World Assemblies Of God Fellowship: History, Beliefs, And Global Impact Of The Largest Pentecostal Body

Contents

The World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF) is a global cooperative body of national Pentecostal church fellowships, formally established in 1989 and headquartered in Springfield, Missouri, United States. While its roots trace back to the founding of the Assemblies of God in Hot Springs, Arkansas in 1914, the WAGF itself was created to unite independent national Assemblies of God councils under a shared mission of evangelism, church planting, and global cooperation.

With over 450,000 affiliated churches, approximately 69 to 88 million members and constituents across 190 countries, and a current chairman in Dominic Yeo of Singapore, the World Assemblies of God Fellowship stands as the largest Pentecostal body on earth — and one of the largest Christian communities of any kind in recorded history.

This is the full story: where it came from, what it believes, how it grew, and where it’s headed.[IMAGE: World Assemblies of God Fellowship General Assembly gathering with delegates from multiple nations]

Overview of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship

The World Assemblies of God Fellowship is not a single denomination in the traditional sense. It functions as a cooperative communion — a fellowship of nationally independent Assemblies of God councils, each fully autonomous in governance, but united by a shared theological heritage, a common Pentecostal identity, and a mutual commitment to world evangelism.

Think of it this way: the WAGF is the global family, and each national council — whether in Nigeria, Brazil, Singapore, India, or the United States — is a family member with its own household, its own leadership, and its own local expression. The WAGF provides the table at which they all gather. It does not legislate for them. It coordinates, encourages, and enables cooperation on the things that transcend borders: missions, relief work, theological training, and the shared pursuit of the Great Commission.

Its official website is worldagfellowship.org, and its current mission is crystallized in its MM33 initiative — a bold, decade-long effort to grow the fellowship to one million churches worldwide by 2033, the 2,000th anniversary of Christ’s resurrection and ascension.

History and Founding of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship

The Roots: Azusa Street and the Birth of Pentecostalism

You can’t understand the World Assemblies of God Fellowship without first understanding where Pentecostalism itself came from. The story begins in the early 1900s, when a fresh hunger for spiritual experience was spreading across American Christianity. Believers were seeking what they believed had been lost since the first century: the power of the Holy Spirit, complete with miraculous gifts, divine healing, and the evidence of speaking in tongues.

In January 1901, students at Charles Parham’s Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas, began speaking in tongues during a prayer meeting — a moment Parham identified as biblical evidence of Spirit baptism. Then in 1906, the Azusa Street Revival broke out in Los Angeles under William J. Seymour, and what had been a small regional flame became a global fire. From Azusa Street, Pentecostalism spread to every continent with remarkable speed.

The 1914 Founding of the Assemblies of God (USA)

As Pentecostalism spread, its leaders recognized they needed greater organization, doctrinal stability, and a structure for coordinating the growing missionary enterprise. In April 1914, over 300 ministers and laypeople from 20 states and several foreign countries gathered at the Grand Opera House in Hot Springs, Arkansas, for what became the founding General Council of the Assemblies of God.

The meeting ran from April 2 to 12, 1914. Eudorus N. Bell, a former Southern Baptist preacher who had become a Pentecostal minister, was appointed as the first chairman. The founders were deliberate about avoiding the word “denomination” — they saw themselves as a cooperative fellowship, not a new institution layered over the churches. The initial focus was on unity, missions coordination, and establishing a ministerial training school.

Within months, 531 ministers were participating. By 1916, the fellowship had adopted “A Statement of Fundamental Truths” — a doctrinal baseline that included a clear affirmation of the Trinity and identified speaking in tongues as the initial physical evidence of Spirit baptism. That 1916 statement remains the theological foundation of Assemblies of God fellowships worldwide to this day.

Global Expansion Through Missions (1914–1988)

From its earliest days, the Assemblies of God had an outward orientation. Missions was not an afterthought — it was a founding impulse. Within years of its formation, AG missionaries were active in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. Each region produced its own autonomous national fellowship, shaped by local culture but sharing the same Pentecostal theological core.

