Customer Reviews (2)

History of an Important Foreign Missions Movement and a Confused Denomination
All for Jesus, is an important defining piece for a movement that stretches back to the late 19th century.

The Christian and Missionary Alliance was never intended to be a denomination.A.B. Simpson made it very clear that he believed that the Kingdom did not need another denomination, what was needed was a cross-denominational movement that focused on Foreign Missions cooperatively.Around this movement grew many independent Churches who wanted some form of central organization.

The Missions Movement was the Missionary Alliance.The organization of Independent Churches was the Christian Alliance.They were intended to be separate and maintain the cross-denominational, almost inter-denominational flavor of the foreign missions movement.

Over time the C&MA did indeed become more and more of a denomination tied to an emphasis on foreign missions.Despite the fact that it began more and more to walk like a duck, quack like a duck and go remarkably well with orange sauce, the views of the founder remained woven in the hierarchy and so the duck was kept in the closet .... but newspapers were spread and corn meal slipped under the door regularly to keep the duck healthy.

The duck came out of its closet in the 1970's.The C&MA was ready to admit what it was functioning as for years; namely a denomination.Any good denomination ought to have a history, and this book, All for Jesus was the result.

It is a good work with a very good narrative through the years of the wonderful accomplishments through the C&MA.Good pictures and illustrations will be found.

The C&MA often struggles compared to other denominations for a sense of identity.Typically that identity includes unique doctrinal emphasis or a specific focus or purpose organizationally.

Doctrinally, the distinctive of the C&MA is the four-fold Gospel or Christ as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer and Coming King.Unfortunately the emphasis of Christ as Healer and Sanctifier has diminished greatly over the years and the 4-Legged table upon which the C&MA once rested has 2 short legs and wobbles quite a bit.This has been true since the 1930's when a large exodus of C&MA people and Churches went over to the Assemblies of God.In recoil against that movement, the C&MA now claims to be neutral to that which smacks of the Charismatic.In practice, those elements of healing and sanctification that were part of the C&MA heritage are not really highly present anymore and to the extent that they are, they are a shadow of what they once were.

The C&MA has thrown in it's lot to a great extent with the Church Growth movement out of Fuller Seminary and sought for growth without always clearly defining what their distinctives are.

All For Jesus helps to fill this vacuum with a very well laid out history of Missionary work and the spread of the denomination oversees which has all but eclipsed the growth of the mother church back in North America.

If the C&MA has any one predominant identifying factor, it is the emphasis on Foreign Missions.

This is an excellent work and worth reading for anyone associated with the C&MA or indeed just in the general evangelical community who wants to see and understand the roots of foreign missions.

The C&MA still remains at a crossroads as it continues to figure out who they are and where they are going.Knowing where they've been is essential to this process.I wish them well and I recommend this book as an excellent resource for many.

A Readable Study of the Alliance's History
Niklaus and friends do a great job especially with the foundational period of the Alliance, probably because that was such a fascinating time.The Alliance started to "settle in" in the 1920s, and from then on,the tale can get dry with the exception (of course) of some of the greatmissionary stories, particularly those from the war years.Those who knowthe Alliance today and study this history may have some questions: whyaren't many (if not most) Alliance churches still emphasizing divinehealing like we used to?The Alliance used to have healing homes; Alliancefellowships used to hold healing services.By and large we don't do thesethings today -- but cannot God also miraculously heal today like he didthen?I am grateful that my church does anoint with oil and pray overmembers who seek God's miraculous touch after communion, but as adenomination we've lost the focus on this that we once had (actually thiswas addressed by a recent Alliance Life article).

Yet this is not evenreally a quibble with the book.What you will come away with when you readthis is this feeling:Praise God for the incredible work He has done andis doing. ... Read more

Product Description
Genuine Gold: The Cautiously Charismatic Story of the Early Christian and Missionary Alliance documents the supernatural heritage of the early Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA)-welcoming the supernatural with discernment-and calls the denomination to embrace again the charismatic dimensions of the Holy Spirit today and to return to its originally close relation to the Pentecostal-charismatic movement.Author Paul L. King, C&MA historian and theologian, shows how the early C&MA, a robustly evangelical movement, embraced many practices and doctrines of the new Pentecostal movement following the famous Azusa Street Revival of 1906. Yet in following decades, the C&MA distanced itself from the Pentecostal and later charismatic movements. The reasons? Partly because the C&MA insisted on a non-exclusive view of speaking in tongues and on discernment-distinguishing the gold of genuine manifestations of the Holy Spirit from the spurious. But also because the C&MA allied itself increasingly with non-Pentecostal evangelicalism. Genuine Gold urges the C&MA to rekindle the flame of spiritual renewal through its carefully documented history of the Alliance's early vibrancy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

factual
Genuine Gold: The Cautiously Charismatic Story of the Early Christian and Missionary Alliance
The title says it all!This book is packed with facts, dates, names and places.Anyone that is in the CMA or has been needs to read this book.You will see how far the CMA has moved from it's founding roots.Don't let the historical, factual details scare you aware.This is a must read for all Alliance people today.

