Apostolic Assembly of The Faith in Christ Jesus - Corporate Groups

Corporate Groups

In addition to the formal political authority that flows from the General Board to local churches, there is a parallel organization built around gender or age groups to perform regular functions. Three Auxiliary Departments have been set up for societies of Men (known as Varones), Women (known as Dorcas), and Youth. Within churches, each of these groups has a local board, led by an elected or appointed president who is assisted by a vice president, secretary, and treasurer. This structure is replicated at the district level, where it is known as a federation, and at the national level, where it is known as a Confederation. However, at the Local Church Level the Pastor may choose to organize differently a society. Program development and policy directives flow from confederations to federations to local societies. The latter are also required to assist with other local projects. At the Confederal and Federal levels, elections for officials is every two years. Electors for the Confederation tier, comprises two representatives of each district (Commonly the President and Vice President of said District Federation). Electors for the federation tier, comprises two representatives from each church (Again, commonly the President and Vice President).

== Membership and statistics ==

As noted above, the Apostolic Assembly arose to meet the need to reach out to Mexican immigrants who were largely ignored by other Pentecostal denominations.(UPCI) Whereas this situation led to the development of a self-governed movement, this history also has presented severe challenges that continue to this day.

One recurrent challenge is connected to the composition of its membership. Since most of its members have historically been Mexican immigrants, Church growth has been subject to fluctuations in migration trends. Because of its mobile nature, immigrant communities are hard to count and keep as stable groups. But while challenging, the reliance on immigration has also helped membership in recent times. The Apostolic Assembly, like most Christian denominations in the United States, has problems retaining members, especially younger generations. A continued flow of immigration has undoubtedly kept membership figures from falling drastically, although there are no figures to actually track membership changes over time.

Another concurrent challenge has been the requirement to minister to both Spanish- and English-speaking members. Historically, Spanish has been the de facto language of the denomination, but newer generations do not always share the same cultural values and language as old and new migrant members. In response, there is an emergent trend of English-speaking congregations, along with a more deliberate attempt to reach Hispanic-Americans who do not speak Spanish.

The denomination is also challenged by its organizational capability. Early leaders supervised a relatively small number of congregations established along migrant routes. As the church has grown, it has become more difficult to oversee a larger number of congregations. A manifestation of this problem is the lack of reliable membership data. A recent official document acknowledges these and other related problems and provides a roadmap of strategies to enhance membership growth (please browse official page for more information)..

Finally, the Apostolic Assembly is challenged to raise its educational and theological levels. This is due to that initiation and ordination rules are not as demanding in this area as they are in other Oneness Pentecostal Denominations, thus raising the probabilities of ministerial unpreparedness to congregational and spiritual needs. To this point, the Apostolic Assembly currently has in most of its districts a CBAN (Colegio Biblico Apostolico Nacional or a National Apostolic Biblical College) College and it is now necessary that all deacons seeking ordination must attend courses in their District's CBAN, if there is one available to attend.