Is The United Pentecostal Church Growing Up?

[Nahum]

"I am trying to show you, by God's Word, what constitutes real growth. And when we, as men and women of God, begin to know how to treat one another, how to talk to one another, how to fellowship one another, how to overlook one another's faults, and how to be tolerant of one another, we are growing up. “

Stanley W. Chambers

These words were spoken by General Superintendent Stanley W. Chambers during a message preached at our 1968 General Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It is considered one of the greatest sermons ever preached in the sixty-three year existence of the UPC, and was titled “Can the United Pentecostal Church Survive the Onslaught of History?” In the message, Chambers repeatedly implores the ministers of the organization to give their word that history would not destroy the fundamental doctrine, standards of holiness, and exuberant worship that had so uniquely identified Oneness Pentecostals in the previous decades of the early, and mid, twentieth century.

Earlier this week, as I listened to the audio of that wonderful sermon again, I was struck by the wisdom of his words, and their prophetic import. Indeed, history has been at work for the past thirty-nine years. Using its most powerful weapons – gradualism and apathy – history has attempted to water down our understanding of the New Birth message, strip the church of its power and virtue, and woo us with the bauble of respectable denominationalism.

Think of all we have been through since that General Conference message was preached so many years ago. Insidious doctrines of men infiltrated our ranks, leading many astray. But men of God reacted decisively, and with wisdom, to correct our course. The Latter Rain movement, Divine Flesh heresy, and the advent of Preterism were all rejected by men of God who had given their word that false doctrine would never be accepted.

Many things have changed since Stanley W. Chambers asked “Can the Church Survive the Onslaught of History?” so many years ago. Hair and clothing styles have changed, evangelistic methods have changed, the world around us has changed, but here we stand, virtually the same. The United Pentecostal Church has been, by anyone’s measuring stick, enormously successful. We have not simply survived, we have thrived.

In my opinion, the only thing that can remove the favor of God from the United Pentecostal Church is our own unwillingness to interact with each other as Christians. History can not destroy the United Pentecostal Church, but we can. We can destroy it by refusing to grow up.

"I am trying to show you, by God's Word, what constitutes real growth. And when we, as men and women of God, begin to know how to treat one another, how to talk to one another, how to fellowship one another, how to overlook one another's faults, and how to be tolerant of one another, we are growing up. “

Stanley W. Chambers

Is the issue at hand big enough to destroy us? Are we willing to throw away all that we have worked to build just to fortify strongholds of pride? Is non-essential dogma enough to sever the bonds of our fellowship? I certainly hope that emerging technology is not enough to destroy us. Is the United Pentecostal Church tolerant enough, and mature enough, to weather this present darkness?


www.pastorposter.com
My blog includes a link to the Herald transcript of the sermon.