In recent years a wide divide has opened up within Anglicanism. The Episcopal Church USA is still affiliated with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the nominal leader of Anglicanism worldwide, while the Anglican Church of North America is affiliated with the Global Anglican Church (GAFCON). Late last year the bishops of GAFCON officially announced that it is the world Anglican Church, not the one affiliated with the Archbishop of Canterbury. It all began with the Church of England’s and the Episcopal Church’s leaning into gay marriage and ordination of gay priests. However, the divide goes back further into the rise of liberal theology within those two churches affiliated with the Archbishop of Canterbury. GAFCON. (GAFCON stands for Global Anglican Future Conference, but lately GAFCON people have been referring to it as the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans.)
The main difference between the two groups is liberal theology versus conservative or traditional theology, but since most people don’t understand theology, most people think the difference is about LGBTQ inclusion and it is. But the deeper difference is about accommodation of theology and practice to culture, especially Western, progressive culture.
Since at least 1947 Pentecostalism in America has been divided over a set of issues stemming from what came to be called The Latter Rain Movement. The movement began in 1947-1948 in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada, at a place called Sharon Orphanage. It spread from there worldwide but had its greatest impact in the US. All of the Latter Rain Movement leaders were Pentecostal. Some today refer to themselves as “charismatic.” They are not charismatic as in the 1960s movement of speaking in tongues in the Catholic Church and among mainline Protestants.
The Latter Rain Movement spun out numerous evangelists and preachers and many Pentecostal churches adopted it in some form or other. It existed within Canadian and American Pentecostalism but was eventually rejected by the leaders of American and Canadian Pentecostal denominational leaders (e.g., The Assemblies of God). Perhaps the two most notable doctrines of the Latter Rain Movement that caused its rejection by denominational leaders were 1) emphasis on the “five fold ministry” (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers) (often excluding denominational leaders), and 2) doctrine of “the manifest sons of God”—men (possibly some women) who would become so filled with the Holy Spirit that they become more than mere or ordinary human beings.
Out of the Latter Rain Movement (which no longer exists as any kind of unified movement) came several Pentecostal theologies and types of ministry including Word-Faith/Prosperity Gospel, Shepherding-Discipleship Teaching, and the New Apostolic Reformation. Not all of those who follow those movements and ideas know the roots are in the Latter Rain Movement.
Today, “Latter Rain” is simply used among Pentecostals to designate extreme, radical Pentecostalism that is rejected by the leaders of Pentecostal denominations. Chances are that Latter Rain churches, those Pentecostal churches “touched” by the Latter Rain and its legacies, are everywhere and largely unrecognized as such. However, most are independent or affiliated with some Pentecostal mega-church or ministry.
Years ago I visited an openly Latter Rain Pentecostal church. It was entirely independent, founded by a former Assembly of God minister. The church met several times weekly in a large church building that was once the main church of the denomination in which I grew up. It was a Sunday evening. The worship service (if you can call it that) began in a somewhat ordinary way but quickly devolved into chaos. What we Pentecostals called “wildfire.” A young man was leading the meeting on the platform with a microphone in hand, dancing and singing wildly and extremely loudly. The organ was trying to keep up with him. (Don’t think pipe organ; it was a B3 Hammond “circus organ.”) The majority of people danced, twirled, shouted, raised their arms up, and just went wild. I didn’t. Several people surrounded me and tried to lay hands on me to pray for me to receive the Holy Ghost. I knew the church was also into personal prophecy, “manifest sons of God” theology, and healing and prosperity (“manifestation”) through prayer and verbal affirmations.
That was then. I don’t know how many such churches still exist. The Latter Rain Movement now (2026) seems to have focused on Bethel Church in Redding, California which does not officially identify as Latter Rain. The NAR movement has taken on some aspects of the Latter Rain theology.
As with Anglicanism, you cannot assume all are the same. Pentecostalism is deeply divided.
Now, to the book That We May Be One. We are discussing it here about once weekly (chapter-by-chapter). What realistic hope is there for these two sets of Christian churches to re-unify? None. Should they? That’s doubtful. The World Anglican Communion affiliated with the Archbishop of Canterbury (now a woman, a gender feminist) and the GAFCON are polarized apart. The only thing they have in common is the Book of Common Prayer. If that. Pentecostalism is hopelessly divided by the doctrines of the Latter Rain Movement (and its offshoots).
However, I still hope and pray that non-Latter Rain Pentecostals can unite. Many attempts have been made in that direction, with little success. More about that (“The Memphis Miracle”) later here. Stay tuned.
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