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Christian Missionary Alliance information page like many of our pages with information about denominations, focuses a great deal on the founder(s) because that provides a more in-depth glance at what belief system gave rise to that denomination and perhaps how the liturgy and theology came to be. The founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination sometimes nicknamed “CMA” was a man named A.B. Simpson who was a pivotal bridge from the dying Holiness Movement and the new emergence of the Pentecostal movement.
The proper name for this group is the Christian AND Missionary Alliance but I’ve shortened it to the name most widely used in referencing this denomination. Also, members of this group might also refer to themselves as simply “CMA”.
Simpson was born with a heart disorder and raised in a devout Presbyterian family and was saved in 1858 through Walter Marshall’s book “Gospel Mystery of Sanctification”. He then became a Presbyterian Pastor which is why we believe that the CMA denomination is categorized as a descendant from the Swiss Reformation line of the visible church.
In 1881 Simpson attended some meetings held by Dr. Charles Cullis, the early “faith healer” of the Higher Life Movement which branched off from the Holiness Movement, and retreated into the forest to commit to believing and teaching that divine healing was for today. After this commitment, Simpson claimed to have an “experience” in the forest where he was “overwhelmed with the presence of God” whereby he experienced healing for his heart disorder. This is a 19th century incident whereby the “presence of God” was equated to a “feeling” as if it was different from the Biblical understanding that God is omnipresent. This is a carryover of the Quakers and Pietists who influenced the Holiness Movement and Charles Cullis in particular which found its way into the beliefs and practices of A.B. Simpson and eventually the Pentecostal denomination he would found.
After his mystical sensationalist experience of “God’s presence”, Simpson resigned as a Presbyterian Pastor and was baptized by immersion in the Baptist church whereby he would be greatly influenced by D.L. Moody and many others involved in the Higher Life movement. He then read Boardman’s “Higher Christian Life” and began to embrace and teach Wesley’s and Finney’s Christian Perfectionism doctrine. This doctrine forsakes the sound Biblical doctrine of sanctification whereby the Holy Spirit sanctifies the believer over the course of time, bringing about a greater maturity and Christlikeness. Instead, this Wesleyan doctrine taught that there was an instantaneous experience of Christian sanctification which happened automatically by faith as a separate event to justification or salvation.
This singular incident of Christian perfectionism was beginning to be called the “Baptism in the Holy Spirit” due to the 1831 teaching of the influential professors at Oberlin College: Asa Mahan, John Morgan and Charles Finney. This new doctrine of a baptism in the Holy Spirit supposedly results in a mystical supernatural power enabling a believer to somehow evangelize and teach at a “supernatural” level as opposed to the poor common Joe Christian who has to evanglize and teach under his own power. Moody claimed to receive this “enduement of power” from a couple older Keswick revivalist ladies who claimed to be praying for Moody to receive this so-called baptism.
This doctrine might sound amazingly great and naturally every Christian would want to evangelize under God’s power and not their own abilities so millions rushed (and still rush) to embrace this made up doctrine. The only problem is, it is nowhere to be found in Scripture and was never taught by the Apostles. Rather, the Bible teaches that when we are born again we are sealed, filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit the very moment we come to faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sin. No “extra” enduement needed no mystical magical event is necessary, just simple faith in an all-sufficient Savior.
After this subjective “experience” Simpson would yet again claim, “Never has my heart known such a thrill of joy”. This is the time period in church history where there was a widespread transition from the Holiness Movement mindset of being “set apart for God and His will” to a new pre-Pentecostal mindset to seek and pursue an “experience” of God which has the potential of delivering a great “feeling” of joy.
After his mystical sensationalist experience of “God’s presence”, Simpson resigned as a Presbyterian Pastor and was baptized by immersion in the Baptist church whereby he would be greatly influenced by D.L. Moody and many others involved in the Higher Life movement. He then read Boardman’s “Higher Christian Life” and began to embrace and teach Wesley’s and Finney’s Christian Perfectionism doctrine. This doctrine forsakes the sound Biblical doctrine of sanctification whereby the Holy Spirit sanctifies the believer over the course of time, bringing about a greater maturity and Christlikeness. Instead, this Wesleyan doctrine taught that there was an instantaneous experience of Christian sanctification which happened automatically by faith as a separate event to justification or salvation.
Simpson’s teaching began advocating Wesley’s sanctified life (Christian Perfectionism), Boardman’s “Higher Life” divine healing and an “end times” outpouring of the Holy Spirit and His spiritual gifts which he began referring to as the “latter rain” which he believed was in contrast to the first century Christians who experienced an “early rain”. He based this latter rain doctrine on Joel 2:23,28. This passage is referring to the restoration of Israel which first begins with their redemption at the cross (also passed to the Gentiles shortly after). The latter rain is His provision to them in fulfillment of His promises. It has nothing to do with a continuation of the gifts. Peter said at Pentecost when they all spoke in tongues that “this is that which is spoken of…” referring to this passage in Joel. To misapply this to a continuation of gifts is to over allegorize the text. Despite this egregious error, this latter rain idea would be taken up with a vengeance by an entire charismatic offshoot in the 20th century who referred to their movement as the “Latter Rain” movement (William Branham pictured).
