by Paul L. King (Author)
Genuine Gold: The Cautiously Charismatic Story of the Early Christian and Missionary Alliance documents the supernatural heritage of the early Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA)-welcoming the supernatural with discernment-and calls the denomination to embrace again the charismatic dimensions of the Holy Spirit today and to return to its originally close relation to the Pentecostal-charismatic movement. Author Paul L. King, C&MA historian and theologian, shows how the early C&MA, a robustly evangelical movement, embraced many practices and doctrines of the new Pentecostal movement following the famous Azusa Street Revival of 1906. Yet in following decades, the C&MA distanced itself from the Pentecostal and later charismatic movements. The reasons? Partly because the C&MA insisted on a non-exclusive view of speaking in tongues and on discernment-distinguishing the gold of genuine manifestations of the Holy Spirit from the spurious. But also because the C&MA allied itself increasingly with non-Pentecostal evangelicalism. Genuine Gold urges the C&MA to rekindle the flame of spiritual renewal through its carefully documented history of the Alliance's early vibrancy.