[votivesoul]

Originally Posted by ulsterman

Hi everyone. First of all, I'm from the Church of God in Northern Ireland. We are Oneness Pentecostal. Gordon Magee, author of 'Is Jesus in the Godhead or is the Godhead in Jesus', came from our churches. Mervyn Miller, former foreign missions director of the UPCI, was originally from the Church of God in Northern Ireland.

I came across 2 videos on YouTube tonight which puzzled me. Both were Mickey Mangun singing with trinitarians. When I was much younger, I don't think that would have happened. Other UPCI singers can be found on YouTube singing away at primarily trinitarian events.

Why is this happening?

It would have to be judged on a case by case basis. Each individual or church who fellowships Trinitarians would have to speak for themselves as to the "Why?".

Do those who openly fellowship with trinitarians believe trinitarians who have not been baptised in Jesus' Name are now saved?

Probably somewhere between yes and no, or undecided.

Are they trying to convert the trinitarians and bring them into Oneness Pentecostal belief?

That would be the most likely guess, in my estimation. But I think there is something a little more deeper than that. In my experience, there has been an undercurrent haunting, for lack of a better word, the Oneness movement from its inception: acceptance by the masses of "Christianity". The lack of legitimacy in the eyes of everyone else outside of Oneness has caused, again in my opinion, a need for some to desire to feel recognized and admitted to the ranks, so to speak, of regular Christians (i.e. mostly Protestant, Evangelical, Trinitarian, etc.).

Will this fellowship with trinitarians weaken or strengthen the Oneness Pentecostal movement in the longer term?

I suspect the more Oneness adherents fellowship with Trinitarians, the more Oneness adherents will lose their distinctives, first in outward standards of modesty, then in the Gospel and Acts 2:38, either with baptism or speaking with other tongues, and finally, with their views on the Godhead.

Just a guess of course but intermingling across cultures has always generated a mix of compromise and dilution, with the larger group tending to swallow up the former.

I genuinely am interested in the motivation behind this.

Perhaps you could write the Manguns and ask them their motivations? A sincere inquiry may receive a sincere response???