One
of the most significant developments in recent
Christianity is the appearance of many pentecostal
denominations throughout the world during the past
century. Beginning in the United States and
spreading rapidly to most nations of the world, they
now comprise a major "third force" in Christendom
whose phenomenal growth has commanded the attention
of the world.
One of the first groups to designate itself
officially as a member of the pentecostal movement
was the Pentecostal Holiness Church. With roots in
the midwestern and southeastern United States, the
Pentecostal Holiness Church has played a significant
role within the movement from the beginning.
The character of the church is to be seen in its
name, which places it astride two major revival
movements: the holiness revival of the late
nineteenth century, and the pentecostal revival of
the twentieth century. As its distinctive
contribution to contemporary Christianity, this
church has attempted to preserve the Wesleyan
tradition, while perpetuating the pentecostal
tradition.
The fundamental faith of the church is that God's
power to redeem man and society is resident in Jesus
Christ, Son of the Father, who sent the Holy Spirit
into the world as the Agent of salvation. It is this
faith-that God's power is directly available to
everyone to save, cleanse, empower, and heal-that
gave the Pentecostal Holiness Church its birth.
The theology and heritage of the church flow from
many sources. Basically, Pentecostal Holiness Church
people look to the Day of Pentecost as the beginning
of the early Christian church that ultimately
produced the denomination. The atmosphere of the
Upper Room (Acts 2), with the "sound of a rushing
mighty wind," the "cloven tongues as of fire," the
speaking forth in "other tongues as the Spirit gave
utterance," and the dynamic public witness that
followed, has inspired the church to perpetuate the
power of pentecost in this generation.
In its statement of faith, the Pentecostal Holiness
Church distills and preserves the three great
spiritual reforms of recent Christianity-Lutheran,
Wesleyan, and pentecostal. Each of these revival
movements brought to light and reemphasized truths
concerning the Christian experience that apparently
had been lost since the times of the early church.
The first spiritual reform was the Lutheran
Reformation of the sixteenth century. The most
enduring contribution of the Protestant Reformation
to Christian experience was Martin Luther's doctrine
of the believer's justification by faith alone.
This doctrine became the bedrock of the Reformation
and remains to this day the basic doctrinal
foundation of all evangelical churches, including
the Pentecostal Holiness Church. The church regards
the "new birth" as the conversion experience that
admits the believer into the family of God. The
church's belief on this crucial point of doctrine is
expressed in her eighth Article of Faith.
We believe, teach and firmly maintain the scriptural
doctrine of justification by faith alone (Romans
5:1).
Pentecostal Holiness people thus regard themselves
as spiritual heirs of the Reformation. Therefore,
great importance is given to evangelism. The saving
of the lost is seen as the primary task of the
church.
The Methodist movement, begun by John Wesley in
eighteenth-century England, produced the second
major contribution to the church's theology, the
doctrine of sanctification as a second work of
grace. In pentecostal history this is seen generally
as the second spiritual reformation of the church.
From the beginning Wesley's Methodist Societies
emphasized sanctification as a "second work of
grace" following conversion, calling for a life of
holiness and separation from the world. Wesley also
used the terms "heart purity," "perfect love," and
"Christian perfection" to describe the work of
sanctification and the life of holiness in the
believer.
The burden of the Wesleyan revival was that the
converted believer need not live out his lifetime as
a slave to inborn sin; Christ "suffered without the
gate" in order to "sanctify his people with his own
blood." This experience of sanctification is the
birthright of every Christian.
When American Methodism was formed in 1784, the
church accepted Wesley's mandate to "reform the
continent and spread scriptural holiness over these
lands." For over a century the holiness cause was
promoted by Methodist preachers and churches
throughout the nation. As the church grew larger and
wealthier, however, the holiness testimony tended to
fade as a distinctive teaching and experience in the
church. Despite attempts to renew the holiness
message in the church both before and after the
Civil War, the trend away from holiness theology and
experience was clearly established by the end of the
nineteenth century.
