From Wikipedia
Background
Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944), a controversial female evangelist, founded the Foursquare Church in
1927. Los Angeles was her center of operations, and
Angelus Temple, seating 5,300 people, was opened in Echo Park in
1923. McPherson was an outright celebrity participating in publicity events such as parades every Sunday through the streets of L.A., along with the mayor and movie stars, directly to Angelus Temple. She built the temple, and
L. I. F. E. Bible College next door to it, on the northwest corner of the land that she owned in the middle of the city.
Her son, Rolf K. McPherson, became president and leader of the church after her death in
1944. Although he may not have had the same charisma his mother possessed, the denomination under his leadership grew from around 400 churches when his leadership began, to 10,000+ after his departure.
Pastor
Jack W. Hayford, founder of The Church on the Way in
Van Nuys, California, and Living Way Ministries, is perhaps the best-known Foursquare minister in the
21st century and is currently the denomination's president.
Pastor
Ron Mehl, senior pastor of the
Beaverton Foursquare Church from 1973 until his death in 2003, was one of a handful of pastors, including Pastor Hayford, that the church credits with setting a pattern of explosive growth for the Foursquare denomination.
In 2006,
independent filmmaker Richard Rossi released his movie
Aimee Semple McPherson. Like McPherson herself, the film was surrounded by
controversy. Although magazines like
Christianity Today,
Charisma, and
Ministries Today were positive, the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel released a press statement stating they do not endorse the film.
Foursquare leadership has not been without
controversy in recent years: former President
Paul Risser resigned in 2004 after losing millions of the church's funds as the victim of a financial
ponzi scheme. Most of the funds were recovered.
The Foursquare denomination, under Jack Hayford's leadership, appears to be in conversation, with reservation and qualification, the
emerging church movement by linking to sites such as
Emergent Village from its
main website. The denomination also hosted the youth conference,
NextGen Summit '07, and
invited the popular author of emergent books such as
Blue Like Jazz and
Searching for God Knows What ,
Donald Miller, to address the youth. Miller's presentation was kept within orthodox Christian guidelines, however.
Church doctrine
The Foursquare Church believes in the following:
[2]
Status
Jack Hayford, President of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel
As of
2000, the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, commonly referred to as the Foursquare Church, had a worldwide membership of over 5 million in almost 30,000 churches in 123 countries. This includes 1,844 churches with 218,981 members
¹ in the
United States. The 2006 Foursquare Church Annual Report reflected a loss of membership in the USA for 2005, which was listed at 260,644. Corporate headquarters are maintained in
Los Angeles, California.
In the United States, the church is divided into districts and then into divisions and finally individual churches. A General Supervisor oversees the national office and district supervisors, and district supervisors oversee divisional superintendents who oversee individual churches within the local region. Glenn C. Burris, Jr., currently (
2004) serves as General Supervisor.
Jack W. Hayford has been the president of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel since October 1, 2004. A number of educational institutions are affiliated with the Foursquare Church. Among these are
Life Pacific College, formerly "L. I. F. E. Bible College", in
San Dimas, California, and
Life Pacific Bible College in
Surrey, British Columbia.
[edit] Affiliations
Together with the
Assemblies of God, the
Church of God, the
Open Bible Standard Churches, the
Pentecostal Holiness Church, and others, the Foursquare Church formed the "Pentecostal Fellowship of North America" in
1948 in
Des Moines, Iowa. In
1994, the Fellowship reorganized as the
Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America after reconciliation with African Americans, particularly the constituency of the
Church of God in Christ.
