eNews – Aglow History – ‘Who Knew?’

Aglow International has long been considered a “Network for Caring Women,” and this was even more evident in the story discovered in an Aglow Connection newsletter from March 1997. The article “Aglow’s ‘Originals’ Remember 1967: ‘Who Knew?’ was featured in the Connection Newsletter and paints the story of Aglow’s beginnings through the beautiful reminiscing of women God called to lay the foundation of this ministry that we all know and love.

The story is an excellent reminder that the Lord often uses something as simple as a luncheon and a heart that asks, “Why can’t we bring women together to share what God is doing in our lives?”  to feed multitudes both physically and spiritually, seeing His Kingdom multiply in the same way He multiplied bread and fishes for 5,000.

“Jesus replied, ‘They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.’ ‘We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,’ they answered. ‘Bring them here to me,’ he said…Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves…they all ate and were satisfied.” (Matt 14:16-20)

I hope you enjoy reading this story just as much as I did. – Janae Lovern, Director-International Field, Aglow International.

Read the text of the articles below

Aglow ‘Originals’ Remember 1967: ‘Who Knew?’

Aglow International: Connection, a network of caring women

International Edition: March, 1997

Aglow’s birth on Saturday, May 27, 1967, bore all the simplicity of the manger scene without the announcement of the heavenly host. Humanly speaking, it was a non-event. God did not speak a prophetic word through one of the “original four” founding women [of Aglow International] that day. No one had a vision. In fact, both surviving members of Aglow’s “original four,” Joyce Doerflein and Ruth Gothenquist, say they had no idea that God was birthing a network of praying women that would circle the earth. “Who knew?” exclaimed Ruth during a recent interview at Aglow International’s Offices.

Joyce Doerflein agrees. She remembers that Ruth and two other women she’d never met came up to her that day in Portland, Oregon. As the wife of the International Director of the Northwest region’s Full Gospel Business Men’s Association, Joyce found herself organizing luncheons for wives who accompanied their husbands on their conventions, making her an obvious target for a simple question posed by her friend Ruth Gothenquist: Why can’t we bring women together like this to share what God is doing in our lives? Joyce replied, “Why, we can do anything we like.” By that time, Rose Collins and Virginia Blankenship joined them, also expressing a yearning to meet together. Once they joined hands and prayed about it, the four returned quietly to their homes in the Seattle area and continued waiting on God.

God Was Moving

Throughout the Northwest, the summer of 1967 seemed pregnant with spiritual life. The charismatic movement had radically altered the spiritual landscape, as believers came face-to-face with the power of the Holy Spirit and wanted – needed – to talk to each other about it.

Early Aglow leader Bernice Smith, then a solid Baptist, received the baptism in the Holy Spirit on June 25, 1967, in Seattle. “Once you’ve had the experience, the labels come off,” she said. “You don’t care what denomination a person comes from.” She knows that such word-of-mouth experiences of baptisms and speaking in tongues among denominational believers helped propel the idea of women finding a safe place to share what was happening to them.

By August, Joyce, Ruth, Rose, and Virginia decided to launch a trial balloon. A brunch was planned at Seattle’s Meany Tower Hotel in September at 10 AM. They knew that homemakers would have the kids off to school and be able to spend an hour elsewhere.

Joyce invited Rita Bennett to speak. As the wife of the charismatic minister Rev. Dennis Bennett, who pastored St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Seattle, the first openly charismatic denominational church in the area, she provided an important source of understanding for those new to the baptism in the Holy Spirit and its manifestations.

Aglow’s First Meeting

Somewhere between 125 and 200 women came to the Meany that day in what is accepted as the first Aglow meeting, though the group remained unnamed for a year. The continental breakfast of juice, rolls, and coffee may have been $1.75 per person, but the spiritual hunger was priceless. Women were saved, and baptized in the Holy Spirit, and waves of joyful anticipation swept the room. By the time Joyce Doerflein asked if they would be interested in continuing on a monthly basis, the resounding reply was, “Yes!”

As the word continued to spread, women thronged into the Meany Tower Hotel each month for more. Others sought help in beginning like-minded gatherings in their area. It was only natural as Joyce Doerflein traveled with her husband to Full Gospel Business Men’s (FGBM) meetings, wives would already have heard that something exciting for women was happening in Joyce’s hometown. “They would come up to me and ask, ‘Joyce, what are you doing in Seattle?’ I would reply, ‘We’re having ladies’ meetings. Why don’t you do that, too?”

By June ’68, it didn’t take a genius to realize that what the “original four” assumed was a simple local fellowship had mushroomed instead into a full-fledged Holy Spirit cyclone that was blowing through other states as well. Though the fledgling nucleus called itself the Full Gospel Women’s Fellowship, it had no official name, no officers, no structure. “We felt we had to get organized because we were getting calls from all over,” Joyce said.

At that point, Joyce felt that she couldn’t continue as the leader of the movement that was expanding rapidly. Though gifted as an organizer, she was 35 years old, with three young children, a family business, and a traveling partner in her husband Fred’s commitment to FGBM. “I knew I was a very important part of Fred’s ministry,” she said. As she sought the Lord, He showed her that her place was with her husband – that they were one in the Spirit. “’You cannot have two heads in the family,’ was what I heard God say.” She felt the Lord lead her to 2 Corinthians 8:10 (TLB): “I want to suggest that you finish what you started to do a year ago, for you were not only the first to propose this idea, but the first to begin doing something about it.” Joyce realized with a start that the work was exactly one year old. Based on what she believed God was directing her to do, she began to encourage others to take on leadership positions for the next year.

New Leadership

In the fall of 1968, a board meeting was held at Ruth Gothenquist’s home on Mercer Island and three women were selected to give leadership to the fledgling organization for the following year. Rose Collins, Janet Knowles, and Bernice Smith, operating from their homes, witnessed the fire of God lighting up women in state after state. “You don’t have to send a telegram,” laughed Bernice, “just tell a woman!”