The last major holiness revival among the Methodists
and other mainline Protestant churches came after
the formation of the National Holiness Association
in Vineland, New Jersey, in 1867. But the resulting
revival failed to bring the majority of the American
church back to the holiness cause. When the Southern
Methodist Church rejected the holiness movement in
1894, over 25 new holiness groups were formed in the
United States dedicated to the promotion of holiness
preaching and living.
The Pentecostal Holiness Church was one of those
holiness groups in America which began after 1894 as
a result of the controversies over the question of
sanctification.
During the last years of the nineteenth century,
there arose a conviction among many fervent people
in the holiness movement that a fresh outpouring of
the Holy Spirit was the great need of the church. A
general attitude of seeking for deeper and further
spiritual grace seemed to permeate the movement as
the new century was about to dawn. This cry for a
"new pentecost" was experienced in both Europe and
America.
The modern pentecostal movement had its origins in
Topeka, Kansas, in a small Bible school conducted by
Charles Fox Parham, a holiness evangelist who began
his ministry as a Methodist pastor. In 1901, Agnes
Ozman, a student at Parham's school, received the
baptism in the Holy Spirit accompanied by speaking
in tongues. Ozman was a member of the Fire Baptized
Holiness Church, which merged with the Pentecostal
Holiness Church in 1911.
The pentecostal movement received worldwide
influence in 1906 in Los Angeles, California, in the
Azusa Street revival led by the African-American
holiness evangelist William Joseph Seymour. From
Azusa Street, the pentecostal experience spread
around the world as holiness people by the thousands
received the pentecostal baptism with the Holy Ghost
with the apostolic sign of speaking with other
tongues.
Not since the days of the early church had any
revival movement spread so quickly and so far. In
every continent, holiness people flocked to altars
to receive their own personal pentecost.
Once again the gifts of the Spirit were experienced
by the church. The atmosphere of the book of Acts
became the norm for the thousands of pentecostal
churches and missions that appeared throughout the
world. Everywhere, the restoration of the charismata
was understood as proof positive that the second
advent of Christ was near.
The Pentecostal Holiness Church was a part of this
pentecostal outpouring. From the beginning it played
a part in the unfolding drama of this third
spiritual reformation of the church. Organized as a
holiness denomination in 1898, the church officially
incorporated the theology of the Pentecostal
Reformation in its Articles of Faith in 1908 by
adopting the following statement:
We believe the pentecostal baptism of the Holy Ghost
and fire is obtainable by a definite act of
appropriating faith on the part of the fully
cleansed believer, and the initial evidence of the
reception of this experience is speaking with other
tongues as the Spirit gives utterance (Luke 11:13;
Acts 1:5; 2:1-4; 8:17; 10:44-46; 19:6).
The Pentecostal Holiness Church also holds to the
other basic doctrines of historic Christianity such
as the Trinity, the deity, the virgin birth, and the
second coming of Christ, and future rewards and
punishments after the final judgment. It was,
however, the distinctive doctrines of holiness and
pentecost that gave birth to the denomination.
The first congregation to bear
the name of the Pentecostal Holiness Church was
organized in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in 1898 as a
result of the evangelistic ministry of Abner
Blackman Crumpler, a Methodist evangelist. In 1897
in Magnolia, North Carolina, Crumpler organized the
inter- denominational North Carolina Holiness
Association.
Because of his uncompromising
holiness ministry, Crumpler was tried in 1899 in a
Methodist ecclesiastical court for "preaching the
glorious doctrines of Methodism," as he explained
it. Although he was acquitted in the trial, Crumpler
soon withdrew from the Methodist Church and with
several followers began a new denomination which
generally was called the Pentecostal Holiness
Church.
In 1900 the church's first
convention was conducted in Fayetteville, North
Carolina, where Crumpler was elected to serve as
president, and a Discipline was adopted. Several
congregations were organized principally in North
Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. In 1901 at
Magnolia, North Carolina, the word pentecostal was
eliminated from the name, and for eight years the
church was known as The Holiness Church of North
Carolina.
Following the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit in 1906, and after many members received
the baptism of the Spirit according to Acts 2:4, the
word pentecostal was restored to the name at Falcon,
North Carolina, in 1909.
