| Open Bible Churches | |
|---|---|
 OBC Pacific Office inEugene, Oregon | |
| Orientation | Pentecostal |
| Theology | Finished Work Pentecostalism |
| Associations | National Association of Evangelicals,Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America andPentecostal World Conference |
| Origin | 1935 Des Moines, Iowa, United States |
| Separated from | Apostolic Faith Church,International Church of the Foursquare Gospel |
| Congregations | 261 in US (2010) |
| Members | 22,659 in US (2010) 150,000 (worldwide) |
| Official website | www |
Open Bible Churches (OBC), formerly known asOpen Bible Standard Churches (OBSC), is an association ofFinished Work Pentecostal churches with headquarters inDes Moines, Iowa, United States. Open Bible is similar in doctrine and practice to theAssemblies of God in that the adherents believe in the modern-daygifts of the Holy Spirit, withspeaking in tongues as one of the evidences of the gifts being manifested in the believer. Generally, each congregation owns its own property and calls its ownpastor. The organization is affiliated with theNational Association of Evangelicals and thePentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America. Open Bible Churches is affiliated with New Hope Christian College,[1] an accredited Bible college inEugene, Oregon, INSTE Bible College[2] in Ankeny, Iowa, Harvest Bible College, located at First Church of the Open Bible in Des Moines, Iowa, and Toledo School of Ministry in Toledo, Ohio. Open Bible publishes theMessage of the Open Bible. There are more than 150,000 Open Bible members worldwide. In 2006, U.S. membership was 40,000 in 330 churches.[3] In 2010, US membership had dropped to 22,659 members in 261 churches.[4]
The OBSC's origins are found in two smaller Pentecostal groups which can be traced to theAzusa Street Revival: the Bible Standard Conference founded inEugene, Oregon in 1919 and the Open Bible Evangelistic Association founded inDes Moines, Iowa, in 1932; as both were similar in doctrine and structure, the two groups amalgamated in 1935.[5] The Bible Standard Conference was formed in 1919 after Fred Hornshuh and several other ministers withdrew from theApostolic Faith Mission (AFM) led byFlorence L. Crawford. Hornshuh disagreed with the AFM's isolationist stance from otherfull gospel groups, centralized and authoritarian leadership style, and its strict position on divorce and remarriage. The Open Bible Evangelistic Association began in 1932 when thirty-two ministers led by John R. and Louise H. Richey left theInternational Church of the Foursquare Gospel. The separation grew out of the reluctance of these ministers to give ownership of local church property to the Foursquare Church denominational leadership. They were also concerned over the church's divorced leaderAimee Semple McPherson's remarriage.[6] The two Pentecostal groups were similar in their resistance to authoritarian leadership and denominational ownership of church property, and they also thought that local churches should maintain some autonomy.[6]: 158 Since 1996, the organization's public name has been simply Open Bible Churches.
