Cornerstone Assembly of God

Greendale Ave Worship CenterUnique House of Worship - Greendale Avenue Worship Center

Greendale Avenue Worship Center is the fulfillment of the prayers of people from many backgrounds! This facility, built in 1990, houses four denominations: Ruach Israel (Messianic), Good Shepherd (Harvest Fellowship of Churches), Cornerstone (Assembly of God), and offices of Greater Boston Baptist Association (Southern Baptist), whose personnel are involved in planting churches and training pastors in the Boston area. There is also a Greek Orthodox school at the Worship Center during the week.

 

The pioneers of this project envisioned a lovely facility in which several smaller congregations could share the expenses and upkeep of a building while increasing their ability to impact the community. The worship schedule allows full use of the facility by each individual congregation. Ruach Israel, led by Rabbi Rich Nichol, celebrates Shabbat on Saturday's at 10:00 AM. Rev. Darrell Minnich pastors the Harvest Fellowship of Churches congregation and they worship on Sunday's at 9:30 AM. Rev. Jack Briggs pastors Cornerstone and we worship on Sunday's at 12:15 PM.

 

While the style of worship is different in each congregation, the people and leaders share a common vision and mission: sharing Messiah Jesus Christ and helping the people of the Metropolitan West and greater Boston area. By networking, Rabbi Nichol and Pastors Briggs and Minnich support one another's vision and effort. They share not only the facility and equipment, they share one another's heart and the heart of God.

 

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The Assemblies of God grew out of the Pentecostal revival, which began in the early 1900s in places such as Topeka, Kansas, and the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles. During times of prayer and Bible study, believers received spiritual experiences like those described in the book of Acts. Accompanied by “speaking in tongues,” their religious experiences were associated with the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Jewish feast of Pentecost (Acts 2), and participants in the movement were dubbed “Pentecostals.” The Pentecostal movement has grown from a handful of Bible school students in Topeka, Kansas, to an estimated 600 million in the world today.

Many participants who were baptized in the Holy Spirit during revivals and camp meetings in the early 1900s were not welcomed back to their former churches. These believers started many small churches throughout the country and communicated through publications that reported on the revivals. In 1913, a Pentecostal publication, the Word and Witness, called for the independent churches to band together for the purpose of fellowship and doctrinal unity. Other concerns for facilitating missionaries, chartering churches and forming a Bible training school were also on the agenda.  

Some 300 Pentecostals met at an opera house in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1914, and agreed to form a new fellowship of loosely knit independent churches. These churches were left with the needed autonomy to develop and govern their own local ministries, yet they were united in their message and efforts to reach the world for Christ. So began the General Council of the Assemblies of God.  

Assemblies of God churches form a cooperative fellowship. As a result, the organization operates from the grass roots, allowing the local church to choose and develop ministries and facilities best suited for its local needs.