Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Open Bible Standard Churches
The Open Bible Standard Churches are an association of Pentecostal holiness Protestant churches, with an office in Iowa. This group is very similar in doctrines and practices to the Assemblies of God, but with a markedly different polity.
Like the Assemblies of God, they believe in the doctrines of "entire sanctification" and the modern-day gifts of the Spirit, with speaking in tongues as one of the evidences of the gifts being manifested in the believer. Unlike the Assemblies and many other Pentecostal groups, they are technically not a denomination. Each congregation owns its own property and sets its own standards and calls its own pastor.
As a rather loose association, exact membership counts are not available. Some have estimated that the group may have as many as 150,000 adherents, others less.
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