The Brazilian Assemblies of God — the Assembleias de Deus — is one of the oldest and largest, tracing its origins to 1911, even before the Hot Springs meeting. Nigeria’s General Council of the Assemblies of God was founded in 1934, growing out of missionary partnerships begun as early as 1917. The Indian national council, one of the largest in the world by membership, developed through decades of evangelistic and humanitarian work across the subcontinent. By the late 1980s, the Assemblies of God had become one of the most geographically widespread Christian movements on earth — but it had no formal global governing body.

The Formation of the WAGF in 1989

In 1988, forty national AG leaders gathered to explore what active global cooperation might look like. The initiative came from Dr. J. Philip Hogan, then executive director of the Division of Foreign Missions of the U.S. Assemblies of God. The original vision was straightforward: coordinate world evangelism across national boundaries without infringing on the autonomy of individual national councils.

The result was the World Pentecostal Assemblies of God Fellowship (WPAGF), formally established in 1989. Dr. Hogan was elected its first chairman. The provisional committee that shaped the founding included Peter Kuzmic of Eurasia, David Yonggi Cho of Asia Pacific, Jean Pawentaore Ouedraogo of Africa, and John Bueno of Latin America.

In September 1993, the Executive Committee voted to rename the body the World Assemblies of God Fellowship — the name it carries today. The General Assembly ratified the decision in August 2000. From the beginning, the WAGF was explicitly designed as a non-legislative body. National councils joined as equals. No single council could impose its will on another. The language was deliberately cooperative rather than hierarchical: “promote,” “encourage,” “support,” “affirm.”[IMAGE: WAGF founding Congress delegates gathered for the historic 1994 Seoul Korea meeting]

The First World Congress — Seoul, 1994

In 1994, the fellowship held its first World Assemblies of God Fellowship Congress in Seoul, South Korea, under the chairmanship of David Yonggi Cho, who had been elected the fellowship’s second chairman in 1992. The theme was prayer. Approximately one million participants attended, alongside several thousand official delegates from around the world. It remains one of the largest single Christian gatherings ever organized around a unified denominational identity.

That same congress saw the founding of the World Assemblies of God Relief and Development Agency (WAGRA) — the fellowship’s humanitarian arm, created to channel relief and development resources to communities in need across the globe.

Leadership of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship

Chairmen Through the Years

The WAGF is led by a chairman elected by delegates at each General Assembly, held every four years. The chairmanship rotates across regions, reflecting the fellowship’s global character and commitment to shared leadership. The full list of chairmen:

Chairman	Country	Years Served
Dr. J. Philip Hogan	United States	1989–1992
Rev. David Yonggi Cho	South Korea	1992–2000
Dr. Thomas E. Trask	United States	2000–2008
Dr. George O. Wood	United States	2008–2023
Rev. Dominic Yeo	Singapore	2023–present

Current Chairman — Dominic Yeo

The current chairman of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship is Rev. Dominic Yeo of Singapore. He was elected at the WAGF General Assembly in Madrid, Spain in October 2023, making him the fifth chairman in the fellowship’s history. Yeo serves simultaneously as the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God of Singapore and as chairman of the Asia Pacific AG Fellowship — a combination of roles that makes him one of the most influential Pentecostal leaders in the world today.

Yeo had been building toward this role for years. In 2017, he was elected secretary of the World AG Congress. He went on to chair the MM33 Task Force before assuming the chairmanship of the broader fellowship. Under his leadership, the WAGF is pressing forward with the most ambitious church-planting initiative in its history.

Doug Clay, General Superintendent of the U.S. Assemblies of God since 2017, was elected as vice chairman. Juan Carlos Escobar of the Assemblies of God of Spain serves as secretary. The current leadership spans three continents — a deliberate reflection of the fellowship’s global identity.[IMAGE: WAGF Chairman Dominic Yeo addressing delegates at the 2023 Madrid General Assembly]

Beliefs and Doctrine of the Assemblies of God

The 16 Fundamental Truths

The theological foundation of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship is built on what the U.S. Assemblies of God formalized in 1916 as “A Statement of Fundamental Truths.” While each national council operates independently, this theological framework unites them. The core beliefs include:

Scripture: The Bible is the inspired, infallible Word of God — the sole authority for faith and practice.
The Triune God: One God, eternally existing in three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The 1916 statement was written specifically to affirm Trinitarian orthodoxy against the “Jesus Only” (Oneness Pentecostal) position that had emerged within the movement.
Salvation: Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, who died for humanity’s sins and rose bodily from the dead.
Baptism in Water: Believers’ baptism by immersion, following conversion.
Baptism in the Holy Spirit: A distinct post-conversion experience, with speaking in other tongues as the initial physical evidence. This is the Pentecostal distinctive that sets the AG apart from most other evangelical traditions.
Sanctification: An ongoing process of growth in holiness.
Divine Healing: God heals physical bodies in response to prayer and faith, as provided in the atonement.
The Lord’s Supper (Communion): Observed as an ordinance, commemorating Christ’s sacrifice.
The Second Coming of Christ: A bodily, personal return of Jesus Christ — premillennial in orientation, with a strong belief in the Rapture.
Final Judgment: Eternal life for the redeemed, eternal separation for the unrepentant.

The Pentecostal Distinctive — Speaking in Tongues

Of all the Assemblies of God’s doctrinal positions, the one that generates the most external discussion — and occasional internal debate — is its teaching on speaking in tongues as the “initial physical evidence” of Spirit baptism. This position was debated from the very beginning. In 1918, F.F. Bosworth, an executive presbyter, argued that tongues was evidence for many believers but not necessarily for all. He eventually resigned over the issue. The General Council affirmed the “initial evidence” position in September 1918, and it has remained official teaching ever since.

This position places the AG squarely in classical Pentecostalism and distinguishes it from the broader charismatic movement, where tongues may be seen as one gift among many rather than the definitive marker of Spirit baptism.

Finished Work Pentecostalism

The Assemblies of God is specifically a “Finished Work” Pentecostal movement — meaning it teaches that sanctification was fully accomplished in Christ’s atoning work, rather than being a second definite work of grace after conversion (as Wesleyan Holiness Pentecostals teach). This distinction shaped the AG’s theological development and its relationship with other strands of the broader Pentecostal and charismatic world.

The WAGF’s Growth and Global Expansion

From 148,000 Churches to 450,000 — A Decade of Harvest

At the 1990 World Assemblies of God Congress, the fellowship launched what it called the Decade of Harvest — a ten-year initiative to drive church planting and evangelism. The results were remarkable. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of affiliated churches grew from 148,444 to 222,519 — a 67 percent increase. Membership grew from 23.7 million to 38.2 million adherents — a 62 percent increase in ten years. These are among the most dramatic growth statistics recorded by any single religious movement in the 20th century.

Growth continued in the years that followed. By the time the WAGF met in Madrid in 2023, the fellowship reported more than 370,000 to 450,000 affiliated churches worldwide, with between 69 and 88 million members and constituents depending on the counting methodology.

Global Footprint — 190 Countries, 164 National Councils

The World Assemblies of God Fellowship operates across 190 countries, making it one of the most geographically widespread Christian communities on earth. Its 164 national councils include some of the world’s largest Protestant bodies:

Brazil: The Assembleias de Deus is one of the largest Protestant denominations in Latin America, with tens of millions of members and a presence in virtually every Brazilian state.
India: The All India Assemblies of God reports millions of members across one of the world’s most challenging and diverse mission fields.
Nigeria: The General Council of the Assemblies of God, Nigeria has approximately 3.6 million members worshipping in over 16,300 churches, with headquarters in Enugu State and missionaries active in more than 9 countries and territories.
United States: The AG USA reported 2.98 million adherents and 1.74 million formal members in 2023, across 12,681 churches — ranking it as the fourth largest Protestant denomination in the country according to a 2025 Pew Research assessment.
South Korea: The AG’s presence in Korea is anchored by Yoido Full Gospel Church, co-founded by David Yonggi Cho — the fellowship’s second chairman and arguably the most influential individual figure in the WAGF’s history.

Across Africa, the fellowship has national councils in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Malawi, Namibia, Lesotho, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Swaziland, among others.

