Full Gospel vs Pentecostal: What's the Difference in Their Beliefs?

[bdiddie4christ]

I've been going to Full Gospel churches for a while now and enjoy them very much. Just never really knew the difference between them and a Pentecostal church. So yes. How are they different?

 

[toolmanjantzi]

I've been going to Full Gospel churches for a while now and enjoy them very much. Just never really knew the difference between them and a Pentecostal church. So yes. How are they different?

It has to do with being apart of the Pentacostal Assemblies or just associated with. Meaning they adhere to the general doctrines of pentacostolism, but the church is not apart of the whole body of Pentecostals.

 

[stormdancer0]

Most Full Gospels that I've met do not believe in the Trinity - there is only one God, no "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." Not sure which one they believe in.

 

[toolmanjantzi]

Most Full Gospels that I've met do not believe in the Trinity - there is only one God, no "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." Not sure which one they believe in.

Then I am off a bit. Universalists like T.D. Jakes then. I went to a Gospel Centre. They beloved in the trinity.

 

[Bob Carabbio]

"I've been going to Full Gospel churches for a while now and enjoy them very much. Just never really knew the difference between them and a Pentecostal church. So yes. How are they different?"

ALL "Pentecostal", and "Charismatic" churches ARE "FULL GOSPEL" by definition.

"Full Gospel" was a generic term coined back in the early 20th century in response to the widely held orthodox "CESSATIONISM" beliefs that argued passionately that the "Gifts" and "Spiritual ministries" that characterized the Early church had been withdrawn by God, since they were no longer needed - generally related to some version of the formalization of the Biblical Canon which was supposedly "That which is Perfect" (1 Cor 13:10). Actually they just couldn't move in the gifts, and needed a theological rationalization for their inability.

And as such, were preaching and teaching a "Partial Gospel" devoid of the presence/continuation of the miraculous as a NORMAL Component of Christian Life.

And then the Holy Spirit began to be poured out on the visible churches in the middle of the 19th century and the Gifts, and miraculous ministries began to re-appear - the "FULL Gospel" was back.

WITHIN the "Full Gospel" genre are all sorts of weird and wild beliefs and denominational groups, but the common denominator is the belief in CONTINUATION of the miraculous in the Visible Church in 2013.

Because of the intermixing of Historic Pentecostals, and Charismatics these days there's not the earlier division where the Pentecostals tended to be Legalistic, and fundamentalistic in their practices, and the Charismatics were mostly Liberals, and Catholics, and tended not to be EITHER Legalistic, or Fundamentalistic at all.

 

[ltwin]

I've been going to Full Gospel churches for a while now and enjoy them very much. Just never really knew the difference between them and a Pentecostal church. So yes. How are they different?

Full Gospel is one of the names that denotes Pentecostalism. A lot of the earliest Pentecostal churches were called "Full Gospel Tabernacles." So, really, Full Gospel is a term like "Spirit-Filled." When someone says, I'm a Spirit-filled Christian, what they are saying is that they are part of the Pentecostal and charismatic movements, but for their own reasons they don't want to identify with any specific movement.

"Full Gospel" also relates to the four-fold or foursquare gospel of Pentecostalism: Jesus saves, Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit, Jesus heals, and Jesus is the soon coming King.

 

[dayhiker]

I've pretty much view full gospel as synonymous with pentecostal. No doubt some might try to make distinctions, but I'd think that was probably mostly the way a certain churches or preachers. But its been decades since I have heard these distinctions pushed as meaning anything important.

 

[D2wing]

Most Full Gospels that I've met do not believe in the Trinity - there is only one God, no "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." Not sure which one they believe in.

I have never been in one like that. Perhaps a regional difference. A Full Gospel generally means they believe the whole Bible is the word of God and the only true authority on earth as opposed to a church, including the gifts of the Spirit. The ones I have been in believe in the Trinity.

 

[jannikitty]

Full Gospel is one of the names that denotes Pentecostalism. A lot of the earliest Pentecostal churches were called "Full Gospel Tabernacles." So, really, Full Gospel is a term like "Spirit-Filled." When someone says, I'm a Spirit-filled Christian, what they are saying is that they are part of the Pentecostal and charismatic movements, but for their own reasons they don't want to identify with any specific movement.

"Full Gospel" also relates to the four-fold or foursquare gospel of Pentecostalism: Jesus saves, Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit, Jesus heals, and Jesus is the soon coming King.

Four Square! That's my church! And we certainly are "Full Gospel."

 

[ltwin]

Most Full Gospels that I've met do not believe in the Trinity - there is only one God, no "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." Not sure which one they believe in.

Where I'm from in South Carolina, full gospel is used as a synonym for Spirit-filled churches. I suppose Oneness Pentecostals use the term, but my church uses it and we're Trinitarian.

I've found that many Oneness Pentecostals refer to themselves as "Apostolics."

 

[kspchemist]

Where I'm from in South Carolina, full gospel is used as a synonym for Spirit-filled churches. I suppose Oneness Pentecostals use the term, but my church uses it and we're Trinitarian.

I've found that many Oneness Pentecostals refer to themselves as "Apostolics."

It is the same way here in Kentucky.

 

[quietbloke]

Nice to meet you. Assemblies of God believes in the Trinity

 

[quietbloke]

Wonderful! Thankyou.

 

[Bob Carabbio]

I have never been in one like that. Perhaps a regional difference. A Full Gospel generally means they believe the whole Bible is the word of God and the only true authority on earth as opposed to a church, including the gifts of the Spirit. The ones I have been in believe in the Trinity.

The VAST MAJORITY of Charismatics/Pentecostals world wide are Trinitarian in belief, and McAlister's "Oneness lunatic fringe" was tossed OUT of the mainline Pentecostal movement in 1916 when the Assemblies of God adopted a "Trinitarian" position in their official statement of Beliefs.

 

[quietbloke]

Thanks for your comments,loved ones

 

[Dave-W]

I've found that many Oneness Pentecostals refer to themselves as "Apostolics."

There are several oneness pentecostal denominations, and the largest is United Pentecostal Church. (UPC) They and (I think) one other use the term "Apostolic." The rest do not.

 

[Dave-W]

Those sure are danger signs that something's wrong! I never met any Christians like that, thank God.

Currently the largest congregation in my home town believes that way. It is called Bethel Apostolic and is part of the UPC.

 

[Dave-W]

I've been going to Full Gospel churches for a while now and enjoy them very much. Just never really knew the difference between them and a Pentecostal church. So yes. How are they different?

The church I grew up in was called the Buchanan Full Gospel Assembly. Full Gospel Assembly is a very loose-knit association that is almost a denomination but lacks that cohesiveness. Doctrinally, they were almost identical to the Assembly of God (A/G) with the following differences:

Unlike the A/G, they believed in immediate loss of salvation for any sin, no matter how big or small.
Unlike the A/G they believed that good Christians could be demonized. (they used the term "possessed")
Unlike the A/G they had no qualifications for pastoring. The 2nd guy to pastor our church was functionally illiterate.

 

[quietbloke]

The church I was converted in was a full gospel Pentecostal church in fellowship with Assemblies of God. I 'm happy to be part of this Pentecostal Forum because I believe in the truths they believe as a church that serves One God -Father,Son and Holy Spirit.

 

[LaSorcia]

Currently the largest congregation in my home town believes that way.

That's very sad. I wonder if they'll get their own private room in heaven so they won't know we've been sneaked in by Jesus?