International Pentecostal Holiness Church

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International Pentecostal Holiness Church
Classification Restorationist
Orientation Pentecostal
Origin 1890s
Separated from Methodist Episcopal Church, South
Separations Congregational Holiness Church (1921)
Associations National Association of Evangelicals, Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America
Statistics
Congregations 8383
Members 1,040,400
Statistics for 1999
Christianity Portal

The International Pentecostal Holiness Church is a Pentecostal Christian body whose history, name, and theology bear the marks of two major American revival movements: the Holiness revival of the late 19th century, and the Pentecostal revival of the early 20th century[1].

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Predecessor Bodies

In 1894, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South adopted a statement which opposed the growing Holiness movement in the church. Within a decade about 25 new Holiness groups, including the Pentecostal Holiness Church, came into existence[2].

The oldest group that is part of the foundation of the present denomination originated in 1895 as the Fire-Baptized Holiness Association in Iowa. The leader, Benjamin H. Irwin of Lincoln, Nebraska, a former Baptist preacher, organized the body into the national Fire-Baptized Holiness Church at Anderson, South Carolina in August of 1898. By this time, Irwin's group had organized churches in eight U. S. states and two Canadian provinces[3].

Meanwhile, Abner Blackmon Crumpler, a Methodist Holiness evangelist in North Carolina, founded the Pentecostal Holiness in 1897, as the inter-denominational North Carolina Holiness Association[4]. The first congregation to carry the name Pentecostal Holiness Church was formed in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in 1898. Pentecostal was dropped from the name in 1903 to more fully assosciate the church with the Holiness movement[5].

Gaston B. Cashwell, a minister of the Methodist Church, joined the Pentecostal Holiness Church in 1903. He became a leading figure in the church and the Pentecostal movement on the east coast[6]. In 1906, he traveled to Los Angeles to visit the Pentecostal revival at the Azusa Street mission. While there he professed having received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the evidence of speaking in tongues. Upon returning to Dunn, North Carolina, in December of 1906, Cashwell preached the Pentecost experience in the local Holiness church.

The influence of the Pentecostal renewal grew while, at the same time, the leader and founder of the church, Abner Crumpler, though willing to accept speaking in tongues, did not accept the idea that it was the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit[7]. At the annual conference of 1908, Crumpler was re-elected president of the body,however, with a majority of the delegates having experienced tongues, he permanently disaffiliated himself from the church[8]. After Crumpler's departure, the conference added an article to the statement of faith, recognizing tongues as the initial evidence:

“ 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)[9]. ”

This is apparently the first official Pentecostal doctrine adopted by a church in the United States[10]. As a further sign of its new identity in 1909, the word Pentecostal was added to the name again[11].

[edit] Mergers

The recognition of this doctrine opened the way for the merger of the Pentecostal Holiness Church with the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church, which was already teaching this third blessing. This merger occurred in January 30, 1911 at the Pentecostal Holiness Church building in Falcon, North Carolina[12]. S.D. Page was elected the first general superintendent[13]. Following the 1911 merger the Tabernacle Pentecostal Church merged with the Pentecostal Holiness Church in 1915[14]. Having Presbyterian roots and located mostly in South Carolina, this group of congregations was affiliated with Nickles Holmes' Bible College in Greenville, South Carolina. After the mergers, the new denomination, which continued to go by the name of Pentecostal Holiness, had about 200 churches with approximately 5000 members.

[edit] Schism

In 1920 a schism came into the Pentecostal Holiness Church over divine healing and the use of medicine. Some pastors believed Christians had the right to use medicine and doctors, while the majority of the church believed in trusting God for healing without the use of medicine and doctors. The minority withdrew and formed the Congregational Holiness Church in 1921[15].

[edit] Recent History

The Pentecostal Holiness Church was a charter member of the National Association of Evangelicals in 1943, and joined the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America now Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America in 1948. In the 1960s, the Pentecostal Holiness Church began to branch out beyond the United States by affiliating with sister Pentecostal bodies in other parts of the world. In 1967, an affiliation was formed with the Pentecostal Methodist Church of Chile, one of the largest national Pentecostal churches in the world and the largest non-Catholic church in Chile[16]. At the time, the Jotabeche Pentecostal Methodist congregation was the largest church in the world with over 60,000 members. Today, with over 150,000 members, it ranks second to the Full Gospel Central Church in Souel, Korea. This denomination claims no less than 1.7 million adherents[17].

A similar affiliation was forged in 1985 with the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Brazil. A Neo-Pentecostal body with roots in the Brazilian Methodist Church, the Wesleyan Church numbers some 50,000 members and adherents in 1995[18].

