It is affiliated with the Union of Missionary Churches. The church was founded by Aldo Benzi, who converted to Christianity after being healed from a pleurisy. Its main beliefs expressed in a creed of eight articles of faith and practices are nearly identical with those of most Evangelical and Pentecostal groups, with a special focus on miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit and proselytism.
In the late s the church was embroiled in many trials often on the grounds of defamation or for financial issues , losing most of them. The church was eventually listed as a cult in the and parliamentary reports established by the French National Assembly. Protestant and academic circles, however, disagreed with this assessment, considering the church to be a genuine Pentecostal group.
The latter responded to criticism through a defensive strategy, which included outreach to sociologists and historians and better ties with mainstream religions, local and national institutions. The Church was founded by Pastor Aldo Benzi in In he was appointed treasurer of the Federation of Free Evangelical Pentecostals, and elected president seven years later. His father considered guilty of covering up his son's actions refused to retire, which led many believers to leave the church and pastors to vote for the federation's dissolution; [ 7 ] this one was officially announced as defunct on 25 November About his church Kennel said: "We are situated at the crossroads of the Pentecostal and Mennonite movements".
Gordon Melton described it, in his Encyclopedia of Protestantism , as one of the "newest Protestant groups". The church's main beliefs are expressed in a creed , initially composed of twelve articles of faith based on biblical passages and adopted by the church. The church has six weekly services, one of them located in the Rue Battant especially for people with disabilities. Each meeting is devoted to a particular Christian practice: evangelization, prayer, Bible reading, singing, and weekly worship.
Services are dynamic, charismatic and emotional, often evolving into ecstasy and trance; glossolalia results when the pastor calls the Holy Spirit to come upon the congregation, [ 25 ] and usually lasts 30 to 60 minutes. Pastors established a record of public testimonies of every baptized member. The pastor's break with his former religious affiliation, and his determined foundation of a new group despite many obstacles, are said to be directed by God's will; therefore, Kennel's spiritual course which mixes "extraordinary and intransigence" is presented as an example to follow.
