STATEMENT OF FAITH

At Association of Former Pentecostals (AFP), we have no spiritual or religious agenda. Likewise, we have no "Statement of Faith." This site and all of its services were created to assist people who have left Pentecostalism and the Charismatic Movement -- not to promote any particular spiritual faith. The services of this site are not about the direction any of us are going, but rather where we've come from: this new "scourge" on Christianity.

We do not discriminate against anyone -- or refuse help to anyone -- based on their religious preference (or absence thereof), race, gender, handicap, political affiliation, creed, country of origin, or sexual orientation. We have an open door policy since those leaving these churches have gone in all sorts of directions -- we make no religious or spiritual demands on anyone!

We believe that people have the capacity within themselves to discern truth and find their path. Our only goal is to provide a mode of communication and fellowship among those leaving these faiths, without regard to their current life or spiritual circumstances.

GOALS

At AFP, our goal is to help you -- the former Pentecostal or ex-Charismatic -- find fellowship with others who've left this belief system, and to help you find answers through resources such as thoughtful essays, and internet resources. We also accomplish this by providing active discussion and support forums.

Often, people leaving these faiths feel alone, confused, or doubtful -- feeling that perhaps they've made a mistake. We're here to let you know that you are not alone! Many people have "walked away" and are living better for it! We hope this site and our resources can be of interest -- and perhaps even some help -- for you. Even if you're already completely "over" this religion, we hope you'll hang around and help us help others!

Check us out! All of our resources, forums, etc. are absolutely free!

HISTORY

It had long been a desire of mine to create a service that told only truth about Pentecostalism and all of its manifestations. At the end of 1998 and the beginning of 1999, I created a simple website called "Apostolics Anonymous" which featured monthly essays, some links, and a guestbook for feedback. After a few months, I eventually gave up the site, not really knowing how to improve or market the site.

Then, in late 2001, only a few short months after the 9/11 tragedy, I ran across Yahoo!Groups, and realized that this could be an interesting way to fellowship with former Pentecostals, especially within my former denomination, Apostolic (or "Oneness") Pentecostalism. On November 14 of that year, I quickly threw together an email discussion list on that service called, "Ex-Apostolics." I discovered quite quickly that I wasn't the first one at the ball-park -- that there were two other such groups competing for the same target audience on Yahoo!Groups. Both were aimed at former members of the largest organization of Apostolic Pentecostalism (the UPCI), so I carved my niche by focusing on the larger Apostolic movement, and not one organization.

The discussion list quickly became successful, attracting dozens of members within a few short months. Of course, we had some problems at first, but they were quickly resolved as we began to grow.

By February of 2002, I decided to create a newsletter for this group, but realized that this could be the beginning of something greater. Something was happening to our group I had yet to realize. We had several members that joined that had not been Oneness, but traditional Pentecostal or from the Charismatic movement. To my amazement, many of their stories of spiritual abuse and manipulation were remarkably similar -- it seemed our only differences were in dress code and in our "understanding" of the Godhead. So, to test my theory, instead of making the newsletter an Ex-Apostolic one, I made it one for ex-Pentecostals and former Charismatics. On February 15th, the first issue of "Delivered! (later named "XPC-Examiner") newsletter was sent out to our then 50 members from the Ex-Apostolics group. The subscription grew, eventually being sent out to over 200 individuals a month.

Later that year, I decided to create two additional forums, one called "Pentecostal Debate," and the other, "Ex-Pentecostals." The first one was created out of necessity to keep heated debate over Pentecostal issues off of the Ex-Apostolics site (being the support and discussion group that it was). "Ex-Pentecostals" was created for the same target audience as the newsletter, to provide a support and discussion list for this larger group. Over time, there was so much overlap between the two discussion group that a decision was made later that summer to merge two groups together. "Azusa Street Survivors," a discussion group for all former Pentecostals and ex-Charismatics, was the result of that list merger.

Also that summer, this web-site was born. Ex-Pentecostals.org (ex-pentecostals.com between 5/02 - 11/03) serves as a portal for our discussion groups and as an information clearinghouse, providing fellowship and research resources for those who've left (or are leaving) Pentecostalism. Thousands of people have visited our site and used our services, saying it has helped them bring closure to a painful past and helped them reclaim their lives. We hope it can do that for you as well.

In November of 2003, our company, Gatekey Publishing, was created to not only publish our web pages, but to grow our services! Future plans include publishing a variety of materials -- from counter-tracts to books -- and to one market gift items and other promotional materials to market and support our site and services.

Due to time constraints, our monthly newsletter is not being published at this time. However, we are spending our time improving our existing services, especially this website. To view archived newsletters and discussion lists, please check out our archives!