HISTORICAL PRECEDENTS AND INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT
Our Church was founded in Bogota, Colombia, in 1972. However, the doctrinal background within which the CGMJCI might be situated can be traced to a movement that began over a century ago in the United States.
How did this development take place?
One of the foundations of our Church is the baptism with the Holy Spirit, along with speaking in angelic tongues as evidence of this manifestation. This is a subject addressed in Scripture, beginning in the second chapter of the Book of Acts and continuing throughout other passages.
Between 100 and 400 A.D., following the time of the apostles mentioned in the New Testament, speaking in tongues was recorded only on a few occasions as an isolated and misunderstood occurrence. From 400 to 1900, very few cases were documented, particularly after the Protestant Reformation. During this time, it was generally viewed as an enigmatic and largely unorthodox phenomenon.
It is worth noting that many of the authors of hymns and choruses sung today in the CGMJCI came from that group of people.
Approximately between 1730 and 1743, the United States experienced a period of religious revival known as the First Great Awakening.
Later, in the nineteenth century, some Christian denominations in the United States reported manifestations of speaking in tongues among their members, especially among leaders, though it was still considered a rare and exceptional occurrence. These groups included the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), the Restoration Movement, and the Holiness Movement. They were part of a broader religious and cultural movement known as the Second Great Awakening, which occurred approximately during the first three decades of the nineteenth century, between 1800 and 1830.
The Third Great Awakening, which began in 1857, holds particular significance in the history of Christianity, as it was during this time that the Pentecostal Movement began to take shape. From this movement, the CGMJCI would later draw some of its foundational beliefs.
In 1900, Charles Parham, an independent preacher associated with the Holiness Movement, developed a doctrine known as "initial evidence," which asserted that speaking in tongues is the confirmation of baptism with the Holy Spirit.
He later founded the Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas, where he taught this doctrine. One of his students, William Seymour, traveled to Los Angeles and began a gathering on April 14, 1906, at the African Methodist Episcopal Church. It was documented that spiritual ecstasy occurred during this gathering, including speaking in tongues. This event became known as the Azusa Street Revival and is widely regarded as the catalyst for the global spread of fundamentalist Protestant Christianity, or Pentecostal evangelical Christianity. The "revival" lasted approximately three years.
During this time, attendees were baptized with the Holy Spirit, sang in tongues and danced, and witnessed miracles and healings. Many congregations joined this emerging "Pentecostal movement," including churches from Methodist and Wesleyan traditions.
These churches spread primarily throughout the southeastern United States, especially within African American communities. Their doctrine emphasized speaking in tongues as the confirmation of baptism with the Holy Spirit, who comes to help believers live in holiness and attain salvation.
This teaching became one of the foundations later reflected in the CGMJCI, and is also found in the Pentecostal movement of the first decade of the twentieth century. However, it passed through many historical and geographical stages before taking root in Colombia in the 1970s.
Missionaries and traveling preachers from Europe and former British colonies helped spread this "phenomenon of the baptism with the Holy Spirit" to Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, reaching places such as India and Hong Kong.
For example, Norwegian Methodist preacher T. B. Barratt introduced this doctrine to Europe in 1906, helping establish Pentecostalism in countries such as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, and England. His follower Alexander Boddy further disseminated the movement throughout Great Britain, while Jonathan Paul did the same in Germany. In 1907, Luigi Francescon disseminated Pentecostalism among Italian churches in the United States, Argentina, and Brazil. In 1908, John Lake brought it to South Africa, and Giacomo Lombardi introduced it in Italy. That same year, two Swedish missionaries arrived in Belém do Pará, Brazil, where they founded the Assemblies of God.
In this way, Pentecostalism began to spread to other countries.
These churches were typically founded by preachers who returned to their hometowns after experiencing the movement. Although they operated independently and under different names, they shared a common doctrinal foundation originating with Charles Parham in 1900. Gradually, Pentecostal teachings made inroads across various states of the American nation.
In 1914, a group of 300 white Pentecostal ministers formed a national fellowship known as the General Council of the Assemblies of God.
Despite their shared foundation, doctrinal differences eventually arose. One major debate concerned whether baptism should be performed solely in the name of the Lord Jesus or in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This disagreement led to the emergence of Oneness Pentecostalism, whose followers rejected the doctrine of the Trinity but believed instead in three aspects of a single God. The Assemblies of God rejected this doctrine, and as a result, divisions emerged; in 1916, several ministers and believers left the Assemblies of God. This led to the formation of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and, later, the United Pentecostal Church International.
Two significant characteristics were part of the Pentecostal movement in its first decade. The first was the inclusion of African American participants in gatherings, although racial segregation later developed within these emerging churches.
The second was the role of women, who founded churches, composed hymns, led Bible institutes, and carried out pastoral and evangelistic work. For example, Florence Crawford founded the Apostolic Faith Church. Sadly, over time, men changed the conditions for women in Pentecostal churches and took away certain rights that were "apparently" considered to belong only to men, such as preaching.
All of these changes took place amid the institutionalization of Pentecostal doctrines.
In its early years, the CGMJCI reflected some of these limitations. During its first 24 years, from 1972 to 1996, women were not permitted to preach and were limited to ministering the gift of prophecy and the laying on of hands.
This changed in 1996, when Sister Maria Luisa Piraquive assumed leadership of the Church. Since then, the role of women has been progressively restored.
Today, women preach, take a leading role in evangelistic missions, are recognized as elders at the Church's headquarters, minister spiritual gifts, give advice to newer believers, and fulfill many other responsibilities.
During the 1960s and 1970s, believers from several dominant Christian denominations in the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world began to embrace the belief that the baptism with the Holy Spirit was also possible in the present day. As a result, churches from within these denominations emerged, often described as charismatic (from the Greek term 'charisma,' meaning 'to bestow favor' or 'grace') and considered part of the charismatic movement. They maintained that they had received the gift of the Holy Spirit. At that time, the charismatic movement shared many of the same precepts as the Pentecostal movement, but differed in its historical origin.
According to researcher Peter Wagner, the rise of Pentecostalism in 1906 represents the "First Wave" of twentieth-century Christianity. The "Second Wave" refers to the charismatic renewal movement of dominant Christian denominations in the 1960s and 1970s, a term coined by Lutheran preacher Harald Bredesen.
The "Third Wave," emerging in the 1970s, refers to independent churches that adopted practices and doctrines from both Pentecostal and charismatic movements while remaining distinct from both. According to the typology used in the history of Christianity, these "Third Wave" churches are described as neo-Pentecostal or neo-charismatic.
The CGMJCI may be seen as an example within this historical classification. According to this classification, churches in this category typically practice the laying on of hands, minister spiritual gifts such as healing and prophecy, and function as independent, self-governing and self-regulating bodies. Neo-Pentecostal churches have emerged from within evangelical, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Baptist, Methodist, and Catholic traditions.
Within this context, it can be said that the CGMJCI would go on to mark a milestone in the history of Christianity, as a religious event in the Americas, particularly through its emphasis on the Gift of Prophecy as the believer's guiding compass. This has allowed the Holy Spirit to be the direct guide of each believer and the one who governs the Church. In this sense, prophecy developed in such a way that it became an integral part of the Church's growth.
Since 1972, God's individual guidance through the Gift of Prophecy has been evident and constant. Furthermore, through it, the Church has achieved an understanding of the nature of the other spiritual gifts, both for individual and general service.
Finally, the Church's system of governance through a visible leader, Sister Maria Luisa Piraquive, allows the Church's Support to manifest through the bond between Her and God, and between Her and the people. This union forms the backbone of the CGMJCI, making it a strong, united, and blessed Church.
