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The Church of God (Cleveland) is a Protestant/Pentecostal Christian denomination whose headquarters are in Cleveland, Tennessee. The movement's origins can be traced back to 1886 with a small meeting of Christians at the Barney Creek Meeting House on the Tennessee/North Carolina border. It has grown to become one of the largest Holiness Pentecostal denominations in the world.

Name

The name of this body is the Church of God, but it is referred to as Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) in order to distinguish it from other bodies called the Church of God. The church's worldwide membership exceeds 7 million people in over 160 countries. The Church of God (Cleveland) operates several universities, the oldest of which is Lee University in Cleveland, established in 1918. The Church of God also has Bible Colleges in countries around the world, including International Bible College in Canada and Mexico (*Seminario Bíblico Mexicano, founded in 1979, in Hermosillo, Sonora). In response to the need for a seminary, the Church of God Graduate School of Christian Ministries (now known as the Church of God Theological Seminary) opened in 1975. The Church of God Publishing House is a major gospel music resource.

Early history

Elder Richard Spurling (1810-1891), an ordained Baptist minister, rejected some of the views of the Baptists in his area as not in accord with New Testament Christianity. In August of 1886, he and seven members from Holly Springs and Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Churches in Monroe County, Tennessee and Cherokee County, North Carolina organized the "Christian Union". They agreed to free themselves from man-made creeds and unite upon the principles of the New Testament. In 1902, Richard Green Spurling (Richard Spurling's son) and W. F. Bryant founded the Holiness Church at Camp Creek (North Carolina).

Because of Spurling's and Bryant's resistance to the creation of creeds and church polity, however, this young fellowship of Christians remained ungoverned by any clear, specific doctrinal standards, and so soon fell into a degree of reproach and decline due the outlandish behaviors and incredible beliefs of some of the initial adherents. It was not until the coming of A.J. Tomlinson in 1903 that the needed degree of organization, discipline, and vision were injected into the small church.

A. J. Tomlinson, a former Quaker, united with the church at Camp Creek in 1903, after climbing what is now known as "Prayer Mountain" (located in the Fields of the Wood park that is run by the COGOP in Murphy, NC) and being divinely assured that this fledgling church was indeed God's reestablishment of the New Testament church upon earth. Tomlinson was selected to pastor the congregation, and his drive and vision brought about efforts that resulted in other churches being organized in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The first General Assembly was held in 1906, and though the intention was still to avoid the creation of a creed and denomination, the members' consensus on certain endeavors and standards laid the groundwork for a future denomination, and perhaps soon demonstrated to the adherents the benefit of some degree of standardization of doctrine, etc.

The name Church of God was adopted in 1907. In 1909 Tomlinson was elected General Overseer. The Church of God was known as a "holiness" church rather than a Pentecostal one during these early years, though some had experienced the "Pentecostal Blessing" of being baptized in the Holy Ghost. In fact, Tomlinson himself did not receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost until some time later, when the church had moved to Cleveland, TN, and a powerful revival was held by the church. At that revival, the guest speaker had visited the Asuza Street revival and Tomlinson finally experienced this signature blessing. Thereafter, the Church of God began to place additional emphasis on the Pentecostal aspect of the church. Eventually, the Pentecostal emphasis became more predominant than the holiness emphasis, though this latter emphasis is still very much a part of the denomination's beliefs and values.

In 1923, Tomlinson was impeached, causing a division which led to the creation of the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) and the Church of God of Prophecy. The impeachment was the result of lax financial bookkeeping on Tomlinson's part, and not due to intentional malfeasance. It appears that in order to support struggling pastors and churches, he had, on occasion, borrowed money from otherwise-designated funds, causing shortfalls. By all accounts, he had never used the funds for his own benefit.

When his handling of finances was called into question, it appears that Tomlinson took some offense at the implications for his integrity, or perhaps to having his long-term and substantial authority questioned. In any case, in retrospect, his critics may have had a motive beside the ensuring of financial integrity. It may be the case that the financial issues were used as an attempt to move the church to a more democratic footing, with the office of General Overseer becoming an elective and termed office, instead of, as then existed, an office where Tomlinson served by general acclaim of the church-at-large. In any case, it appears that Tomlinson's critics felt he had been in power long enough, and took the opportunity to press the matter to the point of division.

