Church of God vs Assembly of God

[North By Northwest]

Hi everyone. Im new at this forum but I have a question that maybe someone can give me a little insight on. First off I was not raised in a Christian home but the Lord used a friend when I was a teenager to invite me to church. After a while I accepted Jesus as my Savior.

Anyway the church I went to was a Church of God (cleveland tn) and this was in New York State where I grew up. (It was about 15 years ago and that church has since grown alot) Anyway I immediately felt welcome in this church and the people were wonderful as was the pastor. Unfortunately I had to move out of state a few years ago to Pennsylvania. As soon as I moved I looked to find the closest Church of God and there aren't any. But there were lots of Assemblies of God churches, so after attending 3 or 4 different ones we found one that we are still attending.

Now, the church we go to is great, and the people are great and there is no doubt in my mind that they are true Christians, but I always find myself comparing the AOG to my old church and I wish the AOG was more like the Church of God. For instance, It seems that in the AOG churches I went to and the one I now attend the music is very contemporary and hard to sing. In fact I dont think most people sing along at all. In my old church they sing more traditional hymns and chorsus that had a gospel music feel to it and it was so loud because everyone sang and clapped, you could probably hear them from down the road. In the AOG it also seems like the people are very reserved whereas in the COG it seemed like in every service people were on fire for God. There was no doubt that the Holy Spirit was among the people in that church. Even the sermons are a little different. The COG pastor always preaches about salvation, bearing your cross and following Jesus, living a holy life, reaching the lost for Christ etc... and the AOG pastor, although he will touch upon those subjects a little, mostly preaches about lighter issues.

My question is, are all Assemblies of God this way and all Church of God this way? Or is it a geographical thing? Or is it the pastors style? Its funny because if you read the beliefs between the 2 churches they are almost identical. And they are both Pentecostal. But spending the past few years in both of these churches I can see a difference.

Thank you and God Bless

 

[FuegoPentecostes]

God Bless you ^.^
First of all, you should always know every church is different. The people alone can greatly impact the environment of the church as a whole.

I do not know too much about the AoG doctrine, as I've spent most of my time in church in the Church of God and other Pentecostal denominations similar to it. One thing I can tell you that I always have heard (and you seem to have just confirmed) is that Assembly of God churches in general are, as you said, much more reserved and orderly. Again, just from what I hear, they tend not to get as "crazy" (for lack of a better term lol) and "on fire" as they do in the Church of God. I'd say that has NOTHING to do with any lacking of the Holy Spirit or anything, just the way they roll.

But overall, yeah, service-wise a major difference between AoG and CoG is that AoG is much more organized and CoG is much more run around the church worship.

But wherever two or three are met in His name, He is in the midst of them, so just try to make the best of it ^.^ One thing we talk about in my church are "provokers". You need to pray for the Holy Spirit to fall, you need to provoke it! If you notice people aren't singing, sing loud as you can! If people aren't praising, praise for yourself! Add fuel to the fire!

 

[Yitzchak]

Saying that every church is different does not tell the entire story. I was in the Assembly Of God church for twelve years and there are definite camps. There is the revival camp which believes in the old fashioned way of getting revival through prayer , fasting , living holy , repentance , etc...There is the programs oriented approach to building a church and other camps , as well. There are also conservative , moderate and more liberal camps....

My favorite is the revival type Assembly of God churches. I think they are the most tied in with the roots of the church , meaning asuza street.... One such church is Rochester Assembly Of God.

Rochester First Assembly - Rochester Michigan - Pastor Richard Crisco

My favorite is church of his presence....

Media | Church of His Presence

 

[Jethro99]

Hi everyone. Im new at this forum but I have a question that maybe someone can give me a little insight on. First off I was not raised in a Christian home but the Lord used a friend when I was a teenager to invite me to church. After a while I accepted Jesus as my Savior.

Anyway the church I went to was a Church of God (cleveland tn) and this was in New York State where I grew up. (It was about 15 years ago and that church has since grown alot) Anyway I immediately felt welcome in this church and the people were wonderful as was the pastor. Unfortunately I had to move out of state a few years ago to Pennsylvania. As soon as I moved I looked to find the closest Church of God and there aren't any. But there were lots of Assemblies of God churches, so after attending 3 or 4 different ones we found one that we are still attending.

