Review: Assemblies of God in Guyana

The History of the Assemblies of God in Guyana, by Alfred S. Cockfield. Brooklyn, NY: Christian Times, 2008.

Dr. Alfred Cockfield, senior pastor of God’s Battalion of Prayer Church, an Assemblies of God congregation in Brooklyn, New York, has written a history of the Assemblies of God in Guyana. Cockfield, who was born in Guyana, has personal knowledge of many of the people, churches, themes, and events significant in the history of the Guyanese church. Cockfield supplemented these experiences with additional research and the resulting volume contains a treasure trove of information, which will be welcomed by church leaders, historians, and the people who lived the history.

Existing Pentecostal histories primarily document the stories of North American and European believers, paying inadequate attention to the development of the movement in non-Western lands. The challenge to the next generation of Pentecostal historians is to document these non-Western stories, so that Pentecostalism can be better understood from a global perspective. Cockfield’s work helps fill this need by documenting previously unpublished information about the Assemblies of God in Guyana. According to Cockfield, his book “will clearly affirm the fact that God is equally interested in the people and nation of Guyana as He is in the people and nations of the United States, Canada, England, or any other nation” (p. vii).

Reviewed by Darrin J. Rodgers

Softcover, 159 pages. $15.00 plus $3 postage to U.S. addresses. Order from: Dr. Alfred Cockfield, God’s Battalion of Prayer Church, 661 Linden Blvd, Brooklyn, NY 11203 (phone: 718-774-5447; email: Battalionp@aol.com).