by Greg Mundis

 Unchanging Vision

NOTE: The following (see below) is an editorial written by Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center Director Darrin J. Rodgers that appeared in the 2009 Assemblies of God Heritage magazine. Rodgers describes the economic crisis of the Great Depression and how the Assemblies of God responded despite financial hardships — and touches on the obvious applications for today. We believe AG News readers will find this historical account timely and intriguing.

Please also refer to the link that contains the entire article:http://rss.ag.org/articles/detail.cfm?
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There is no doubt that we are facing economic uncertainties at this present time, but the Scripture has a wonderful verse for us in Jeremiah 17:7–8. It says, “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit” (NIV). What a precious promise in economic uncertain times.

Our history in the United States is one that is complete with different recessions and depressions. The Great Depression of the 1930s devastated many segments of American Christianity. Many mainline congregations, schools, and ministries had to close or drastically cut back. Their institutions, funded by endowments that disappeared with the Wall Street crash, were running off the fumes of the past.

However, there was a noticeable exception to the decline of religious institutions in the 1930s—evangelical and Pentecostal churches made significant gains. According to Mark Noll, a historian, these “sectarian” churches “knew better how to redeem the times.”

For example, in September 1929 the Assemblies of God reported 1612 churches with 91,981 members in the U.S. By 1944 this tally increased to 5055 churches with 227,349 members. During this 15-year period the number of AG churches tripled and the membership almost tripled.

Meanwhile, overseas the Great Depression also made finances tight, and in 1933 the Foreign Missions Department (Assemblies of God World Missions now) trumpeted that it did not have to recall any missionaries because of shortage of funds. Indeed, from 1930 to 1939 AG World Missions giving increased by 47 percent, the number of world missionaries increased by 25 percent, and the constituency outside the U.S. increased by 132 percent. What was the difference, and what is the difference now?

What is the difference in facing these tough economic times? No, it’s not better method or methods. It’s not the more spectacular or more spectacular events. Instead, I quote Christine Kerr Peirce, back in 1935, when she said, “The need of the present moment is Men and Women of Vision!” Christians first “must see God Himself” and then must have a “vision of others.” She then goes on to say, “A true vision of the lost world will prostrate us on our face with a burden of intercession.”

The fact of that matter is that our Assemblies of God constituency has been genuinely faithful during these difficult, uncertain times. We continue to believe God, to see how God is moving through our churches and church members. Why? Because the vision is there—the vision to reach a lost world.

I thank God that from the foundation of our Movement, in the DNA of our Movement, there is this idea, there is this concept, there is this vision—we will reach the lost through every available means.

God bless.

Greg Mundis
AGWM Europe Regional Director

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