Assemblies of God & Voting Out Tongues

[Bro Flame]

Because of the congregational style of the Assemblies of God, it is difficult to define a typical local church. Church identity is influenced by the members' social class, ethnicity, and musical and worship preferences. Sociologists have assembled the Assemblies of God into four groups: traditional, evangelical, renewalist, and alternative.

Traditional Assemblies of God congregations are those that strongly identity with the Assemblies of God and classical Pentecostalism in general, while encouraging "more intense experiences of the charismata, or the gifts of the Spirit" such as baptism with the Holy Ghost and speaking in tongues.

Evangelical Assemblies of God congregations, the most common type, identity with the Assemblies of God and Pentecostalism but "are moving (in varying degrees) away from the unique experiences that were once important markers of Pentecostal identity".

Renewalist (or Charismatic) Assemblies of God congregations encourage supernatural gifts of the Spirit but seem to weakly identity with the Assemblies of God and Pentecostalism.

Alternative Assemblies of God congregations are those where both identity with the Assemblies of God and Pentecostalism is low, including an adoption of seeker-sensitive and emerging church models.