Both sides of the controversy now tend to admit missteps by either side: by Tomlinson in taking too much umbrage at the questioning; and by those who questioned him for perhaps having more in mind than simple financial probity, and thus not addressing the matter in a way that would have been more conducive to reconciliation.

The practice of snake handling became a controversy in the denomination in the 1920s after it was endorsed by George W. Hensley, a Church of God minister. The practice was quickly repudiated by the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), and Hensley and the small number of congregations which practiced it left to become independent congregations generally using the name Church of God with Signs Following.

The definitive history of the Church of God can be found in Like a Mighty Army, written by Charles W. Conn, Lit.D.(1920-). This is recognized as the essential history of the movement. See also Michael Crews' The Church of God: A Social History (University of Tennessee Press,1990). Visit the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center for more historical resources (*

Theology

Theologically, the Church of God is Wesleyan/Arminian. That is, it is "committed to the Wesleyan/Pentecostal interpretation of Scripture"-according to the Church of God Theological Seminary. As such, conditional security of believers is taught (as opposed to eternal security), Holiness, and Full Gospel Pentecostalism-the belief that the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit as recorded in the New Testament(beginning in the book of Acts), are still just as much in operation today as they were almost 2,000 years ago, and available to all believers today. Though generally committed to Wesleyanism/Arminianism, there are some Calvinist and moderate Calvinist ministers in the denomination, and their numbers may be growing. Although Church of God doctrine, per se, does not establish a Wesleyan/Arminian position, it is still the case that, traditionally and historically, the Church of God has been Wesleyan/Arminian.

Missions

Missions is the strongest area of ministry in the Church of God. With over 5 million members overseas, the missions program has exploded since its humble beginnings of one missionary to the Caribbean. The missions programs in Africa, China, India, South America and Southeast Asia have grown tremendously. The focus is currently on one of the most neglected mission fields: Europe. Its success is in part due to the fact that while the initial work in each country is usually done by foreign missionaries, great care is taken to hand over the work to indigenous workers as soon as they have been trained to lead the programs.

Music

A "Church of God" service is unique from many other Southern Protestant denominations due to the concert-like atmosphere of musical performance. In fact, in the early 1900s, the church was sometimes called "The Singing Church" due to its strong reliance on music as part of the worship service. Music, in general, usually plays a very important part in the local churches. Depending on the individual church, the music played can vary anywhere from old-time gospel and hymn-singing to contemporary Christian and Christian rock.

Basic Beliefs

The Church of God subscribes to the following foundational Christian doctrines:
  1. The verbal inspiration of the Bible.
  2. One God, eternally existing in three persons; namely, the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost.
  3. Jesus is the only begotten Son of the Father, conceived of the Holy Ghost, and born of the virgin Mary. He was crucified, buried and raised from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is today at the right hand of the Father as the Intercessor.
  4. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God and that repentance is commanded of God for all and necessary for forgiveness of sins.
  5. Justification, regeneration and the new birth are wrought by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.
  6. Sanctification is subsequent to the new birth, through faith in the blood of Jesus, through the Word and by the Holy Ghost.
  7. Holiness to be God's standard of living for His people.
  8. Baptism with the Holy Ghost subsequent to a clean heart.
  9. Speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance is the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
  10. Water baptism is by immersion and all who repent should be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
  11. Divine healing is provided for all in the atonement.
  12. The Lord's Supper and washing of the saints' feet are ordained by Christ for our observance.
  13. The premillennial second coming of Jesus; first, to resurrect the righteous dead and to catch away the living saints to Him in the air and, second, to reign on the earth a thousand years.
  14. The bodily resurrection for all, resulting in eternal life for the righteous and eternal punishment for the wicked.

Presently, there is an on-going effort to work closely with the Church of God of Prophecy (created by the division in 1923). Both churches hold very similar doctrine, and there has been much more cooperation between the churches and leadership.

Related bodies

External links

Churches in the United States | Pentecostal denominations

Gemeinde Gottes (Cleveland) | Igreja de Deus no Brasil

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)".

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