August 14 Is Heritage Sunday
In celebration of 125 years of Pentecostal witness, the Church of God International Executive Council has set aside August 14 as Heritage Sunday.
The Church of God was born with the formation of the Christian Union on August 19, 1886. In a simple meeting house in Monroe County, Tennessee, R. G. Spurling called for Christians to take the New Testament as our “only rule of faith and practice” and to sit “together as the Church of God.” Eight people responded to his invitation, and under the leadership of his father, Richard Spurling, they established a new congregation they named Christian Union. Building on their pioneer ministry, the Church of God now includes almost seven million members ministering in 181 counties and territories around the world.
This historic anniversary provides an opportunity for every local church to recognize the sacrifices of our pioneers, and to renew our commitment to fulfilling the Great Commission. Along with remembering our pioneers, local congregations can use Heritage Sunday as an occasion to hear the stories of what God has done through local ministries, interview long-time members, collect photographs, documents and historic memorabilia, and secure important records that preserve the stories of local church ministry. Congregations may also use this anniversary to review and renew a commitment to their God-given mission for their community.
There are many resources available for Heritage Sunday:
• Ideas for celebrating Heritage Sunday as well as a 125th Anniversary Article Series are on the Church of God web site at http://churchofgod.org/125th-anniversary/. A PowerPoint presentation that can be used for telling the story of our pioneers will also be available on this site.
• The August 2011 issue of Church of God Evangel celebrates the 125th anniversary of the Church of God with articles about our history as well as our present and future. It is online at http://www.onlineevangel.org/.
• The most extensive history of the Church of God is Charles W. Conn’s Like a Mighty Army: A History of the Church of God, 1886-1996. This book and other heritage resources are at Pathway Bookstore (http://www.pathwaybookstore.com/). Of special note is “Church of God Publications, 1901-1923,” which includes several thousand pages of early Church of God publications on CD-Rom. This CD contains powerful testimonies and reports of our earliest generations.
• Two shorter histories and other resources are on the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center website at http://www.cogheriage.org. These include A. J. Tomlinson’s foundational history, “A Brief History of the Church that is Now Known as the Church of God,” as well as a brief history by Church Historian Dr. David Roebuck. Click on the Resources link for these histories and other resources available at the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center.
• Photographs of early Church of God pioneers are posted on the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center’s Facebook page. Search for “Dixon Pentecostal Research Center.”