Now, the church we go to is great, and the people are great and there is no doubt in my mind that they are true Christians, but I always find myself comparing the AOG to my old church and I wish the AOG was more like the Church of God. For instance, It seems that in the AOG churches I went to and the one I now attend the music is very contemporary and hard to sing. In fact I dont think most people sing along at all. In my old church they sing more traditional hymns and chorsus that had a gospel music feel to it and it was so loud because everyone sang and clapped, you could probably hear them from down the road. In the AOG it also seems like the people are very reserved whereas in the COG it seemed like in every service people were on fire for God. There was no doubt that the Holy Spirit was among the people in that church. Even the sermons are a little different. The COG pastor always preaches about salvation, bearing your cross and following Jesus, living a holy life, reaching the lost for Christ etc... and the AOG pastor, although he will touch upon those subjects a little, mostly preaches about lighter issues.

My question is, are all Assemblies of God this way and all Church of God this way? Or is it a geographical thing? Or is it the pastors style? Its funny because if you read the beliefs between the 2 churches they are almost identical. And they are both Pentecostal. But spending the past few years in both of these churches I can see a difference.

Thank you and God Bless

In my opinion, its mostly a pastor / individual church thing. You could go to two different CoG churches (or two different AoG) churches and find the same things you found.

My old CoG church played the old hymns for many years before switching to a mix of older style hymns and praise and worship music. To be honest, at first there was resistance to the newer songs. But, after about 6months or so the congregation was singing and clapping along to the new songs just as much as they ever did to the old ones.

Honestly, the biggest difference I found between CoG and AoG was in the church governance. CoG seemed to have a more centralized form of church governance, but that never really impacted most people.

 

[North By Northwest]

Thank you everyone for the replies. I guess I prefer traditional Pentecostal style worship because that is the way my first church did it. We had hymnals that we used, and there were worship choruses mixed in. Songs like "How Great Thou Art, When we all get to Heaven, Great is Thy Faithfulness, Onward Christian Soldiers, I will enter His Gates, Shine Jesus Shine, Blessed Be the Name of the Lord" etc.....I could go on forever.Oh well it doesnt matter, God is still God and all I want to do is serve Him, love Him and Worship Him. It really doesnt matter what style music we're singing, as long as we are doing it from the heart. Thank you again.

 

[Bob Carabbio]

Back some years ago, Thomas Trask, who was the SUper of the AOG in Springfield made the statement that: "If the present trend continues, in a decade that Assemblies of God will be Pentecostal in name only".

The trend continued, and if you visited our place in South Dallas, you might think you were in a Baptist church that forgot to change their sign. It's all contemporary noise, and there hasn't been a message in a tongue in well over a year.

George Woods is the New Guy in the "Super" chair, and the slide away from the "Warmer days" continues.

 

[Alithis]

you raise an interesting point in music and singing ..perhaps another thread would be better to discuss it .
but i have noticed over the years that the "front" has taken over .. the instruments no longer accompany melody and enhance it - they dominate over it.
if you were to cut the power you would probably only hear a murmur of voices
its an interesting phenomena - and i find it a troubling one

 

[Tigger45]

I had been attending an AoG church for the last six months but it wasn't any differant than any charismatic non-denom church that I have visited. One night at bible study the pastor and a few of the older members were longing for the good ol' days.

Back some years ago, Thomas Trask, who was the SUper of the AOG in Springfield made the statement that: "If the present trend continues, in a decade that Assemblies of God will be Pentecostal in name only".

The trend continued, and if you visited our place in South Dallas, you might think you were in a Baptist church that forgot to change their sign. It's all contemporary noise, and there hasn't been a message in a tongue in well over a year.

George Woods is the New Guy in the "Super" chair, and the slide away from the "Warmer days" continues.

 

[Spirit of Pentecost]

Hello everyone, I'm glad to be a part of these Christian Forums. As a child, my family and I regularly rotated between the Nazerene and Baptist denominations, primarily Baptist. When I was maybe seven or eight, we began attending what was called a "Full Gospel Baptist" church, and it was there I heard someone speak in tongues for the first time. After that, following my parents' unfortunate divorce, I sadly drifted out of church. Last January, however, my father started seeing this woman his sister had introduced him to. We were not regularly attending church at the time, but she was going to our local Church of God. I recall going there once (maybe twice) and not particularly liking it... however, this was when I had little interest in having a Godly life. Anyways, shortly thereafter, we started attending a Pentecostal church were my father's fiancee's cousin's husband is the pastor. At first, I had misgivings about it in all honesty. They are very free will and their love and devotion to Christ is undeniable. Since last January, I have repented, been baptized in Jesus Name, and have been searching for the infilling of the Holy Ghost.

