all, regardless of the era of time in which we may find ourselves, are obligated to walk in the “light” they shined, not the way early 20th century ministers might have viewed it from their perspective.

I honor those we count as “pioneers” of Pentecostalism in America as courageous “finders” who honestly searched the Scriptures and began to make commitments to what they were finding. It took grit and grace and commitment for them to break away from tradition, friends, and quite often, family. Some made a quick, clean break. Others took a while. Some couldn’t bring themselves to break at all. Postmodern apologists like to especially point to the latter groups because there was some wavering back there as the movement tried to get its balance. Do they feel that fact justifies them in their current wavering stance on the message?.....

The real “founders” of Christianity were Christ and the apostles (Ephesians 2:20). The fundamental truths they taught are far more trustworthy than the initial reformers of the last century. The ministers of a hundred years ago gradually accepted what had been in the Bible all along. There was no “revelation” in 1901 or 1913 or 1916, just discovery and acceptance. John 3:3-5 and Acts 2:38 had been there all the time. That is why we don’t enshrine anyone or any particular group as our modern “founders.”.....

http://jrenseyblog.wordpress.com/