Programs and Ministries of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship

World Assemblies of God Relief and Development Agency (WAGRA)

Founded at the 1994 Seoul Congress, WAGRA serves as the fellowship’s humanitarian arm. It channels relief assistance and development resources to communities affected by disaster, poverty, and conflict — mobilizing the vast global network of AG churches as a first-responder infrastructure in times of crisis. The fellowship’s presence in 190 countries gives WAGRA a reach that few international aid organizations can match at the community level.

Missions Commission

The WAGF Missions Commission coordinates international missionary activity across the fellowship’s national councils. Rather than running a centralized mission program, the commission facilitates cooperation between national councils — enabling churches in one country to support and collaborate with church planting efforts in another. This decentralized model reflects the WAGF’s broader cooperative (rather than directive) approach to governance.

Theological Training and Education

Theological education is a significant priority across the fellowship. The WAGF encourages and supports ministerial training at both the national and international level. Affiliated institutions include Hansei University in South Korea, Bethesda Christian University in Anaheim, California, and dozens of Bible colleges and theological seminaries on every inhabited continent. The fellowship has also invested in training programs specifically designed for contexts where formal academic infrastructure may be limited — recognizing that many of its fastest-growing national councils are in the Global South.

Religious Liberty Advocacy

The WAGF has consistently advocated for religious freedom on the global stage. The fellowship has made formal appeals to the United Nations and to individual governments on behalf of AG communities facing persecution, assassination, and legal restrictions. This advocacy reflects the fellowship’s understanding that the right to share the gospel freely is inseparable from the mission it has been given.

The MM33 Initiative — One Million Churches by 2033

The most significant current program of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship is MM33 — a 12-year evangelism, discipleship, and church-planting initiative announced at the 2023 Madrid General Assembly and running through 2033.

The name is layered with meaning. “MM” is the Roman numeral for 2000. “33” represents the year A.D. 33 — the approximate year of Christ’s resurrection and ascension. Together, MM33 points to the year 2033, the 2,000th anniversary of those events. The initiative’s full motto is “His Mandate, Our Mission.”

The goal is striking: to grow from approximately 450,000 Assemblies of God churches today to one million churches by 2033. That means planting roughly 550,000 new congregations in a decade — an average of more than 150 new churches every single day. Chairman Dominic Yeo has framed it as “the greatest work of evangelism, discipleship, and church planting the world has ever seen.”

A prophetic exhortation first given at the 2017 World AG Congress seeded the vision. By 2021, the WAGF had launched the MM33 initiative formally. The fellowship signed what it calls the MM33 Covenant — a shared commitment among national councils to engage together in church planting and evangelism at an unprecedented scale. Strong early support came from AG leadership in India, Uruguay, Great Britain, Sweden, Colombia, Hong Kong, and Sri Lanka.[IMAGE: MM33 World Assemblies of God Fellowship church planting vision event with global leaders]

Organizational Structure of the WAGF

A Fellowship of Equals

The founding language of the WAGF made its governance model clear: it was designed as a body of national councils “on equal standing.” No national council — not even the large and historically influential U.S. Assemblies of God — holds authority over another. Every member council is autonomous in its leadership, governance, finances, and ministry direction.

This stands in deliberate contrast to more hierarchical denominational structures. The WAGF does not issue binding theological or administrative directives to its national members. It encourages, coordinates, and facilitates — it does not govern.

General Assembly and Executive Committee

The WAGF’s highest governing body is the General Assembly, which convenes every four years at the World AG Congress. Each member national council sends official delegates. The General Assembly elects the chairman, vice chairman, and secretary, and establishes the fellowship’s broad direction and priorities.

Between General Assembly meetings, the Executive Committee — made up of regional representatives — handles day-to-day coordination and governance. The committee includes representatives from Africa, Asia Pacific, Eurasia, Latin America, and North America, ensuring that the fellowship’s leadership genuinely reflects its global constituency.

