A Brief History of the UPCI

as the year 1900 closed charles parham asked the students in his bethel bible school in topeka kansas to find out if there was a biblical sign of a person receiving the baptism of the holy ghost they concluded that speaking in tongues was the uniform sign of receiving the spirit and this answer launched the modern pentecostal movement as the new year dawned one of their own agnes osmonds spoke in tongues as the spirit filter this doctrinal catalyst birthed the most significant revival in the history of christianity if topeka was the birthplace of modern pentecostalism then the azusa street revival was its cradle topeka gave the movement its doctrinal key azuza revealed its character if the spirit was indeed to be poured out on all flesh then it would happen across racial and ethnic barriers and include both male and female participants and that is what happened at azusa the restoration impulse the quest to restore the church to his apostolic roots is the best lens for understanding the rise of pentecostalism a significant segment of the pentecostal movement followed the tide of restorationism to embrace jesus name baptism and a oneness understanding of the godhead for some pentecostals this was a bridge too far but for those committed to a return to apostolic truth it was the next logical step pushed aside by those who resisted the implications of the impulse the oneness believers began to organize to better fulfill their mission although unity is not easy and certainly missteps were made along the way in september of 1945 two of the major oneness organizations the pentecostal church incorporated and the pentecostal assemblies of jesus christ merged to form the united pentecostal church that newly merged organization had 521 churches and 1 838 credentialed ministers [Music] in 1944 the pentecostal church incorporated had purchased a small live above building located at 3449 south grand boulevard in st louis missouri for its headquarters office and its newly formed publishing entity the pentecostal publishing house the united pentecostal church chose to retain this building as its headquarters and made the pentecostal publishing house its official publisher the church grew quickly and by 1954 the church moved two blocks north to 3645 south grand and renovated a chevrolet dealership into a headquarters building in a publishing house it later purchased an adjoining building and expanded into it in the late 60s the church acquired property in hazelwood and in 1970 the newly constructed world evangelism center located at 8855 dunn road was officially dedicated this headquarters building contained over 40 thousand square feet of office space and almost another sixty thousand square feet of light industrial space designed to house the pentecostal publishing house with a third story expansion added to the office building in 1983 a combination of the church's growth and changes in the church's publishing ministry made the wec building no longer fit the mission so in 2016 the upci moved once again the new upci world headquarters is a state-of-the-art building in weldon spring missouri with over 80 000 square feet of office space and a video studio the vision of the merger generation has been realized together the united pentecostal church has experienced incredible growth over the past 75 years as of august 2020 the united pentecostal church international has 10 725 credentialed ministers and 4 83 churches daughter works and preaching points in canada and in the united states when these statistics are added to the reach of global missions that total number grows to include over 42 000 churches 41 000 credentialed ministers and a constituency in excess of 5 million people the united pentecostal church now has a presence in 232 countries and territories around the world the vision of the united pentecostal church international is the whole gospel to the whole world by the whole church and this church lives out this mission in a hundred different ways every single day reaching the whole world means evangelizing nations but it also means discipling believers in developing national leaders in 1948 missionary ralph reynolds opened the caribbean bible institute in kingston jamaica with 45 students the ideas spread organically for a number of decades and gained traction with global missions in 2007 the global association of theological schools was launched there are currently 502 gatz bible schools in 111 nations in 2019 10 619 students attended a gatz institution with 3 375 graduating from one of the programs in addition to writing a standardized curriculum in multiple languages gats has an active faculty development program funding from ladies ministries has been instrumental in the growth and success of these schools as mission fields develop into autonomous churches the training ministry of global missions becomes even more critical to the long-term success of the worldwide church a united effort extends the global reach of the united pentecostal church it also helps here at home in 1987 sister sarah jackson a church planter in marvel arkansas needed a permanent home for her growing congregation but she also needed a miracle to make that happen the arkansas district under the leadership of james lumpkin made that miracle happen melvin millholland an arkansas church planner and a civil engineer drew building plans for a church building that with the right amount of planning and coordination could be constructed in only one day men and women from around the arkansas district descended on marvel before that weekend was over much of the work was completed on their new building since that first build the program has gone national and currently has built 141 additional church buildings most are constructed off of the original arkansas blueprints and the process has been refined so that the building is ready for service on the sunday morning of the build weekend the church in a day program not only delivers a new building to north american mission church planners but it also engenders enormous publicity for the local church together the church in a day program is building the kingdom one church at a time from its inception the oneness movement has recognized a need for training in education in 1915 dco upperman founded the pentecostal literary and training school in eureka springs arkansas when he left the assemblies of god over the rejection of oneness doctrine he took the school with him while schools have not always thrived the desire for quality educational and ministerial training institutions has remained higher education in the upci took a significant step forward when the 1999 general conference voted to establish a graduate school of theology owned and operated by the church the school began its first classes in the fall of 2001. in 2010 urshan graduate school of theology successfully achieved national accreditation with the association of theological schools in 2011 the board of directors of ugst voted to assume the operations of gateway college of evangelism and expand its mission to become a christian college in july 2020 urshan college and ugst reached a momentous achievement when the ursian system was awarded accreditation by the higher learning commission the united efforts of the church help ursin prepare apostolic men and women through higher education for service in the church and to the world it seemed like a good idea in 1979 so the youth division took a chance and invited young pentecostals from across north america to memphis tennessee for a national youth congress on evangelism a few thousand people responded to this invitation the success of that first congress led to a second two years later and the good idea turned into a great idea as the bi-annual event grew from convention centers to arenas and finally to football stadiums in 2019 over 37 000 streamed into the dome at the america center in st louis missouri for the north american youth congress in some ways the youth who flooded into st louis didn't look like the prototypical young north american perhaps most noticeably their dress reflected their spiritual pursuit but in other ways they looked very much like the multicultural quilt that makes north america unique they reflected the diverse racial and ethnic makeup of north america and even resembled a larger more modern azusa street crowd they witness that the spirit has been poured out on all people it is spirit-filled people who make up the heart of his church buildings institutions and programs are critical to the infrastructure of the church but people are the reason jesus sacrificed his life for 75 years people from every tongue and kindred and walk of life have come together to grow the united pentecostal church international [Music] pastors of large congregations like anthony and mickey mangan who pastor the pentecostals of alexandria in louisiana one of the most significant churches in that region and pastors like rima and federica duncan church planners in chicago illinois cities like chicago need people with vision who can see a better tomorrow evangelists like victor jackson whose life took a dramatic different direction when he came in contact with jesus while attending college and today he is bringing that same message of deliverance to people all across north america and evangelist lori wagner who with pen and pulpit challenges and affirms our faith and worship leaders like brittany scott and james wilson who use their god-given talents to help us enter into his presence and missionaries like nathan and tanya herod and lynn jewett who leave hartfon home to carry the message of the cross and educators like eli lopez and jenny russell who see the vast potential of the next generation and they pour themselves unselfishly into helping students ground their faith and test their wings at the same time and professionals and business people like clay jackson and chloe fergie who bring their faith to work every day we are the united pentecostal church international

Channel: United Pentecostal Church International

Views: 13,358

Rating: 4.8855324 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: qPAQX9eMZyw

Length: 11min 34sec (694 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 05 2020