Roots of Reform, Revival and Righteousness
A Brief History of the Wesleyan Church
October 5, 2008 – 40th Anniversary Celebration
Morning Service
Introduction
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:3-5
Local History
Just over 16 years ago, two local churches merged to form one united church. The Oakland Church still stands, outside of Mount Orab, just off of state route 774. The church has been renamed the Lord’s House of Prayer. Would the families connected with the Oakland church please stand? The Oakland Wesleyan Church and the Mount Orab Wesleyan Church merged with one shared location here in Mount Orab and renamed the church United Wesleyan. Would the families connected to the Mount Orab Church prior to the merge please stand? Together those two churches have proven that we can indeed beat the odds. The vast majority of church mergers simply do not survive past five to ten years with the result that no church remains. After 16 years, they have formed a strong church.
Today, we are celebrating 40 years as a Wesleyan Church. Clealry our roots run much deeper than just forty years. You may have noticed, as you came in this morning that the cornerstone of our church building is more than forty years old. The Wesleyan Church is only forty years old this year but our roots as a church are much stronger. Our church is reflection of the larger church because the Wesleyan Church is the result of a merger. The Wesleyan Church was formed, in 1968 with the merger of two older denominations, The Wesleyan Methodist Church and the Pilgrim Holiness Church. Both denominations hold the same basic roots with John Wesley.
The Wesley Brothers
The Wesleyan movement was founded by John and Charles Wesley, during the early 1700’s, in England. The early 1700’s in England were days of massive social, political, economic and spiritual turmoil. For all practical purposes, England was headed for a brutal and bloody revolution, much like what France experienced. It was in the midst of this turmoil that John and Charles Wesley found themselves in.
In May 1783 both John and Charles Wesley experienced spiritual renewal during services held by at Oxford University by a group called the Holy Club. Others at Oxford, gave these men another name, meant to be an insult: Methodists. The name was to reflect their approach to following Christ methodically in spiritual discipline.
John and Charles became leaders within the rising Methodist movement that swept across England. The revival was spurred; by the outdoor preaching of John and the moving hymn writing of Charles. John’s preaching led 1000’s to Christ and called for a radical organization of the new converts. Instead, of simply just putting the people into existing churches, John created two new and distinct groupings. The larger groups, called societies, met for preaching and worship and the smaller groups, called classes or bands, were for spiritual care and accountability.
John Wesley required people to get tickets for the meetings of the societies. The tickets could only be received; at the class meetings. This eliminated believers from just being a part of worship without instruction or accountability. Instruction and accountability are two of the benchmark problems in the church in America today.
The revivals eventually led to something that neither, John or Charles expected or wanted, a new denomination. The Methodist Church was officially founded; in America in 1784 and in England in 1795 following the death of John Wesley.
Roots of Reform – Brief Outline of History of the Wesleyan Methodist Church
In the early 1800’s the Methodist church began to have serious problems on two distinct levels that were in need of reform, social and spiritual.
The social reforms were needed in the area of slavery. The Methodist church would not condemn or even criticize the slave trade in America. This was one of the chief aims of John Wesley in England. Slavery was a moral and social blight on American soil. A small group of individuals began to seek reform within the Methodist Church to become a source of Anti-slavery spirit. The Methodist Church refused, to change their position and would not support a statement on freedom for slaves. This group of reformers held the Wesleyan Anti-Slavery Convention in 1843 and within a year the Wesleyan Methodist Church was born.
Freedom’s Hill – North Carolina
One of the early challenges came from the South. An abolitionist church in pre-Civil War North Carolina requested a Wesleyan Methodist pastor. The request was brought to a meeting held in Cincinnati and the decision is that no appointment would be made to that church but the Wesleyan Methodists would send a volunteer, if one could be found.
A young man named Adam Crooks volunteered to pastor that congregation in North Carolina. After arriving, Crooks began at the task of constructing a church building and named the church Freedom’s Hill, the first Wesleyan Methodist Church in North Carolina. The message was freedom for the sinner and freedom for the slaves. The church was one of the first stops on the Underground Railroad and they helped send thousands of slaves north to freedom.