The Fire-Baptized Holiness
Church
The Fire-Baptized Holiness Church
came into being as the result of the evangelistic
ministry of Benjamin Hardin Irwin of Nebraska. A
Baptist lawyer converted to Wesleyan holiness
theology, Irwin postulated a "baptism with fire"
following the experience of sanctification.
From 1896 to 1900, Irwin's
preaching campaigns in the Midwest and South
resulted in large numbers of followers from the
holiness movement, many of whom were also attracted
to his healing ministry. When leaders of the
National Holiness Movement rejected his teaching as
"third blessingism," Irwin began to organize
Fire-Baptized Holiness Associations around the
nation, the first of which was organized in Olmitz,
Iowa, in 1895.
From 1896 to 1900, Irwin's
preaching campaigns in the Midwest and South
attracted large crowds, including many holiness
ministers. At Anderson, South Carolina, in August
1898, Irwin led in the formation of a national body
known as the Fire-Baptized Holiness Association.
Irwin was elected to serve as "general overseer" for
life while "ruling elders" were appointed over eight
states and two Canadian provinces. A periodical
promoting the movement, Live Coals of Fire, was
published in Lincoln, Nebraska.
When Irwin left the movement in
1900, Joseph Hillery King was chosen to serve as
general overseer. In 1902 the name was changed from
Fire-Baptized Holiness Association to the
Fire-Baptized Holiness Church.
Soon after the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit at Azusa Street in 1906, members of both
churches were attracted to the experience of
speaking in tongues as evidence of the baptism in
the Holy Spirit. In 1906, G. B. Cashwell, a minister
in the Holiness Church of North Carolina, journeyed
to Los Angeles where he received the pentecostal
baptism in the Holy Spirit in the Azusa Street
mission.
In a historic meeting in Dunn,
North Carolina, in January of 1907, Cashwell led
many of the leaders of the Southern Holiness
Movement into the pentecostal experience. Soon both
the Holiness Church of North Carolina and the
Fire-Baptized Holiness Church embraced the doctrine
of the baptism in the Holy Ghost, evidenced by
speaking in tongues.
In the next few years a strong
feeling arose among the members of both
denominations that these two groups should unite.
Both were preaching the same basic doctrines, were
operating in the same territory, and had experienced
a growing fellowship over the years. After several
preliminary steps were taken during 1909 and 1910,
these two groups consolidated in 1911.
The merger took place on January
30, 1911, in the octagon-shaped Pentecostal Holiness
Church building at Falcon, North Carolina. Here duly
elected delegates from the Pentecostal Holiness
Church and the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church met for
the purpose of effecting a consolidation of the two
bodies. Although the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church
was much larger, the name Pentecostal Holiness
Church was adopted for the new organization. G. F.
Taylor, F. M. Britton, and J. A. Culbreth served as
the committee to draw up the Discipline which became
the basis upon which the consolidation was made. The
first general superintendent of the united church
was Samuel Daniel Page.
The first general conference
after the merger was held at Toccoa, Georgia, in
1913, at which time the change from biennial to
quadrennial meetings was affected. At the time of
the merger, missionaries sent by both churches
already had opened fields in Hong Kong, China,
Africa, and India.
In 1915 at Canon, Georgia, the
Tabernacle Pentecostal Church consolidated with the
Pentecostal Holiness Church. This merger brought the
Holmes Bible and Missionary Institute of Greenville,
South Carolina, into the fellowship of the church.
The founder of both the Tabernacle Pentecostal
Church and the Bible Institute was Nickels John
Holmes of Greenville.
Early missions work of the
combined churches included the Hong Kong field begun
by Anna Dean in 1909; the Indian field opened by
Della Gaines in 1910; the South African field
started by J. O. Lehman in 1913; and the Central
American field opened by Amos Bradley in 1913. Later
efforts by K. E. M. Spooner (1915) and D. D. Freeman
(1924) in Africa; W. H. Turner (1919) in China; and
J. M. Turner in India (1921) greatly strengthened
the early overseas missions of the church.
