A Brief History of the Pentecostal Holiness Church

Introduction

One of the most significant developments in recent Christianity is the appearance of many pentecostal denominations throughout the world during the past century. Beginning in the United States and spreading rapidly to most nations of the world, they now comprise a major "third force" in Christendom whose phenomenal growth has commanded the attention of the world.

One of the first groups to designate itself officially as a member of the pentecostal movement was the Pentecostal Holiness Church. With roots in the midwestern and southeastern United States, the Pentecostal Holiness Church has played a significant role within the movement from the beginning.

The character of the church is to be seen in its name, which places it astride two major revival movements: the holiness revival of the late nineteenth century, and the pentecostal revival of the twentieth century. As its distinctive contribution to contemporary Christianity, this church has attempted to preserve the Wesleyan tradition, while perpetuating the pentecostal tradition.

The fundamental faith of the church is that God's power to redeem man and society is resident in Jesus Christ, Son of the Father, who sent the Holy Spirit into the world as the Agent of salvation. It is this faith-that God's power is directly available to everyone to save, cleanse, empower, and heal-that gave the Pentecostal Holiness Church its birth.

Spiritual Heritage

The theology and heritage of the church flow from many sources. Basically, Pentecostal Holiness Church people look to the Day of Pentecost as the beginning of the early Christian church that ultimately produced the denomination. The atmosphere of the Upper Room (Acts 2), with the "sound of a rushing mighty wind," the "cloven tongues as of fire," the speaking forth in "other tongues as the Spirit gave utterance," and the dynamic public witness that followed, has inspired the church to perpetuate the power of pentecost in this generation.

In its statement of faith, the Pentecostal Holiness Church distills and preserves the three great spiritual reforms of recent Christianity-Lutheran, Wesleyan, and pentecostal. Each of these revival movements brought to light and reemphasized truths concerning the Christian experience that apparently had been lost since the times of the early church.

The first spiritual reform was the Lutheran Reformation of the sixteenth century. The most enduring contribution of the Protestant Reformation to Christian experience was Martin Luther's doctrine of the believer's justification by faith alone.

This doctrine became the bedrock of the Reformation and remains to this day the basic doctrinal foundation of all evangelical churches, including the Pentecostal Holiness Church. The church regards the "new birth" as the conversion experience that admits the believer into the family of God. The church's belief on this crucial point of doctrine is expressed in her eighth Article of Faith.

We believe, teach and firmly maintain the scriptural doctrine of justification by faith alone (Romans 5:1).

Pentecostal Holiness people thus regard themselves as spiritual heirs of the Reformation. Therefore, great importance is given to evangelism. The saving of the lost is seen as the primary task of the church.

The Methodist movement, begun by John Wesley in eighteenth-century England, produced the second major contribution to the church's theology, the doctrine of sanctification as a second work of grace. In pentecostal history this is seen generally as the second spiritual reformation of the church.

From the beginning Wesley's Methodist Societies emphasized sanctification as a "second work of grace" following conversion, calling for a life of holiness and separation from the world. Wesley also used the terms "heart purity," "perfect love," and "Christian perfection" to describe the work of sanctification and the life of holiness in the believer.

The burden of the Wesleyan revival was that the converted believer need not live out his lifetime as a slave to inborn sin; Christ "suffered without the gate" in order to "sanctify his people with his own blood." This experience of sanctification is the birthright of every Christian.