In what many see as a historical move, the General Board of the United Pentecostal Church International concluded that it is not proper for someone to be a minister of the UPCI and also a dues-paying minister of the new fellowship called Worldwide Pentecostal Fellowship.
Here is the actual ruling:
“Whereas there may be religious organizations or associations or fellowships formed that do not use the word ‘license’ or ‘ordination,’ yet for all intents and purposes have the same, or similar, function as those organizations who do use the word ‘license’ or ‘ordination,’ including the United Pentecostal Church International; and in keeping with the spirit and intent of the UPCI Manual; the General Board hereby offers this interpretation of Article VII, Section 2, paragraph 6:
Any religious organization or association that offers the same or similar benefits of the UPCI, requires payment of dues, and subscribing to a set of Articles of Faith in order to be a member, shall be interpreted as satisfying the description ‘to hold license or ordination with’ in Article VII, Section 2, paragraph 6, even though those specific words may not be used by said organization or association.The Board finds that the WPF is such an organization for the purposes of Article VII Section 2 paragraph 6. It is the ruling of the Board that in the spirit and intent of that paragraph, it is therefore not proper for a minister to hold membership in both the UPCI and the WPF. The Board reiterates that the implementation of this ruling is, as always, in the hands of the District Boards to determine the timing and other aspects of that implementation.”
The General Board believes that holding such dual ministerial membership could lead to conflicts of interests, since ministers could vote on parallel offices in two different organizations, would be subject to two different Articles of Faith, and would be subject to two different procedures for ministerial discipline, and so on. The Board’s decision was said to be made after much prayer and discussion and with overwhelming consensus.
The Worldwide Pentecostal Fellowship is the newly formed Fellowship that was formed in January of this year. According to their website, the formation of WPF is due to
“an outgrowth of the changing times and directions within the North American apostolic movement and is the result of a constellation of events and decisions which have shaped apostolic direction for some time-some, we fear, for the worse, and ours hopefully for the better.”
Click here to see the report from their very first meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