There were several attempts to intimidate, harass, attack and even kill Adam Crooks. One morning, shots were fired through the front door of the church in an attempt to injure or kill Crooks. Crooks was eventually run out of North Carolina for distributing tracts of the Ten Commandments. The reason was because slavery was seen as stealing the life of the slave, thus breaking the commandment to not steal.
National Geographic
Several years ago National Geographic had a documentary on the Underground Railroad and filmed the recent discovery of a well preserved station of the Railroad. The site was so well preserved the owners only discovered by sheer accident. The house was a Wesleyan Methodist parsonage and the home of Luther Lee, one of the founders of the Wesleyan Methodist Church
Women’s Sufferage
Following the Civil War, the Wesleyan Methodist Church continued to push social reform by holding the first Women’s Sufferage meeting. The sufferage movement gained women the right to vote.
The Wesleyan Methodist Church was also concerned about spiritual reform. Wesley’s doctrine of Entire Sanctification had been all but forgotten; by the Methodists. Sanctification is the process by which the Holy Spirit gains moves and takes residence in the life of a believer. The Wesleyan Methodist Church promoted and preached the message of Entire Sanctification and the vital importance of personal holiness.
Roots of Revival – Brief Outline of History of the Pilgrim Holiness Church
The second branch that formed the Wesleyan Church was the Pilgrim Holiness Church. Our local heritage is tied with the Pilgrim Holiness Church because both Oakland and Mount Orab were Pilgrim Holiness Churches.
The Pilgrim Holiness Church began as the International Holiness and Prayer League in 1897 with Martin Wells Knapp and Seth C Rees, in Cincinnati. The purpose of the group was to promote holiness evangelism in the United States and around the world. Their focus was four fold.
1.) The new birth of the sinner
2.) Sanctification of believers
3.) Watchful waiting for the return of Christ
4.) World evangelism
The Pilgrim Holiness church grew out of the holiness revivals of the later 1800’s. Many revivals were held and churches subsequently started. These various revivals across the nation created a variety of small groups or church affliations.
The Pilgrim Holiness Church was a result of several mergers
International Holiness and Prayer League – 1897 Cincinnati
Holiness Christian Church – IN, IL, MO, KS and OK
Pentecostal Rescue Mission
Pilgrim Church of California – Merged to form the Pilgrim Holiness church:1922
Pentecostal Brethren in Christ, joined the Ohio district: 1924
People’s Mission Church – Colorado Springs: 1925
Holiness Church of California: 1946
Local History
In 1908 the Oakland Pilgrim Holiness Church was founded by Charles Cowdrey and was located off of State Route 774 near Lake Grant. In 1922 a tent revival was held just north of Mount Orab and Elmer Moon helped to found the Mount Orab Pilgrim Holiness Church. The church began meeting at an old school know as Columbia College between Greenbush and Buford. In 1926, the church purchased the old Presbyterian Church building on north Main in Mt Orab, where it remained until 1965. The Mount Orab Church saw the need to build and sought our current location. The building fund was started with just $5,000. The church paid for the new building piece by piece as various items were purchased. The Oakland and Mount Orab Churches merged in 1992 to form United Wesleyan Church.
Roots of Righteousness – Brief Outline of Our Core Beliefs
We believe that the only way for anyone to become right with God is through the power of Christ’s blood.
We are a church with a firm foundation
1.) Our foundation is built on Jesus Christ
There can be no church without the person of Jesus Christ. A church built on anything but Jesus is nothing more than a social club that happens to meet on Sunday morning. Jesus is the center of time itself and He is the reason that we have the church. Jesus is the hope for all people. Through His death, we gain forgiveness of sin and through His resurrection, we gain the hope of eternity. This is why we gather each Sunday to celebrate what we have be given in Jesus.
2.) Our foundation is great faith in a great God - Trinity
We believe in the Truth that God is three in one, a Trinity. God exists in three separate and distinct beings that form one God. God the Father is the creator of all things. God the Son, is Jesus Christ the savior of the world and Lord over all things. God the Holy Spirit, is the sanctifier, comforter of all believers and gives God’s indwelling presence within the life of the believer.
3.) Our foundation is based in principles of Christ’s Kingdom