Excellent book.
A great history of the Alliance and its connection with early Pentacostalism and eventual split with the Assemblies of God over evidential tongues and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Very thorough and well documented.

REQUIRED READING FOR ALLIANCE AND ASSEMBLIES OF GOD LEADERS
Being a former A/G minister now in the Alliance this book was wonderful.We are a pentecostal/charismatic Alliance church and Dr. Kings work has completely re-affirmed this direction.

The Alliance has affirmed the gifts and person of the Holy Spirit, without the "intial phsycial evidence" doctrine.Amen.

Read it if you are A/G read it if you're Alliance.

Also a great discussion of the people who left the Alliance for the A/G and people who later left the A/G to join or come back to the Alliance.

A GREAT corrective for Edith L. Blumhofer's history of the A/G as regards the Alliance.

An exciting book on the C&MA
I heard Paul King speak at a conference and I was impressed by what he said.I purchaced his book "Genunine Gold" and found it to be the most exciting book about the C&MA I have ever read.My admiration for Dr. A. B. Simpson, the founder of the C&MA, skyrocketed.I believe this book should be required reading for every minister and worker in the C&MA. It is well researched and documented.If you want to learn about the exciting Spirit-filled ministry of the early C&MA this is a must read book.

Discernment or Drift? The C&MA and the Holy Spirit
Genuine Gold: The Cautiously Charismatic Story of the Early Christian and Missionary Alliance documents the supernatural heritage of the early Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) -- welcoming the supernatural with discernment -- and calls the denomination to embrace again the charismatic dimensions of the Holy Spirit today and to return to its originally close relation to the Pentecostal-charismatic movement.

Author Paul L. King, C&MA historian and theologian, shows how the early C&MA, a robustly evangelical movement, embraced many practices and doctrines of the new Pentecostal movement following the famous Azusa Street Revival of 1906.

Yet in following decades, the C&MA distanced itself from the Pentecostal and later charismatic movements. The reasons? Partly because the C&MA insisted on a non-exclusive view of speaking in tongues and on discernment -- distinguishing the gold of genuine manifestations of the Holy Spirit from the spurious. But also because the C&MA allied itself increasingly with non-Pentecostal evangelicalism.

Genuine Gold urges the C&MA to reverse its drift and to rekindle the flame of spiritual renewal through its carefully documented history of the Alliance's early vibrancy.

It is meticulous (hundreds of end-notes and thoroughly indexed), meaty, and of high merit in historical reporting and theological analysis.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Beautifully Rendered History of C&MA Missions
Niklaus has with this work provided a sequel to his history of the C&MA, "All for Jesus."While the former work gave a good explanation for the history of the movement and why foreign missions were emphasized, this book gives the details overseas and chronicles the growth of the mission fields themselves.

Despite the C&MA being a North American based denomination, the vast majority of growth has taken place overseas,Several of these planted national Churches have exceeded the size of the US Church and are functioning as their own Church and missions sending organizations.This is an amazing legacy and a clear model upon which to base missions efforts.

A great deal of this occurred because since before WWII the C&MA took the strategy of rejecting colonial evangelism and sought instead for the missionary to plant the church and then rather than directing it indefinitely to raise up indigent leadership and then step aside and allow the Church to form.

The fruits of this approach has been many countries closed to other missions movements, open to the Alliance because they do not threaten their culture or sense of independence.When war, famine or political upheaval have thrown missionaries out of countries, where other Churches have foundered without missionary presence and leadership, Alliance works have thrived because the missionary was just an outside consultant, not the key to the movement.

This book is rife with wonderful stories of faith and martyrdom.It presents a legacy that is amazing.

This work, more than any other, makes me proud to have been a part of the C&MA.Whatever other flaws there are, and they are there, the bottom line is that God has used the C&MA to reach many areas of the world and ours is a model that many other look to in hopes for the same success.That is a legacy and and hope for the future.Whatever issues remain to work out, this type of impact is worth working to continue!