With that being said, I have often wondered about the differences between the Church of God and Assembly of God churches. I've been told all my life that they're similar, but I've never actually done any studying myself.

 

[Albion]

FWIW, I'm not Pentecostal, but I have had some contact with both AOG and COG and, after allowing for variances in both bodies from congregation to congregation, I think that the Original Post (from 2013!) described the two pretty well.

 

[rocknanchor]

Hello everyone, I'm glad to be a part of these Christian Forums. As a child, my family and I regularly rotated between the Nazerene and Baptist denominations, primarily Baptist. When I was maybe seven or eight, we began attending what was called a "Full Gospel Baptist" church, and it was there I heard someone speak in tongues for the first time. After that, following my parents' unfortunate divorce, I sadly drifted out of church. Last January, however, my father started seeing this woman his sister had introduced him to. We were not regularly attending church at the time, but she was going to our local Church of God. I recall going there once (maybe twice) and not particularly liking it... however, this was when I had little interest in having a Godly life. Anyways, shortly thereafter, we started attending a Pentecostal church were my father's fiancee's cousin's husband is the pastor. At first, I had misgivings about it in all honesty. They are very free will and their love and devotion to Christ is undeniable. Since last January, I have repented, been baptized in Jesus Name, and have been searching for the infilling of the Holy Ghost.

With that being said, I have often wondered about the differences between the Church of God and Assembly of God churches. I've been told all my life that they're similar, but I've never actually done any studying myself.

You resemble the original poster somewhat. Sometimes, I wonder if we create our own limitations. We weigh and compare when the Apostle takes us to task to correct what Bob has said:

"And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Heb 6:11,12)​

And among those promises is found that blessed gift to man, the Holy Spirit. What Bob speak is true, by what I can tell, the AOG has abandoned it seems the old standard of the Spirit’s instruction and traded them in for “hermeneutic” interpretation. Which if not used with restraint would spoil our reception.

 

[aog17]

Sorry if Im late to this thread. I have attended both denominations. The Church of God is your prototypical Pentecostal church. The Pastors there tend to be loud and fiery, their contemporary worship music selection is a bit dated and their worship leaders tend to be older. The attire is business casual to suits depending on the venue. They haven’t got around the trendy church movement yet.

The Aog has modernized like Hillsong. Their music is newer and their service/churches are high production. The attire is very casual as well.

 

[rocknanchor]

Sorry if Im late to this thread. I have attended both denominations. The Church of God is your prototypical Pentecostal church. The Pastors there tend to be loud and fiery, their contemporary worship music selection is a bit dated and their worship leaders tend to be older. The attire is business casual to suits depending on the venue. They haven’t got around the trendy church movement yet.

The Aog has modernized like Hillsong. Their music is newer and their service/churches are high production. The attire is very casual as well.

If this is then some undeniable indicator for what may become the new norm, , at what point will it end, and where does that leave the patience of the tradition? There are points upon communication that people become accustom to, thereby relate to. But what if the dwindling of decency from the world's culture begins to cloud the otherwise accommodating Church till little confines exist at all?

The issue itself has become a tradition. Instead of embarking on a 'new norm', maybe we should recognize a widening aspect of the Church for stability's sake.

 

[1stcenturylady]

Back some years ago, Thomas Trask, who was the SUper of the AOG in Springfield made the statement that: "If the present trend continues, in a decade that Assemblies of God will be Pentecostal in name only".

The trend continued, and if you visited our place in South Dallas, you might think you were in a Baptist church that forgot to change their sign. It's all contemporary noise, and there hasn't been a message in a tongue in well over a year.

George Woods is the New Guy in the "Super" chair, and the slide away from the "Warmer days" continues.

Same here. Even though the AOG preacher was a good teacher and funny, I did notice the zeal for the Spirit was lacking. Finally, I had a dream about that church that showed it was a social gathering and they were literally blind to the physical needs of the people. Even the billboard out front was social, like "Go Titans," or "welcome back MTSU students." Never a word about Jesus. So I left, and found a tiny church that was full of the Spirit, and more like a 1st century church. They care about each other. Every week people brought food - bread, cakes, etc. that people could take home. And once a month they had a free clothing and food bank. When I left the other church I had been to for about 3 years, not one person called me to see if I was even living still. In my new church, if I can't make it to church one Sunday, I get a call the next day!