The largest Pentecostal Holiness churches in the United States include Cathedral of Praise World Outreach Center in Oklahoma City, pastored by Ron Dryden; Northwood Temple in Fayetteville, North Carolina, pastored by John Hedgepeth; Evangelist Temple in Tulsa, Oklahoma, pastored by Dan Beller; Life Christian Center in Oklahoma City, pastored by Dwight Burchett; Christian Heritage Church in Tallahassee, Florida, pastored by Bob Shelley; World Agape Korean Church in Los Angeles, pastored by Jon Kim[19].

The church in 1999 had 8383 churches with 1,040,400 members worldwide[20]. U. S. membership was 291,846 individuals in 1964 churches in 2004[21]. There were 28 regional conferences and missionaries in more than 90 nations. International offices were once located in Franklin Springs, Georgia, home of Emmanuel College, but is now located in Bethany, Oklahoma (a suburb of Oklahoma City). The church sponsors two accredited colleges, a children's home, and a convalescent center. The word "International" was added to the name of the church in 1975[22].

[edit] Structure

Reflecting its Methodist Episcopal heritage the Pentecostal Holiness Church is divided into conferences. The General Conference is the church's highest governing and administrative body. The Pentcostal Holiness Church has regional conferences on six major continents: Africa, Australia and Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America. These conferences meet every four years and are the second highest administrative bodies in the church[23]. Regional conferences are further divided into annual, district, and missionary conferences[24]. The international headquarters are located in Bethany, Oklahoma.

[edit] Educational Institutions

[edit] Charitable Organizations

  • Falcon Children's Home
  • Alternative to Abortion Ministries
  • New Life Adoption Agency
  • The Children's Center

[edit] Doctrine

Since the adoption of the article of faith on the baptism of the Holy Ghost in 1908, the Pentecostal Holiness Church has taught the following beliefs as their five cardinal doctrines: justification by faith, entire sanctification, the baptism in the Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking in tongues, Christ's atonement (including divine healing), and the premillennial second coming of Christ[25]. The church holds water baptism and holy communion (open communion observed quarterly) to be divine ordinances. Though not considered an ordinance, some of the churches also engage in the practice of feet washing. The church's Articles of Faith[26] lists these 14 doctrines:

  • One God existing in three persons; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost
  • The dual nature of Christ, being both God and man, and his cruxifiction for the forgiving of sins
  • The resurrection and ascension to Heaven of Christ
  • The Holy Ghost is one in substance, majesty, and glory with the Father and Son
  • The divine inspiration, authorship, and inerrancy of the Bible
  • Eternal life in Heaven for the righteous and eternal damnation in Hell for the wicked
  • That Christ shed his blood for the remission of sins with regeneration and salvation for sinners
  • That justification is by faith in Christ alone
  • Cleansing of all sin for the believer
  • Belief in Sanctification
  • That the Baptism in the Holy Ghost is evidenced in the speaking in tongues
  • Belief in divine healing
  • Belief of premillennial return of Christ
  • Responsibility of every believer to carry out the Great Commission

A notable practice of this church is that it allows its members to “have the right of choice between the various modes as practised by the several evangelical denominations" when choosing to be baptized, including infant baptism[27].

[edit] People

Several ministers who were raised in the Pentecostal Holiness Church have risen to greater name recognition than the church itself, such as Oral Roberts, an internationally known charismatic evangelist, Charles Stanley, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and C.M. Ward, a former Assemblies of God radio preacher[28]. A predominantly black organization, now known as the Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas, was organized by a Bishop William E. Fuller of B. H. Irwin's Fire-Baptized Holiness Church.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  • ^  IPHC Brief History: Introduction (2007)[29]
  • ^  IPHC Brief History: Holiness Movement (2007)[30]
  • ^  IPHC Brief History: Pentecostal Movement (2007)[31]
  • ^  IPHC Brief History: Organizational Heritage (2007)[32]
  • ^  IPHC Brief History: Pentecost & Mergers (2007)[33]
  • ^  IPHC Brief History: Organizational Developments (2007)[34]
  • ^  ARDA Profile of IPHC [35]
  • ^  IPHC Articles of Faith (2007)[36]
  • ^  The Pentecostal Holiness Church [37]
  • ^  IPHC Polity Page (2007)[38]
  • ^  Pentecostal Holiness Church, Inc Encyclopedia Brittanica (2007)[39]
  • ^  An Article on the International Pentecostal Holiness Church [40]
  • ^  John Paul cries 'wolf': misreading the Pentecostals [41]
  • ^  Historic Timeline (2007)[42]
  • Encyclopedia of American Religions, J. Gordon Melton, editor
  • Encycloped of Religion in the South, Samuel S. Hill, editor
  • Handbook of Denominations in the United States, by Frank S. Mead, Samuel S. Hill, and Craig D. Atwood
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