Our AOG Heritage

Harvest Christian Church is affiliated with The Assemblies of God in Australia, a movement of Pentecostal Churches in voluntary cooperation. Each individual church is self governing, but commits itself to working together with other churches in the movement for the purpose of, mutual support and the spread of the gospel in Australia and worldwide.

The Assemblies of God in Australia was formed in 1937 and has experienced consistent growth, particularly in the last twenty years. It currently consists of more than 1,000 churches with over 160,000 constituents, making it the largest Pentecostal movement in Australia.

The following is a brief outline on the Heritage and History of the Assemblies of God in Australia.

The Assemblies of God is unique among Christian movements in the world in that we are unable to trace our origins to any human leader as the Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans and most other Pentecostal movements are able to do. Australian Pentecostalism in the early years was greatly influenced by such figures as Mrs. Janet Lancaster, AC Valdez, Smith Wigglesworth, C L Greenwood and P B Duncan but none of these were individually responsible for the formation of the Assemblies of God in Australia.

The Assemblies of God in Australia formed out of a conference of the Assemblies of God - Queensland and the Pentecostal Church of Australia in Sydney, Easter 1937. It was recognised by the leaders of both movements that a more harmonious, co-operative and unified relationship was needed. C.L Greenwood was elected the first Chairman of the Assemblies of God in Australia and every state was granted autonomy in its own affairs as was each registered assembly.

In the early years of the movement, growth was very slow but firm foundations were set in place. In 1948 the Commonwealth Bible College was established in order to train men and women for ministry. Various leaders also arose to bring leadership and direction to the movement such as Henry Wiggins, Philip Duncan, Edward Irish, James Wallace, Alec Davidson and Ralph Read.

1977 was a turning point for growth when Pastor Andrew Evans became the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Australia. During his term in office from 1977 - 1997 the AOG in Australia experienced great growth multiplying by over 13 times in the number of members and adherents and planting over 700 churches.

In May 1997 Pastor Brian Houston was elected the National President of the Assemblies of God in Australia. Brian is the Senior Pastor of Hillsong Church in Sydney which has a growing congregation of over 18,000 people on any given weekend. In his period as National President he has already overseen major structural changes within the movement and was instrumental in the establishment of the Australian Christian Churches.

The Australian Christian Churches, which was launched on the 18th February 2000, is a national network of Christian churches dedicated to making a positive impact in the Australian community and presenting the timeless message of the gospel in an ever-changing world. The Australian Christian Churches represent over 1,000 churches and 170,000 Christians nationally from the Assemblies of God, Apostolic Churches, Bethesda and a number of independent churches.