International Church of the Foursquare Gospel

• Formation: 1921
• Founder: Aimee Semple McPherson

Overview

The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, often known simply as the Foursquare Church, is an evangelical Pentecostal Christian denomination. The church’s name reflects its members’ belief in the four-part ministry of Jesus Christ to his followers. Foursquare Church members believe that when people have been baptized, accepted Jesus as their savior, and are actively pursuing a relationship with God, they will be given the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This includes the ability to speak in tongues. They also believe in healing through sincere efforts to overcome sin as well as anointing with oils and prayer.

The church is notable for being founded by a single mother in Los Angeles in the 1920s. Its popular and theatrical founder also utilized the then-new technology of radio to share her message. Her elaborate sermons, often accompanied by lavish sets and props, helped spread the church’s popularity. As a result, Foursquare Church overcame its founder’s multiple marriages and her possibly scandalous disappearance to grow to around 8.5 million members in 150 countries worldwide.

History

Foursquare Church was founded by Aimee Semple McPherson. The woman who became known as Sister Aimee to thousands was born Aimee Kennedy in Ontario, Canada, in 1890. Her father, James, was a Methodist, while her mother, Minnie, was a follower of the Salvation Army. Several significant adults in McPherson’s early adulthood reshaped her life and put her on an international stage.

First, she met a Pentecostal preacher named Robert Semple when she was about seventeen. Within a few years, she married Semple and accompanied him to Hong Kong on a missionary trip. While they were there, they both came down with malaria. The disease claimed Robert’s life. McPherson, who was pregnant with their daughter at the time, returned to America.

When she was twenty-three, McPherson fell gravely ill with appendicitis. The medical staff prepared for what they thought was her imminent death. McPherson later recalled hearing them say she was dying. She also said she heard another voice asking her if she was ready to go into ministry.

After she recovered, McPherson began preaching. She later married Harold McPherson and became pregnant with a son. Together, they drove to different towns, and McPherson delivered sermons that soon drew big crowds. As her popularity grew, it drove a wedge between the couple, and they divorced. She continued preaching, emphasizing the heavenly feast Jesus Christ was preparing for believers.

As increasingly larger crowds turned out to hear her message, McPherson founded a church she named the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in 1921. She then built the Angelus Temple in Los Angeles as a home base for the church. It opened in early 1923 and was the setting for Hollywood-like theatrical presentations that came complete with sets such as life-size ships with cannons that could be fired. McPherson also bought a radio station in 1924 and used the new technology to reach an even larger audience.

In May 1926, her followers were devastated when news outlets reported Sister Aimee was missing and presumed drowned. McPherson had gone for a walk along Ocean Park Beach in Los Angeles and disappeared. A search effort failed to locate any trace of the evangelist. After she had been missing for nearly a month, her followers held a memorial service. Just a few days later, McPherson walked up to a home in Arizona near the Mexican border. She said she had been kidnapped after being led to a car to pray for a sick child. However, some skeptics suspected she had an affair with a member of her staff who disappeared at the same time. No charges were filed, and the matter had little effect on her popularity.

In 1931, McPherson married a member of her choir, but this third marriage lasted just a few months. McPherson died of kidney disease in Oakland, California in 1944. McPherson is considered to be the pioneer of modern televangelists and mega-church preachers.

Beliefs & Practices

The Foursquare Church is a Christian church in the Pentecostal tradition. It holds most beliefs in common with other Christian denominations. However, it emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of Christians. The church takes its name from its founder’s belief that Jesus Christ fulfills four ministries to its followers. They see Jesus as a savior and healer who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and who will come in glory as a king sooner rather than later. These four facets of Christ are depicted on the Church’s logo of a shield divided into four with images of a cross, a dove, a chalice, and a crown.

A key premise of the Foursquare Church’s beliefs is the baptism of the Holy Spirit comes to the believer as a gift of grace, or unmerited favor from God, after they are fully converted. This is seen as separate from the grace that comes with the water baptism, which is the rite of initiation for all Christians. Through this baptism of the Spirit, the person is able to build a deeper relationship with God and become a more mature Christian walking in greater gifts of God’s grace.

Foursquare members also believe that when a person is walking in grace with God, they receive other gifts from God. This includes the gift of glossolalia, or the ability to speak in tongues. This practice, which is referenced in the Bible in the Acts of the Apostles, is when people speak a language that they normally do not know or speak in an unknown language. Those who have it consider it to be the “language of prayer” and believe it indicates a mature faith life.

Church beliefs also include a strong emphasis on healing through atonement, or sincere repentance and penance for sins, and anointing with oil and prayer. McPherson practiced healing and drew large crowds who came to “stretcher calls,” a ministry for people too sick to walk who were carried in on stretchers. The idea of healing as a spiritual gift continues in the modern church.

The original Foursquare Church in the Angelus Temple in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles held about 5,300 people at one time. It still serves as a house of worship and as a headquarters for the Foursquare Church. The Church is run by an international board of directors. This board selects the pastors who serve at the more than 2,020 Foursquare Churches in the United States and 67,500 other worship sites around the world.

Bibliography

“Aimee Semple McPherson.” Christianity Today, www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/denominationalfounders/aimee-semple-mcpherson.html. Accessed 9 Jan. 2025.

“Can You Tell Me About the Foursquare Gospel Church?” Catholic Answers, www.catholic.com/qa/can-you-tell-me-about-the-foursquare-gospel-church. Accessed 9 Jan. 2025.

“The Foursquare Church Celebrates 100 Years of Ministry.” RNS, 21 Dec. 2022, religionnews.com/2022/12/21/the-foursquare-church-celebrates-100-years-of-ministry. Accessed 9 Jan. 2025.

Grimley, Naomi. “The Mysterious Disappearance of a Celebrity Preacher.” BBC Magazine, 25 Nov. 2014, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30148022. Accessed 9 Jan. 2025.

“International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.” Bloomberg, www.bloomberg.com/profiles/companies/0218699D:US-international-church-of-the-foursquare-gospel. Accessed 9 Jan. 2025.

“International Church of the Foursquare Gospel (ICFG).” UIA Global Civil Society Database, uia.org/s/or/en/1100053646. Accessed 9 Jan. 2025.

“What We Believe.” Foursquare Church, www.foursquare.org/about/beliefs. Accessed 9 Jan. 2025.