A.B. Simpson was also one of the earliest to teach the erroneous Pentecostal doctrine of the believer’s authority to “bind and loose” demons. The Bible teaches that Christians are not to directly address/revile evil spirits but at the very most follow the example of Michael the Archangel who would say, “The Lord rebuke you” (Jude v9) When Jesus told the Apostles “what they loose on earth will be loosed in heaven and what they bind on earth will be bound in heaven” (Math 16:19) he was speaking of establishing doctrine for His church. He could say this to them (and not to false apostles today) because he had promised to give them His Holy Spirit to “guide them into all truth” and to “bring to memory all of the things” He said (John 16:13). Jesus, nor any of His Apostles ever taught that Christian could or should “bind” demons and/or “loose” some kind of supernatural event or blessing.
Simpson is perhaps most famous for forming two groups in 1885: the Christian Alliance for the pursuing of the higher Christian life, and the Evangelical Missionary Alliance for foreign missions. He then combined these two into one single denomination called the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) in 1887 using Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday and forever.” in support of his anti-cessationist views of mystical faith healing and the supernatural feeling/experience which was now being called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Ironically this verse has nothing to do with spiritual gifts but rather for Christians to be guarded against being “carried away by various and strange doctrines” which, unfortunately for Simpson and Aimee Semple McPherson, the “Baptism of the Holy Spirit” is exactly one of those various and strange doctrines the writer of Hebrews was warning about.
Another early contribution to the fledgling Pentecostalism Movement from Simpson was his teaching of a “Fourfold Gospel” which states that Jesus was our:
1. Savior
2. Sanctifier
3. Healer
4. Soon Coming King.
Biblical Christianity would agree with all points except for the fact that point #3 was re-defined from the Biblical view of Jesus as the healer of our sin sickness and the eventually healer of fallen bodies/creation (glorification) to a Higher Life definition which mandates that all healing of sickness and ailments were provided for in the atonement and are therefore to be “expected” to be provided immediately and not “according to God’s will” or “in God’s time”.
There would be at least two more iterations of Simpson’s fourfold doctrine, one by William Seymour of the Asuza Street “Revival” i.e. birthplace of modern Pentecostalism. Then ultimately that of Aimee Semple McPherson who named an entire Pentecostal denomination, International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, after her version of this fourfold Gospel:
Square #1 – Jesus our Savior
Square #2 – Jesus our Healer
Square #3 – Jesus our Baptizer In The Holy Spirit
Square #4 – Jesus our Soon Coming King.
Many of Simpson’s early Christian Missionary Alliance leaders left to help form the Assemblies of God in 1914 which might explain why that Pentecostal denomination also adheres to Simpson’s fourfold form of Gospel preaching in their “Statement of Fundamental Truths” as well. Consider the following quote from AG Superintendent George O. Wood in 2016:
“Our Statement of Fundamental Truths includes doctrines that are core to the theological witness of our Fellowship. Referred to as the “Fourfold Gospel,” these core doctrines teach that Jesus is Savior (Article 5), Healer (Article 12), Baptizer in the Holy Spirit (Articles 7 and 8), and Soon-Coming King (Articles 13–16). These core doctrines explain our intense commitment to evangelize the world in the power of the Holy Spirit, with signs and wonders following, because Jesus Christ is returning for us soon!”
Although AB Simpson never became a “Pentecostal” himself, his foundational doctrines made the Christian Missionary Alliance ripe for the picking when the Pentecostal sensation roared through the ranks of the church in 1906-1907. in 1919, the movement dissociated itself largely from Pentecostalism and the doctrine of speaking in tongues as proof of the baptism of the Holy Spirit but remained primarily Pentecostal in pneumatology (belief) but not necessarily in ecclesiology (practice).
Whereas Christian Missionary Alliance is no longer considered “pentecostal” they are considered a solid evangelical denomination adhering to the essentials of the Christian faith with an emphasis on living it out daily. Perhaps the most well known Christian Missionary Alliance preacher was A.W. Tozer who was both an author and Christian theologian. His books “Knowledge of the Holy” and “The Pursuit of God” are still incredibly influential and even instrumental in Christian discipleship across most denominations.
The Christian Missionary Alliance does have a strong emphasis on Global evangelism that dates all the way back to Simpson’s outreach to the African Congo in the late 19th century. The Christian Missionary Alliance movement would not “officially” become a denomination until 1974, but as with most major movements, by virtue of the membership and number of worldwide churches, they would have been considered a denomination long before they considered themselves one.
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