Five Regional Fellowships

The WAGF organizes its national councils into five regional fellowships: Africa, Asia Pacific, Eurasia, Latin America, and North America. Each regional fellowship has its own leadership structure and coordinates ministry initiatives within its geographic area. This regional layer helps bridge the gap between the global fellowship and the individual national council, allowing for more contextually relevant coordination across the fellowship’s vast footprint.

Notable Affiliated Churches and Ministries

Given the WAGF’s size and scope, its family includes some of the most prominent Christian congregations and ministries on earth. Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul — the world’s largest single congregation — is an Assemblies of God church affiliated with the WAGF through the Korean national council. The church was co-founded by David Yonggi Cho, who served as the fellowship’s second chairman from 1992 to 2000.

The Assemblies of God USA is home to numerous well-known congregations, including the Phoenix-based Dream City Church. The AG has also been closely associated with major charismatic and Pentecostal movements across Africa, Asia, and Latin America that have shaped the global church landscape over the past century.

Influence and Global Impact

The World’s Largest Pentecostal Body

By any measure, the World Assemblies of God Fellowship is the largest organized Pentecostal body on earth. With between 69 and 88 million members and constituents across 190 countries and more than 450,000 churches, its scale is genuinely difficult to comprehend. For comparison, the entire population of the United Kingdom is about 67 million people. The WAGF’s global constituency is larger.

Its influence on global Christianity has been enormous. The AG’s missionary activity in the 20th century helped carry Pentecostalism from a small American movement into a global force — now estimated to represent roughly 600 million Christians across all Pentecostal and charismatic expressions worldwide.

Shaping Global Pentecostalism

The theological framework the AG established in 1916 — particularly its position on tongues as initial evidence, its trinitarian stance, and its missions-first culture — became the template for classical Pentecostalism globally. Movements that departed from the AG (like the Foursquare Church, co-founded by Aimee Semple McPherson, who was ordained by the AG in 1919 before founding her own denomination in 1923) still bear the marks of the AG’s early theological formation.

Humanitarian Impact Through WAGRA

Through WAGRA and through the individual humanitarian programs of its national councils — including Convoy of Hope in the United States — the WAGF has delivered relief to millions of people across decades of disasters, famines, conflicts, and public health crises. The fellowship’s grassroots church network gives it unique last-mile reach in communities where international aid organizations often struggle to operate.

Education and Ministerial Training

The AG’s investment in theological education spans continents and decades. From Hansei University in South Korea to Bethesda Christian University in California to dozens of Bible institutes across Africa and Asia, the fellowship has trained generations of pastors, evangelists, and missionaries. Its commitment to raising up local leaders — rather than perpetually depending on Western-trained missionaries — has been a key factor in the sustainability of its growth in the Global South.

The Assemblies of God in Nigeria — A Case Study in Regional Growth

The General Council of the Assemblies of God, Nigeria offers a vivid illustration of how the global fellowship takes root and grows in a specific cultural context. Founded formally in 1934, Nigeria’s AG grew from missionary partnerships that began as early as 1917. Today it reports approximately 3.6 million members worshipping in over 16,300 churches, with headquarters in Enugu State and ministerial credentials issued to more than 11,650 ministers.

Nigeria’s AG has also sent its own missionaries abroad — active in more than 9 countries and territories — reflecting the shift from a mission-receiving church to a mission-sending church that characterizes the maturation of the AG’s Global South national councils.

The Nigerian council has not been without its internal struggles. Academic research has documented leadership disputes, succession crises, and factionalism that have periodically threatened the unity of the council. These challenges reflect broader tensions between rapid growth, organizational structure, and the competing visions of strong local leaders — issues that any fast-growing movement must eventually navigate.

Criticisms and Controversies

Women in Leadership

The Assemblies of God has a complex and evolving history regarding women in ministry. The U.S. AG began credentialing women as evangelists and missionaries from its earliest days. However, ordaining women as senior pastors and placing them in top leadership positions has remained contested in many national councils. Critics argue that this inconsistency — celebrating women as missionaries while limiting their pastoral roles — reflects an unresolved theological tension that the fellowship has never fully worked through.

