Church of God (Charleston, Tennessee)

The Church of God (Charleston, Tennessee) or TCOG is a Holiness-Pentecostal movement based in the United States. The church's actual name is The Church of God; however, the parenthetical phrase Charleston, Tennessee is added to distinguish it from similar-sounding organizations. The Church of God was organized in 1993 after a schism in the Church of God of Prophecy. Its headquarters is in Cleveland, Tennessee but its postal address is in Charleston, Tennessee. As of 2007, The Church of God operates in 48 countries and territories.

In August 1886, Richard Spurling (1810–1891), an ordained Baptist minister, became dissatisfied with what he believed were overly creedal approaches to New Testament Christianity. Spurling collaborated with seven members from Missionary Baptist churches in Monroe County, Tennessee and Cherokee County, North Carolina. In 1903, these small fellowships organized the Christian Union with the stated intent to unite on the principles of the New Testament without reference to restatements of the faith in creedal form.

Ultimately, the Christian Union under leadership of Spurling's son and others including a former Quaker and Bible salesman named Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson, experienced remarkable growth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the Appalachian foothills. By 1907, Tomlinson had become the acknowledged leader of these Christian believers whose faith was driven by Wesleyan beliefs of personal holiness and reported Pentecostal experiences of being filled with the Holy Spirit and glossolalia. Many small congregations were planted and organized under the common name adopted in 1907, Church of God. In 1909, Tomlinson was elected General Overseer of the fledgling church. He held that position until 1923.

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