 

[quietbloke]

It is not Church of God v Assemblies of God. It should be Churches working together. No two congregations are the same,but we are expressions of the same One Body and that is challenging but exciting!

 

[1stcenturylady]

Unfortunately, not all congregations are alive with the Holy Spirit. I want to be where He is.

 

[quietbloke]

I have fellowshipped in both churches mentioned here and thank God for the fellowship I have enjoyed

 

[RBCola]

Hi everyone. Im new at this forum but I have a question that maybe someone can give me a little insight on. First off I was not raised in a Christian home but the Lord used a friend when I was a teenager to invite me to church. After a while I accepted Jesus as my Savior.

Anyway the church I went to was a Church of God (cleveland tn) and this was in New York State where I grew up. (It was about 15 years ago and that church has since grown alot) Anyway I immediately felt welcome in this church and the people were wonderful as was the pastor. Unfortunately I had to move out of state a few years ago to Pennsylvania. As soon as I moved I looked to find the closest Church of God and there aren't any. But there were lots of Assemblies of God churches, so after attending 3 or 4 different ones we found one that we are still attending.

Now, the church we go to is great, and the people are great and there is no doubt in my mind that they are true Christians, but I always find myself comparing the AOG to my old church and I wish the AOG was more like the Church of God. For instance, It seems that in the AOG churches I went to and the one I now attend the music is very contemporary and hard to sing. In fact I dont think most people sing along at all. In my old church they sing more traditional hymns and chorsus that had a gospel music feel to it and it was so loud because everyone sang and clapped, you could probably hear them from down the road. In the AOG it also seems like the people are very reserved whereas in the COG it seemed like in every service people were on fire for God. There was no doubt that the Holy Spirit was among the people in that church. Even the sermons are a little different. The COG pastor always preaches about salvation, bearing your cross and following Jesus, living a holy life, reaching the lost for Christ etc... and the AOG pastor, although he will touch upon those subjects a little, mostly preaches about lighter issues.

My question is, are all Assemblies of God this way and all Church of God this way? Or is it a geographical thing? Or is it the pastors style? Its funny because if you read the beliefs between the 2 churches they are almost identical. And they are both Pentecostal. But spending the past few years in both of these churches I can see a difference.

Thank you and God Bless

 

[RBCola]

I have recently been receiving Bible verses from "The Berean". I was brought up Pentecostal/Assembly of God. I had never heard of Great Church of God and researching doctrine I wasn't sure about what was parallel and what wasn't. After reading through many of your comments I was encouraged by what I read. Example: I think most of us have a special place in our "faith foundation" for our "first relationship" with Christianity/Jesus Christ. My 1st husband was raised Presbyterian but attended church with me/our family. We had 4 children. He unfortunately passed away at 40. Years later I married my 2nd husband. He is Catholic. I go to church with him. He doesn't attend any other church and "old school" even about not studying the Bible because the Church has done that for them. I have a recent dear friend who is Jehovah Witness who came to my door. We study the Bible weekly over the phone and sometimes meet over lunch. My beliefs have never changed but my faith has been enriched by Bible study. My Jehovah Witness friend & I look for what we have in common and I enjoy the ability to have a civil conversation about our differences. Due to my life as it is now - I have learned to recognize that studying the Bible and practicing my faith & what God teaches us is through pursuing Him is what He wants. I think it is important to belong to a group that strengthens your pursuit of our Creator and the study of His teachings and promises. I appreciate coming together in our faith instead of dividing by differences. I ask the Lord to lead me. I believe He does. And, when I don't have clarity - I believe if I need to know - He will show me, in His time.

 

[Solum Aeternum]

Sorry for resurrecting this old thread but here are my experiences. I'm 29 and been in an AOG (we just call it AG) all my life however I'm part of the Hispanic Eastern District. So when OP says that the AOG are more reserved, in my experience, that is far from the truth. It's the most charismatic church services you'll find. They'll be a lot of people speaking in tongues, jumping up and down. Songs are current I agree but most modern songs they sing are slowish songs. The faster songs is what gets people dancing in the spirit. I'm used to it by now, I been to other services in other denominations where people sit there, clap, praise but don't go over the top and it's always a surreal experience for me.