What is the Church of the Foursquare Gospel in Australia
You may wonder who we are, our doctrines, what we believe and practice, our denomination’s history, how members of the Foursquare Gospel churches can serve in voluntary or official capacities and if there are doctrinal restrictions, or qualifications for who can minister. This site will answer these questions.
It is important to note that this is the Church of the Foursquare Gospel; not just the Foursquare Church. It is the Gospel [good news] which we understand to be Foursquare in description and manifestation; not the church denomination overall. The International Foursquare Gospel Church’s headquarters are in Los Angeles, California. There are two branches of this denomination in Australia: one in Perth, Western Australia and a Sydney based branch. Eastern States Foursquare Churches are a separate entity, with separate structure and governance.
How the Foursquare denomination started
“The Foursquare Church, officially named the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, is a Pentecostal and evangelical denomination that resulted from the dynamic evangelistic ministry of Aimee Semple-McPherson, who opened the historic Angelus Temple on Jan. 1, 1923” (Foursquare.org. n.d). As such, the Church of The Foursquare Gospel in Australia does not have doctrinal issues with women in senior ministry positions. A document called ‘Women in Ministry Leadership’ outlines the scriptural basis for this doctrinal position. You can access this document via the following link to our headquarter’s website https://resources.foursquare.org/why_women_are_qualified_for_ministry_leadership/
“The term ‘Foursquare Gospel’ came about during an intense revival in the city of Oakland, California, in July 1922. To a crowd of thousands, Aimee Semple McPherson explained Ezekiel’s vision from the book of Ezekiel, chapter one. Ezekiel saw God revealed as a being with four different faces: a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle’” (Foursquare.org. n.d.). Jesus, our saviour as the face of the man; Jesus the baptiser in the Holy Spirit as the lion; Jesus the burden-bearer in the face of the ox; Jesus, the coming King as the eagle. The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel is truly international, worldwide, the Foursquare Church has more than 68,500+ churches and meeting places in 145 countries and territories and over 71,000 Ministers (Foursquare.org. n.d.).
What we believe as doctrine
Like many evangelical churches of the protestant persuasion, we agree with the Apostle’s Creed, the ancient doctrinal statement about the Trinity. The life, work, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit in the church until Jesus Christ returns. The Church of the Foursquare Gospel believes strongly Jesus suffered, died and rose from the dead to atone for the world’s sins ‘once and for all’ [1 Pet 3:18; Heb 7:27]: thus, all ethnicities and cultures are welcomed into our faith community if they agree to abide by the law and denominational doctrines, policies and procedures.
The Foursquare Gospel is all about Jesus Christ – Jesus is the Saviour, Healer, Baptiser in the Holy Spirit and soon-coming King. We exist to glorify God in our worship and obedience to Jesus Christ. To evangelise, build mature disciples, plant churches, build helpful ministries in our communities and to be like Jesus in our communities and positively influence our world for the Christian faith. We focus upon making disciples, equipping leaders, multiplying churches, local and worldwide missions, community support and serving our church communities. You can download the doctrinal document: ‘This We Believe’ from: https://www.foursquare.org/about/what_we_believe