“WHAT NOW? “Will the work fall apart at the seams?” “Without her guiding influence, will the Foursquare Gospel Church survive?” Can anyone ever take her place?”
| Jo SOONER HAD THE NEWS of Aimee Semple McPherson's passing, on the morning of September 27, 1944, been flashed around the world, then skeptics began predicting that her far-flung organization would suffer now that its mainspring was gone.
But while the doubters raved on, they did not reckon with the adept organizational abilities of Foursquaredom’s founder, nor with the fact that her church was built upon a solid foundation, as revealed in her own words, uttered shortly before her death: "God's Word and work are fashioned of enduring stuff, and shall abide forever!”
Facts and figures prove that the work commenced by this handmaiden of the Lord was not established upon personality, as some believed, but upon the Word of God. Some five hundred and fifty branch churches grace key cities and rural communities across America and Canada, and more than two hundred and sixty mission stations are scattered throughout foreign lands. Within five years after her death (statistics as of December 31, 1949), one hundred and forty new churches were established; two hundred and fourteen properties in new cities or locations were acquired; a net valuation, including equipment, of $8,458,806.80 was realized; and annual missionary offerings jumped from $155,300.37 to $251,415.43. Latest figures being computed as this volume goes to press, reveal that these amounts have been surpassed as of the present time.
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Since we do not count our greatest gain in buildings or finance, but in the souls and lives of men and women who are transformed and kept by the power of God for time and eternity, it is well to note that, in the year 1949 alone, 26,842 persons confessed Christ as their Saviour at the altars of Angelus Temple, its branch churches and foreign mission stations. This was an increase of 1,816 over the previous year and an increase of 6,392 over the 1947 figure. The year 1949 also revealed the highest missionary income for any single year during the entire history of the Foursquare organization, and missionary personnel totaled 335, an increase of 59 over the previous year.
Further steps forward were taken in the completion of a one-half million-dollar memorial to Aimee Semple McPherson (the third largest building program in the history of the denomination). This project consists of two campus-style dormitories providing housing for 140 students attending L.L.F.E. Bible College, and dining-room facilities for two hundred and twenty-five ministerial hopefuls living in the various Collegeowned dormitories surrounding the Temple. The Missionary Department recently finished a building program also. One block from Angelus Temple there now stands a beautifully furnished Missionary Home, consisting of eight two-bedroom apartments, valued at $50,000, where missionaries on furlough can rest and recuperate. Other recent advancements: The purchasing of camp sites by numerous districts (Southern California, Western, Eastern, and Great Lakes) of the Foursquare organization, for use during the summer camping seasons; the addition of Christian youth centers to Angelus Temple and to its branch churches; the establishment of Christian day schools; the erection of Frequency Modulation radio station, KKLA, in Los Angeles, with a power output of 58,000 watts; and a pension plan, providing for the first time in the denomination’s history for the retirement security of the Foursquare clergy.
During the Eighteenth Annual Foursquare Convention, in 1940, Aimee Semple McPherson expressed a desire that her son should succeed her as president of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. Again, during the 1942 Convention, she said, “I hope my son, Rolf, upon whom I lean so heavily, will take up my work wherever I lay it down.” This wish found favor with the convention body, and upon unanimous vote of the same was put into the corporation by-laws.
How well Dr. Rolf K. McPherson shouldered this respon: sibility following the passing of his mother, is proven by the substantial increase in churches, capital, and converts previously mentioned, and by other results now being achieved through his sincere, conscientious, and level-headed leadership. And the fact that the Foursquare Church has a united and forward-moving organization is due in a large measure to his foresight in forming a capable and consecrated executive cabinet, and in appointing trained and loyal co-workers. All are doing their part to further Aimee Semple McPherson's vision of “The Foursquare Gospel Around the World.”
As one of the district supervisors said in memoriam, “We have lighted our torches from hers and by the grace of God we will carry on faithfully.”
God promoted His faithful servant on the morning of September 27, 1944.
It was fitting that the ministry of one who was the spiritual leader of thousands should be terminated at the conclusion of a stirring message on her favorite theme: “The Foutsquare Gospel.” And it was fitting, also, that the message was preached in the city of Oakland, California—the same city in which, twenty-two years previous, she had received the vision of the Foursquare Gospel. Thus, 2 cycle was completed, a plan fulfilled, and a life had lived its allotted span and spent itself tirelessly in the cause of Christ.
What more proper way to write “finis” to this autobiography and summation of later events than to quote the words of Sister McPherson herself, from the original (1919) edition of her book “This is That’
“We know that if we are faithful a little longer, we shall some day receive a wireless message to come to the ‘home over there’ which our Lord has gone to prepare, and shall rise with souls who have been redeemed through obedience in preaching the Word—our spiritual children—that there we may enjoy together the "building not made with hands, that fadeth not away, eternal in the heavens.’
THE END