United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI, Oneness Pentecostal)

The United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI) was formed in 1945 from the merger of the Pentecostal Church Incorporated (Howard Goss) and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ (W.T. Witherspoon), consolidating most of the American Oneness Pentecostal stream that had separated from the Trinitarian Assemblies of God in 1916 over the 'New Issue' (the doctrinal claim that biblical baptism is in Jesus's name only, not the Trinitarian Matthew 28:19 formula). Doctrinally UPCI holds: (a) Oneness modalism — that God is one Person who manifests as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in different modes, rejecting the Trinity; (b) baptism in Jesus's name only as essential for salvation, treating Trinitarian baptisms as invalid; (c) the necessity of speaking in tongues as the initial evidence of Holy Spirit baptism, which is itself necessary for salvation; (d) strict 'holiness standards' for women (uncut hair, long skirts, long sleeves, no jewellery, no makeup, no slacks) and men (no facial hair in many congregations, no shorts, no jewellery beyond wedding bands). The combination of unique-truth-claim soteriology with comprehensive lifestyle regulation produces the BITE-22 score.

The denomination operates roughly 30,000 congregations across 200 countries, with substantial growth in West Africa (Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria), Central America, and the Philippines. The denominational structure is hierarchical: General Superintendent, General Conference, district superintendents, and local pastors with strong elder-board authority. Apostolic Bible College (founded 1953, now Urshan College, Hazelwood MO) serves as the primary ministerial-training institution; the Pentecostal Publishing House (Hazelwood) is the doctrinal-publishing arm.

Documented coercive-control patterns from the UPCI specifically include: (1) the holiness-standards enforcement around women's hair, dress, and freedom-of-association — particularly burdensome for women raised in the tradition who choose to leave; (2) the salvation-formula baptism requirement that produces severance pressure when family members convert to Trinitarian churches or leave Christianity; (3) the patriarchal-headship doctrine extending to household economic and reproductive control; (4) the historical 'no TV' / 'no movies' / 'no swimming pools' lifestyle separation that limits ordinary social integration. Recovery resources have grown through the 2010s–2020s ex-UPCI online community (r/exUPCI subreddit, the Aposphere ex-Oneness Pentecostal blog network, and Andrew Steele's Apostolic Voice counter-blog).

UPCI is part of the broader Oneness Pentecostal stream that also includes the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW, predominantly Black-led), the Apostolic World Christian Fellowship, and various smaller Oneness denominations. The UPCI itself has internal moderate / conservative variation by region and congregation.