The Vine and the Branches: Reading Foursquare's Own History

Every movement eventually writes down where it came from. For the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, the principal attempt is Nathaniel M. Van Cleave's The Vine and the Branches: A History of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, published in 1992.

It is one of the most important sources for understanding the denomination's first sixty-five years. Van Cleave was a longtime Foursquare leader, educator, and historian, and an associate of several generations of denominational leadership. He was not writing about strangers.

I offer this overview for the same reason I have written about early Friends. Knowing where a people came from helps you understand what they value, and it helps you read them charitably when they differ from you.

The controlling image

The whole history is organized around one sentence of Christ's.

"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15:5)

Van Cleave argues that Foursquare history is not fundamentally organizational history. It is the story of the life of Christ flowing through His church. The introduction sets out the purpose of the history, the biblical metaphor, why history matters, and the conviction that the church is a living organism rather than merely an institution.

That thesis governs everything that follows. He returns repeatedly to revival, evangelism, Holy Spirit empowerment, missions, and church planting, rather than to institutional success.

What the book covers

The first portion, roughly 1908 to 1957, traces roots in revival: Aimee Semple McPherson, early Pentecostal influences, Angelus Temple, the Fourfold Gospel, healing ministry, evangelism, publications, radio ministry, missions, and children's ministries. It then moves through the organization of the denomination, the first districts, early pastors, and women in ministry, and on through expansion across America, Bible schools, youth work, district development, the World War II era, administrative growth, cross-cultural ministry, and leadership development.

The second portion, roughly 1928 through the 1960s, is devoted primarily to world missions, and it is remarkably granular. It works country by country: China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Bolivia, Peru, Congo, South Africa, Nigeria, India, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica, Greece, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Honduras, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Chile, Ecuador, Argentina, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Japan, Korea, and Europe. For nearly every nation he discusses the missionary pioneers, the first converts, church planting, persecution, Bible institutes, national leadership, and the transition from missionaries to indigenous pastors.

The third portion, 1970 to 1990, covers renewal during the charismatic era: Jack Hayford and the Church on the Way, explosive church growth, revival in the Northwest, the Jesus Movement, Chuck Smith, Ralph Moore and Hope Chapel, international expansion, Global Leadership Conferences, academic accreditation, L.I.F.E. Bible College, Mount Vernon Bible College, church extension, Hispanic ministries, ecumenical relationships, the transition in leadership from Rolf McPherson to John Holland, and an evaluation of the movement as of 1990.

Four themes that run through it

Aimee Semple McPherson is the root. The first volume argues that virtually everything distinctive about Foursquare flows from her ministry. Van Cleave returns again and again to Holy Spirit baptism, divine healing, evangelism, urgency, missions, and prayer. Her ministry is presented as the foundation from which later generations grew.

Growth is measured by church planting. Unlike many denominational histories that revolve around conventions and theological debates, Van Cleave measures the movement primarily by churches planted, missionaries sent, converts, Bible schools, and districts organized. That says something true about Foursquare's practical missionary identity.

Indigenous leadership. One of the strongest themes in the missions material is the transition from missionary-led churches to national leadership. He repeatedly praises churches that become self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating, which is classic Protestant missionary strategy, and he treats reaching that point as the goal rather than as a loss.

The Holy Spirit. Perhaps more than any comparable historical work, this history interprets nearly every major advance through revival, prayer, Spirit baptism, divine guidance, miracles, and healing. Van Cleave consistently attributes expansion to God's activity rather than to organizational planning alone.

Its strengths

Eyewitness testimony. Van Cleave personally knew many of the founders. He worked alongside Aimee Semple McPherson, Rolf McPherson, Harold Jeffries, Jack Hayford, John Holland, and numerous missionaries. Much of the history therefore rests on firsthand knowledge and interviews rather than on secondary research.

Missionary documentation. Few Pentecostal histories contain this much detail on individual missionaries, dates, countries, church planting, Bible colleges, and national pastors. That alone makes the work valuable.

Preservation of memory. Many early workers whose names have all but disappeared from public memory receive substantial treatment here. Without this book a great deal of early Foursquare history would simply have been lost.

Confidence about its own convictions. Rather than apologizing for Pentecostalism, Van Cleave presents healing, prophecy, miracles, revival, and Spirit baptism as normal elements of Christian history.

Its limitations

Like every denominational history, this one reflects its author's vantage point, and I think a fair reader should say so plainly.

It is written from the perspective of denominational leadership. Consequently, controversies receive relatively brief treatment, conflicts are often softened, and internal disagreements receive less attention than successes.

There is limited critical interaction. The book rarely evaluates failed strategies, theological controversies, or leadership mistakes. Its emphasis falls on God's providence in the movement as a whole.

There is limited social history. Compared with modern academic histories, relatively little space goes to economics, race, gender analysis, or political influences. Revival and missions remain the emphasis throughout.

None of that is an indictment. It is what the book is. A reader who wants critical distance will need to bring other works alongside it, and a reader who wants firsthand testimony from a man who was there will not find a better source.

Where it sits

For anyone studying Foursquare history, this is arguably the closest equivalent to an official historical narrative. It occupies a place roughly analogous to what Rufus Jones has meant for many liberal Friends, or Thomas Hamm for American Quaker history, or Vinson Synan for Pentecostal history, or Kenneth Scott Latourette for the general history of missions.

Later scholarship has expanded and occasionally corrected parts of the narrative. The Vine and the Branches nevertheless remains indispensable, because of its firsthand documentation and its comprehensive coverage of the denomination's formative decades. It provides extensive background on the development of Foursquare theology, governance, missions, educational institutions, and leadership through the twentieth century.

For my part, I find the choice of title tells you most of what you need to know about the author's intent. He did not call it a history of an organization. He called it the vine and the branches, and then spent several hundred pages arguing that the life came from somewhere other than the branches.