An important book for the C&MA but also one for evangelical Christendom to look to, to rejoice in and to emulate in outreach. ... Read more

Product Description
General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1914Original Publisher: Christian alliance publishing co.Subjects: Biography ... Read more

Product Description
Rediscover the powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit upon women in ministry in The Christian and Missionary Alliance! Anointed Women reveals the remarkable stories of women used by God in amazing ways and documents hundreds of women who served as Alliance pastors, evangelists, and teachers, planted hundreds of churches, and led thousands of people to salvation in Christ, healing, and a deeper Christian life. --"A deeply researched history and carefully nuanced analysis. . . . Such a moderate voice should be given careful attention by every reader."-Dr. Franklin Pyles, President, The Christian and Missionary Alliance, Canada / / "An invaluable record of rich treasures. . . . a call to the C&MA to reclaim its heritage of 'unity in essentials, freedom in non-essentials, and charity in all things.'" -Leslie Andrews, Ph.D., VP of Academic Affairs/Provost, Asbury Theological Seminary ... Read more

Product Description
The Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), which officially became a denomination in 1974, evolved from a mission society and a "deeper life" association founded in 1887 by A.B. Simpson, a Canadian ex-Presbyterian pastor based in New York City. Simpson and his followers have played a leading role in theological education, the propagation of premillennialist doctrine, the Protestant missionary movement, the divine healing and deeper life movements, the development of Pentecostalism, and evangelicalism in general. This bibliography provides guided access to more than 2,300 books, articles, essays, pamphlets, theses, dissertations, and tracts that document the history and thought of the Alliance, a group with more than 2.4 million followers worldwide. Many of these citations direct the researcher to relatively obscure works that have heretofore been all but inaccessible to the academic community. Especially thorough coverage is granted to the works of A.B. Simpson and A.W. Tozer, two of the most influential leaders of the C&MA. A list of the more than 170 periodicals that have been issued by the Alliance is included, as are personal name and subject indexes. Little has been published on the Alliance to date, despite the recent surge in scholarly interest in evangelicalism and Pentecostalism. This work redresses that imbalance by opening to church historians, missiologists, sociologists of religion, and other scholars the riches of the Alliance oeuvre. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A passion to help the suffering
Realizing the power and love of God at a young age I soon took painful account of the amount of human suffering everywhere. The dissonance was frustrating. It seemed that humanity was (and is) thirsting to death while sitting next to an artesian well; dying of hunger and begging, cup in hand, while squatting at the entrance of a modern-day supermarket. By the way, (and to comlete the symbolism) our father owns the supermarket!

In the first three chapters I spell out the myriad of ways in which God has exercised his healing heart upon his children in the time of Abraham all through the scriptures up through the era of Jesus and the Apostles. The awakening of the healing movement in the late 1800's is retraced in chapter four. Incidentally most all of the participants in the modern day healing movement can be traced to God working in the hearts of those who laid groundwork between the latter 1800's and early/mid 1900's.

The final chapter is dedicated to a couple dozen testimonials; stories of those who have been miraculously healed and are alive today to tell the tale.

The book includes a chart of healings found in the 'old' testament plus a comprehensive chart of the healings Jesus performed. There is also an original chart of the 11 Hebrew words for "healing"; they are listed and illustrated to enhance understanding of the Judeo-Christian roots of the concept of healing.

The objective of this book is to help people become fully aware of the power of God to heal them in body, soul and spirit.It is ultimately to assist people in the life and death struggle to realize that God is very real, very near, altogether compassionate and ready to touch them.They need only to respond to His beckoning of them.

Incidentally God's beckoning includes pain. Our problem is that nothing is so effective to get our attention.

My hope is that in reading this book you will be aware (perhaps for the first time) of the power of God AND the access that you have to His power through His Son Christ Jesus.His Son Jesus is to be enjoyed and shared.

D.W.T. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Boring
This is a very boring book. I guess I am somewhat surprised because it was written by A.W. Tozer. I do not recommend this book. Save your money and read about Robert Jaffray somewhere else.

Great Bio
A great spiritual biography.Quick reading, and will introduce you to another in the long line of courageous and pioneering missionaries.Jaffray's site of mission was China.Tozer's depiction is candid, and even includes at least one intriguing description of an actual physical encounter with "demons" in the interior (if I am interpreting this scene, which is not presented with particular fanfare, correctly).Astounding.It's worth getting to know Jaffray (who died in a Japanese prision camp, by the way).Well done. ... Read more

Product Description
This book documents the scriptural understanding of the experience of sanctification and the historical antecedents of the teaching as it concerns The Christian and Missionary Alliance. ... Read more

Product Description
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Currently, more than half of the Protestants are part of evangelical house churches.Growth of the faith has been most dramatic among ethnic minority peoples (Montagnards) such as the Mnong, Ede, Jarai, and Bahnar. Pressure has reportedly put on Protestants in several northwestern villages to recant their faith in 2005, though there are fewer reports than in years past. Unsanctioned church meetings are routinely broken up and its members detained and harassed. In April 2001, the government gave official recognition to the Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam.In 2005, hundreds of house churches that had been ordered to shut down in 2001, were quietly allowed to reopen.Over 100 refugees fled to Cambodia in the wake of a crackdown over large protests against land confiscation and a lack of religious freedom. In 2001, a historic Protestant church built in 1936 which was being petitioned for return to the local Christian community, was demolished. At least 54 people remain imprisoned due to their faith, including some Protestants. ... Read more

Product Description
Undated, 128 pages. Dr. Simpson's Conception of the complete provision in Christ for every need of the believer . . . spirit, soul, and body. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Founding the Four-Fold Gospel
I bought this book in a Christian book warehouse store in Kempton Park, South Africa, one Saturday in October 2008.I did not know A B Simpson's name, but as I read the liner notes I became more interested.