In 1917, the church began
publication of an official journal known as the
Pentecostal Holiness Advocate. The first editor was
George Floyd Taylor. Two years later, in 1919,
Taylor also founded the Franklin Springs Institute
near Royston, Georgia. In 1933 the name of the
school was changed to Emmanuel College.
Foreign missions work opened in
this period included Argentina, started by Janet
Hart in 1931; the Mexico field, founded by Esteban
Lopez in 1933; and the Hawaiian field, founded in
1936 by Mildred Johnson Brostek.
In 1937 at Roanoke, Virginia, the
honorary title of bishop was bestowed on the general
superintendents. The two general superintendents
elected at that conference, Joseph H. King and Dan
T. Muse, were the first to bear this title.
At the general conference in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1945, the church voted
to have four general superintendents. Elected to
serve with King and Muse were Joseph A. Synan and
Hubert T. Spence. At the death of Bishop King in
1946, Muse assumed the leadership of the church. He
served as presiding bishop until his death in 1950
when he was succeeded by J. A. Synan who served as
chairman until 1969.
After twenty years of changing
the number of bishops, the 1957 General Conference
that convened in Oklahoma City decided henceforth to
have only one general superintendent.
During the 1950s the church
experienced rapid expansion in the mission fields.
Works were opened in this period in Costa Rica,
Cuba, Northern and South Rhodesia, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
Malawi, Nigeria, Mozambique, Ghana, and Botswana.
In the late 1960s affiliations
were initiated with sister pentecostal bodies
abroad. The first international affiliation was with
the Pentecostal Methodist Church of Chile in 1967,
followed by a similar agreement with the Wesleyan
Methodist Church of Brazil in 1983.
J. Floyd Williams was elected
general superintendent in 1969 in Memphis,
Tennessee. During his tenure of office, the
headquarters of the church was moved in 1974 from
Franklin Springs, Georgia, to Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma.
In 1981 the general conference
elected Leon O. Stewart as general superintendent.
He was succeeded in 1989 by Bernard E. Underwood,
who had served as executive director of World
Missions for 16 years. Underwood was reelected at
the 1993 General Conference in Jacksonville,
Florida.
The First World Conference of
Pentecostal Holiness Churches met in September of
1990 in Jerusalem, Israel. This was a significant
milestone in the church's history. There the PHC
established the Target 2000 goals globally. The
church adopted The Jerusalem Proclamation, which has
become a global battle cry for PHC people.
Out of that meeting also came the
School Of Ministry (SOM) program for equipping
pastors and church planters, and the Global Desk
(which is now merged into the NET). NET is an
acronym for New Evangelism Technologies. The NET is
an electronic communications network designed to
unite the various ministries and conferences of the
IPHC.
At the close of the 1994, the
International Pentecostal Holiness Church consisted
of 1,645 churches and nearly 4,000 licensed and
ordained ministers in the United States. Membership
in the U.S. was 150,133.
Update. At the close of 1999,
official published statistics showed the following
global totals:
8,383 Churches (1,771 in U.S.)
1,040,400 Members (184,431 in U.S.)
Those who led the churches before the consolidation
at Falcon in 1911 were:
Fire-Baptized Holiness Church
1898-1900 Benjamin Hardin Irwin
1900-1911 Joseph Hillery King
Pentecostal Holiness Church of North Carolina
1898-1908 Ambrose Blackmon
Crumpler
1908-1911 A. H. Butler
Those who have served as general superintendents
since 1911 are:
1911-1913 Samuel Daniel Page
1913-1917 George Floyd Taylor
1917-1946 Joseph Hillery King
1937-1950 Daniel Thomas Muse
1945-1969 Joseph Alexander Synan
1945-1946 Hubert Talmage Spence
1946-1949 Paul Franklin Beacham
1946-1953 Thomas Alexander Melton
1953-1957 Oscar Moore
1969-1981 Julius Floyd Williams
1981-1989 Leon Otto Stewart
1989-1997 Bernard Edward Underwood
1997- Pres James D. Leggett
