Going to Church with the Assembly of God

(I thought it would be interesting to use Sundays to focus on Rensselaer's churches and to see how many Sundays I can go before I run out of material. Indiana is richly endowed with religious denominations, with influences from North and South, East and West. This is part of that series of posts. )

The Rensselaer Assembly of God church is located on Clark Street, just east of the creek that separates its lot from Brookside Park.
In addition to the fairly new church building, it has a hall that is used in both church and non-church events. According to the Church Services Directory published in the Rensselaer Republican, the pastor is Mark Callaway. Sunday morning praise and worship service is at 10:00, and there are other meetings.
The local church is part of a larger denomination, which, however, prefers to be called a fellowship rather than a denomination. Below are the four defining truths of the Assemblies of God, condensed from the fellowship website.

Two years after the church’s founding, the pioneers of the Assemblies of God adopted 16 beliefs for the Fellowship, which remains virtually unchanged. Find these 16 beliefs in our "Statement of Fundamental Truths."

Four of these beliefs are considered the core beliefs of the Fellowship. You may hear them referred to as our cardinal doctrines. They weave in and through all the teaching, music, preaching, discussions… everything we do. The Church’s message revolves around these four defining beliefs.
Salvation Through Jesus Christ
Divine Healing
Baptism in the Holy Spirit
The Second Coming of Christ

Also from the fellowship website is a bit of history.

The General Council of the Assemblies of God (USA), one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in the United States, was organized in 1914 by a broad coalition of ministers who desired to work together to fulfill common objectives, such as sending missionaries and providing fellowship and accountability. Formed in the midst of the emerging worldwide Pentecostal revival, the Assemblies of God quickly took root in other countries and formed indigenous national organizations. The Assemblies of God (USA) is a constituent member of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship – one of the largest Pentecostal fellowships in the world.

Here is the Wikipedia entry on the fellowship, and here is the Valparaiso map of Pentecostals.