International Pentecostal Holiness Church
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. The
Methodist Episcopal Church, South adopted a statement in
1894 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.
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.
Abner Blackmon Crumpler, a Methodist Holiness evangelist in
North Carolina, founded the Pentecostal Holiness in
1897, as the inter-denominational
North Carolina Holiness Association. 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 1901, but was restored in 1908.
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. 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 leader 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, and eventually left the church. At their annual conference in November of
1908, the body 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). This 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. The
Tabernacle Pentecostal Church, churches affiliated with Nickes Holmes' Bible College in
Greenville, South Carolina, merged with the
Pentecostal Holiness Church in
1915. These congregations had
Presbyterian roots and were located mostly in
South Carolina. After the mergers, the denomination had about 200 churches with approximately 5000 members.
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. 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
Pentecostal Holiness Church is apparently the first church in the
United States to adopt a pentecostal statement as official doctrine.
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.
The church in
1999 had 8383 churches with 1,040,400 members. U. S. membership was 184,431 individuals in 1771 churches. 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
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. The current name (the addition of
International) was adopted in
1975.
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. 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.
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International Pentecostal Holiness Church - official Web Site
*
An Article on the International Pentecostal Holiness Church*
The Georgia Conference Part of the International Pentecostal Holiness ChurchEncyclopedia 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
