ABSTRACT
The Assemblies of God was established in 1914 as an umbrella organization for a variety of Pentecostal congregations. They emerged from the Holiness revival movement, with its striving for perfection, largely within late nineteenth-century Methodism. The Pentecostals, however, were especially distinguished by the baptism of the Holy Spirit expressed in speaking in tongues. They have a strong belief in divine healing, a rigorously austere personal morality, and a conviction that believers are living in 'end times': that the Second Coming is near. This premillennialism means that saving those who can be saved is the highest priority for the Assemblies of God and social responsibilities, though recognized, are of secondary importance.