It is worth noting that the U.S. AG has formally affirmed women’s ordination since its founding, and women have served in significant ministry roles across the fellowship globally. But in practice, the outcomes vary considerably by national cultural context.

Speaking in Tongues as “Initial Evidence” — Ongoing Debate

The doctrine that speaking in tongues is the necessary initial physical evidence of Spirit baptism remains the subject of ongoing theological discussion. Critics from within the broader evangelical world — and occasionally from within the Pentecostal movement itself — argue that this position can create a two-tier Christianity, where believers who haven’t spoken in tongues feel spiritually inferior or are treated as not yet fully Spirit-filled. Defenders argue the position is exegetically grounded and spiritually formative. The debate has continued since 1918 and shows no sign of resolution.

Financial Accountability and Scandals

Individual congregations and leaders within the WAGF’s vast global network have faced well-documented financial controversies over the decades. The most prominent involves David Yonggi Cho, the fellowship’s second chairman, who was convicted in 2014 of directing Yoido Full Gospel Church to purchase overvalued stocks owned by his son — resulting in an approximately $12 million loss to the church. Cho received a suspended sentence and a substantial fine.

It is important to note that these incidents occur at the level of individual congregations and leaders, not the WAGF as a central institution. The WAGF’s non-legislative structure means it does not have direct oversight authority over the finances of its member councils or their constituent churches. This structural reality is both a feature (autonomy) and a challenge (limited accountability mechanisms).

“Why I Left the Assemblies of God” — Common Departures

A significant volume of online testimony comes from former AG members explaining why they left. Common themes include: disillusionment with prosperity-gospel-adjacent teaching in certain congregations; a perceived culture of authoritarianism in some local churches; the church’s traditional positions on gender and sexuality, which sit at odds with modern cultural expectations; concerns about doctrinal rigidity around tongues; and, for some, a broader sense that the church’s political engagement had compromised its spiritual message.

These testimonies represent real experiences and deserve to be taken seriously. They also represent a diverse and decentralized fellowship of 450,000+ churches, many of which would look very different from the congregations being described. The WAGF’s very structure — autonomy for national and local councils — means that the experiences of members in one corner of the global fellowship may bear little resemblance to those in another.

Interesting Facts About the World Assemblies of God Fellowship

The first WAGF World Congress in Seoul in 1994 attracted approximately one million participants — making it one of the largest Christian gatherings of the 20th century.
The WAGF was deliberately designed as a non-legislative body. No single national council — not even the U.S. AG — holds authority over another member.
Aimee Semple McPherson, one of the most famous evangelists of the 20th century and founder of the Foursquare Church, was originally ordained by the Assemblies of God in 1919 before founding her own denomination in 1923.
The first founding General Council in Hot Springs, Arkansas, was held at the Grand Opera House — not a church building. Pentecostalism’s founding moment happened in a theater.
The Assemblies of God in Brazil predates the U.S. founding meeting, with roots going back to 1911 — making it older than the formal fellowship itself.
The WAGF’s MM33 initiative aims to plant 550,000 new churches in 10 years — roughly 150 new churches per day, every day, for a decade.
The fellowship has made formal representations to the United Nations on behalf of persecuted believers — functioning as a quasi-diplomatic voice for Pentecostal communities facing governmental hostility.
Despite its enormous global size, the WAGF’s central administration is deliberately lean. The real institutional weight sits with the national councils, not the global body.

Timeline of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship

1901: Students at Charles Parham’s Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas begin speaking in tongues — a defining moment for the emerging Pentecostal movement.
1906: Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles spreads Pentecostalism globally.
1911: Assembleia de Deus founded in Brazil — one of the oldest national AG bodies.
1914: General Council of the Assemblies of God founded in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Eudorus Bell becomes first chairman.
1916: “A Statement of Fundamental Truths” adopted, affirming the Trinity and tongues as initial evidence.
1919: Aimee Semple McPherson ordained by the AG USA.
1923: McPherson founds the Foursquare Church after departing the AG.
1934: Assemblies of God, Nigeria formally constituted.
1988: Forty national AG leaders gather to explore global cooperation; plan for the World Fellowship formed.
1989: World Pentecostal Assemblies of God Fellowship formally established. J. Philip Hogan elected first chairman.
1990: Decade of Harvest initiative launched at the World AG Congress.
1992: David Yonggi Cho elected second chairman of the fellowship.
1993: Name changed to World Assemblies of God Fellowship.
1994: First WAGF World Congress in Seoul, South Korea; approximately one million participants. WAGRA founded.
2000: Thomas E. Trask elected third chairman at Indianapolis General Assembly.
2008: George O. Wood elected fourth chairman at Lisbon World Congress.
2017: Prophetic exhortation at World AG Congress seeds the MM33 vision.
2021: MM33 initiative formally launched.
2023: Dominic Yeo elected fifth chairman at Madrid General Assembly. MM33 Covenant signed by global leaders.

