Apostolic Singing Group on tonight's American Idol

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by Justin

Where does Apostolic Assemblies stand compared to UPCi or ALJC regarding doctrine?

The AA is the "Doily" wearing group. (I mean no disrespect here, just using the common colloquial terms for purposes of understanding). They believe in having their ladies wear a "veil." The contemporary style has been a knitted or crocheted affair - like an ornamental "doily" on furniture. They usually wear a rather small head covering - just enough to "get by" it seems. Funerals are the exception. There, the custom is to wear long flowing veils. Seeing several of the sisters comforting a widow or a family member beneath a small sea of shaking veils gets to me every time. You can't see the faces of your grieving friends, just the shaking veils as they weep.

The AA is Oneness and baptizes in Jesus name, though there are "flavors" just like in the UPC and other Apostolic groups. They suffered through a series of very public scandals recently (http://apostolicnews.blogspot.com/ , for example). The women generally trim their hair to enhance its attractiveness - split ends and such, but "long hair" is required and pretty much universal. The AA is also known for being rather harsh in disciplinary matters especially when it comes to "keeping the women in their place."

Throughout my lifetime I have seen what I have heard is a pretty common experience. A family or a sister leaves the AA to get a bit more freedom in Christ (they are rather insular in many other ways as well). But much to their surprise, while there is a more "open" environment in the UPC generally speaking, suddenly they are being forced to refrain from trimming their hair. The "reasons" for this are not Scriptural and so the whole process becomes manipulative and eventually rather harsh. This usually causes a great amount of confusion with the predictable reaction from the UPC side that alienates the former AA family and causes them to be hurt even more. I've seen and heard AA pastors use these experiences to keep their ladies in the flock. "Why go 'out there' (to the UPC) when they'll just hurt you over ridiculous and unBiblical commands?"

It's a sad cycle, but things are lightening up in many places and a more honest approach to both women's hair and the role of women in the church can be seen to be springing up.