On February 26 and 27 2008, the General Board of the United Pentecostal Church issued a ruling concerning the recently formed World Wide Pentecostal Fellowship. This ruling, which identified the WPF by name, declared that it would not be proper for a minister to hold credentials with the UPC and the WPF. This was interpreted to be in opposition to Article VII, Section 2, Paragraph 6 of the UPC manual that reads:
“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 WPF for all intents and purposes was determined by the General Board of the UPC to fall under that heading. With that said, many are speculating if the UPC will soon be implementing this same ruling which would affect other Apostolic organizations which are currently in place.
For instance, The International Apostolic Fellowship is an organized fellowship of Apostolic ministers which has within it’s membership and on it’s Executive Board ministers also holding credentials with the UPC.
The IAF possesses Articles of Faith, has an administrative board, and receives financial dues from its membership on an annual basis. Only time will tell if the UPC’s recent ruling will eventuate into including other Apostolic organizations.