C&MA
I recognized the reference to the Christian and Missionary Alliance, which the liner notes informed that Simpson founded.C&MA is an association of churches that cooperate for worldwide Christian mission. C&MA is now considered a Christian denomination.

I have known various personnel of the CM&A (or CMA) over the years since the 1980s.I had contact with many of them who came to courses I taught in language self-directed language learning techniques at the Toronto Institute of Linguistics.On several occasions in the 1980s-90s I was an instructor of cross-cultural communication techniques in various summer sessions of TIL (held at Victoria University of the University of Toronto).Some of our students came from the CM&A, and some of our TIL personnel were staff members at the C&MA college, at Nyack.

Founder
A B Simpson was the founder of what became the Christian and Missionary Alliance.He originally had no intention to found a denomination, but was intent on organizing an mission support system, founded out of the mission focus of his church, the New York Gospel Tabernacle.

This book is a compilation of various of Simpson's notes and writings, prepared by a compiler and an editor.The text is often unclear exactly what was written by the compiler or editor as an introduction or explanation, and what text is actually from Simpson's hand.The style overall is Simpson's, as indicated by the old language (written in the 1800s or early 1900s) and the focuses and concerns reflecting that era.

Old Style
I found it repetitive or redundant in places.This is probably due to the collection being compiled from disparate sermons, lectures or notes from Simpson on similar topics.The organizing principle of the texts is the set of four focuses Simpson developed as the four pillars of the Gospel.He develops these in the four sections of the book:Jesus as Saviour, Sanctifier, Healer and Returning Lord.

The whole last section is a statement of the premillennial view of the second coming, and at this point in history reads like a pedantic rehash of the same stuff we have been seeing for decades.One thing, however, the sensitive reader will perceive is the high note of victory and freedom that sings through Simpson's words.He is a fluent writer, though the older more academic and pedantic style will put some off.

The more formal and stock vocabulary will also make for tedious reading if you try to read only word by word and line by line.But if you let yourself coast lightly through the pages, you find there is a multi-layered sophistication here that celebrates the personal sense of deliverance that Simpson felt epitomized the Good News of Jesus.

CD Summary
The compilers have also provided a CD of recorded summaries that present the key features of the "four-fold" gospel the long texts lay out in Simpson's wording.Some history of the life, calling and ministry of Simpson and of the Christian and Missionary Alliance are bonuses in the price of this book.

Practical
The text is replete with practical examples from various lives that Simpson knew and interacted with, which illustrate the practical results of following this Four-Fold Gospel.Variations of this four-fold analysis are found in several current Christian denominations, notably the Church of the Foursquare Gospel.

The editors have provided one section in each topic on Practical Approaches to implement the discipline of each of these four focuses.But since these are also still from Simpson's older more "stodgy" style, I found these -- in 21st century terms -- also more abstract and formal.

Sanctification
There are practical aspects that can be garnered from Simpson's writings by those hungry for a deeper spiritual life.This will appeal especially to those younger, less experienced Christians who have not yet experienced what Simpson (and older generations) referred to as Sanctification.For Simpson, in his explanation of the first "fold" of the four-fold gospel, Sanctification is a sense of holiness that derives from the internal deep presence of the Holy Spirit.

Simpson gives some practical helps on how to focus, study, wait and meditate, readying the mind for the filling of the Spirit.Simpson differs from classical Pentecostals on some aspects of sanctification and healing.His views on divine healing are balanced.His early context in the Scottish Reformed movement shows through in his rational consideration of implications and even in the same attention to detail that might seem tedious to some.

Balance
He has a good rational balance that most readers will appreciate, avoiding radical extremes with some warnings on what he had observed in his lifetime as misunderstandings or out-of-balance emphasis on only on aspect of a matter.

Personal
The editor provides a good introduction that helps put into historical and social context this collection of works from this influential Christian leader of a century ago.The missionary organization resulting from Simpson's initial efforts, first out of his Kentucky congregation then the New York Tabernacle, is testimony to the intensity of Simpson's fervour and energy.

From his own hand, now collected for us in this volume, Simpson strengthens the historical facts by his own personal testimony of physical healing and spiritual liberation, as expressed in these textual testimonies. ... Read more