A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

A History of Christian Doctrine
denominations, COGIC has been quite willing to have fellowship
with the Charismatic movement.
The Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) (CG)
(4,000,000), is the largest predominantly white organization
among Second Work Pentecostals. Its foreign missions
efforts have benefited greatly from mergers with
several large indigenous Pentecostal churches. In the U.S.
it grew from 202 churches and 7,784 adherents in 1916
to 6,060 churches and 753,230 adherents in 1996.
The CG has a number of black members. In 1936, 42
of 1081 churches were identified as black. From 1920 to
1966, black and white congregations were segregated in
the official structure. Today, however, there are no such
barriers, and the Council of Eighteen (international governing
body) must always have black membership.
R. G. Spurling, the founder of the Christian Union in
1886 (which became the CG), was opposed to creeds of
any kind. By 1910, however, the church found it necessary
to publish its basic beliefs. A committee report,
which became the official teachings, stated, “The Church
of God stands for the whole Bible rightly divided. The
New Testament as the only rule for government and discipline.”
It then listed twenty-five prominent teachings, as
follows (excluding Scripture references): 156
128
(1) Repentance. (2) Justification. (3) Regeneration.
(4) New Birth. (5) Sanctification subsequent to
Justification. (6) Holiness. (7) Water Baptism by
immersion. (8) Baptism with the Holy Ghost subsequent
to cleansing: The enduement of power for service.
(9) The speaking in tongues as the evidence of
the baptism with the Holy Ghost. (10) The full