Frequently Asked Questions About the World Assemblies of God Fellowship

What is the World Assemblies of God Fellowship?

The World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF) is a global cooperative body of nationally independent Assemblies of God church councils, formally established in 1989. It functions as a non-legislative fellowship — meaning it coordinates and encourages but does not govern its member national councils. With over 450,000 affiliated churches and between 69 and 88 million members across 190 countries, it is the world’s largest Pentecostal body.

Who is the chairman of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship?

The current chairman is Rev. Dominic Yeo of Singapore, elected at the 2023 World AG General Assembly in Madrid, Spain. He is the fifth chairman in the WAGF’s history. Doug Clay (USA) serves as vice chairman and Juan Carlos Escobar (Spain) serves as secretary.

Who is the founder of the Assemblies of God Church?

The Assemblies of God was not founded by a single person. The founding General Council in April 1914 at Hot Springs, Arkansas was convened by Eudorus N. Bell, who became the first chairman. The gathering brought together over 300 ministers and laypeople from across the United States representing various Pentecostal streams. The World Assemblies of God Fellowship specifically was initiated by Dr. J. Philip Hogan, who became its first chairman when the global body was formed in 1989.

How many AOG churches are there in the world?

As of 2024, the World Assemblies of God Fellowship reports more than 450,000 affiliated churches worldwide across 190 countries, with 164 national councils. This figure is growing rapidly due to the MM33 church-planting initiative, which aims to reach one million churches by 2033.

What are the core beliefs of the Assemblies of God?

The AG’s core beliefs — rooted in its 1916 Statement of Fundamental Truths — include the inspiration and authority of Scripture, salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, water baptism by immersion, baptism in the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues as the initial physical evidence, divine healing, the Lord’s Supper, and the premillennial return of Jesus Christ. The AG is firmly Trinitarian and holds to “Finished Work” Pentecostal theology.

What is the history of the Assemblies of God in Nigeria?

The Assemblies of God in Nigeria traces its roots to a partnership with the AG USA beginning in 1917, with the formal council established in 1934. Today it is one of the largest Pentecostal bodies in Nigeria, with approximately 3.6 million members in over 16,300 churches, headquarters in Enugu State, and missionary activity in more than 9 nations. The council has experienced periodic internal leadership crises over its history, which have been documented by academic researchers studying Nigerian Pentecostalism.

What is wrong with the Assemblies of God?

Common criticisms of the Assemblies of God include: theological disagreements over the “initial evidence” doctrine of tongues; concerns about the limited roles available to women in pastoral leadership within some national councils; questions about financial accountability in certain congregations and leadership structures; and a perceived tension between Pentecostal spiritual culture and modern social expectations around gender and sexuality. Critics have also raised concerns about prosperity-adjacent teaching in some AG-affiliated congregations. It is important to note that with 450,000+ churches across 190 countries, experiences vary enormously from one congregation to another.

What is the MM33 initiative?

MM33 is a 12-year evangelism, church-planting, and discipleship initiative launched by the World Assemblies of God Fellowship in 2021, with its major rollout at the 2023 Madrid General Assembly. The goal is to grow from approximately 450,000 affiliated churches to one million churches by 2033 — the 2,000th anniversary of Christ’s resurrection. MM33 stands for “Mandate and Mission” together with the Roman numeral MM (2000) and the year 33 A.D.