Holiness Family: Intrafaith Organizations

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Holiness Family: Intrafaith Organizations

★505 ★

Alliance World Fellowship

PO Box 35000
Colorado Springs, CO 80935-3500

The Alliance World Fellowship (AWF) brings together the independent churches that have grown out of the missionary activity of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA). Soon after its formation in 1897, the C&MA launched a successful world mission program that led to the establishment of work in more than 50 countries. In more recent decades, C&MA missionary leaders were among the Christian thinkers who transformed the understanding of the missionary enterprise in light of the post-colonial era and the appearance of so many new nations in the third world. Since 1950, a number of the C&MA missions became autonomous national churches, and in 1975 the Alliance World Fellowship was organized to maintain the fellowship and restructure the relationship among the churches as.

Now seen as partners in mission, the C&MA and the former missions cooperate as separate organizational entities, working together as equals. New overseas national churches are seen as autonomous bodies, taking the lead in the development of the work in their country.

The AWF meets quadrennially. As a fellowship, it assumes no legislative authority, and gatherings consist of reports on church work internationally, lectures and discussions, and small group meetings on topics of interest. Worship reflects the multi-national participation.

Membership: Membership includes the Christian and Missionary Alliance and some fifty churches around the world with a combined membership of more than 2.5 million.

Sources:

Alliance World Fellowship. http://www.cmalliance.org/missions/world/awf.htm. 25 January 2002.

Moore, David H. "How the C&MA Relates to Overseas Church." http://online.cbccts.sk.ca/alliancestudies/ahtreadings/ahtr–s74.html. 1 October 2001.

★506 ★

Christian Holiness Partnership

263 Buffalo Rd.
Clinton, TN 37716

The Christian Holiness Partnership (CHP), formerly known as the Christian Holiness Association, began in 1867 as the National Camp Meeting Association for the Promotion of Holiness, the prime organized expression of the youthful holiness movement that was revived following the Civil War. The holiness movement had emerged in American Methodism in the decades prior to the war as the champion of the distinctive Wesleyan doctrine of the sanctification, the experience of the Christian believers which, by the power of the Holy Spirit, renders him or her perfect in love. As originally formed at the first large post-war camp meeting in Vineland, New Jersey, the association was seen by its leaders as a promotional endeavor operating primarily in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

The work of the association, in holding camp meetings in the Northeast and Midwest, was soon extended to include the South and the far West, and in the mid-1870s it ventured to Australia and India for its first international work. The work was altered through the 1880s by the emergence of a number of independent holiness churches and the gradual cooling of enthusiasm for holiness ideas in the Methodist Church (which controlled most of the camp meeting sites regularly utilized by the holiness evangelists). By 1894, when the words "Camp Meeting" were dropped from the association's name, the group had become ecumenical, through much of the leadership was still based in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

The primary purpose of the organization was the promotion of holiness through camp meetings. With the rise of holiness churches and denominations, the parent organization became known as the National Holiness Association (NHA). In 1970 several holiness associations outside of the United States affiliated with the NHA, and the name was changed to the Christian Holiness Association. The current name was adopted in 1997.

The purpose of CHP, as defined in its constitution, is "to collectively pursue, promote, and proclaim the message of Scriptural Holiness; furthermore, … to celebrate the world-wide blessings of God upon our partnering, noting especially the multiple victories of our many Spirit-appointed ministries. Through this Partnership we seek a closer fellowship among all denominations, religious organizations and associations, educational institutions, individual churches, and persons who are in one accord with the Statement of Faith of this Partnership and the historic Wesleyan position on Scriptural Holiness, and further; we seek the conversion of sinners, the entire sanctification of believers as a second definite work of grace, and to promote a scriptural awakening and to generally edify the entire Body of Christ."

CHP seeks to fulfill its purpose through an annual convention; publication of a quarterly digest; operation of the Partnership Press, which assists member denominations in having their published works reach the major book market; provision of religious programming for the Odyssey cable channel; and maintenance of a web site. Additionally, CHP has developed several commissions, including the Women's Commission, which endeavors to motivate, stimulate, and inspire women to follow Christ totally regardless or role or image; a higher education commission comprising presidents and administrative leaders of holiness colleges, seminaries, and Bible Colleges; the Wesleyan Theological Society, which encourages exchange of ideas among Wesleyan-Arminian theologians, develops papers for CHP seminars, stimulates scholarship among younger theologians and pastors, and publishes a scholarly journal; the Missions Commission, which holds an annual retreat for mission executives, sponsors a monthly prayer letter, and conducts a practical seminar at the annual convention; the Social Action Commission, which keeps the holiness movement aware of current social interests and stimulates effective action; an evangelism commission, to aid various member bodies in such areas a church planting, personal renewal, and evangelism; and the Camp Meeting Commission, which publishes a directory of camp meetings and presents a seminar on camp meetings at the annual convention.

Membership: Among the affiliated denominations are American Rescue Workers, The Association of Evangelical Churches, The Association of Independent Methodists, the Bible Holiness Movement, Brethren in Christ Church, Churches of Christ in Christian Union, The Church of God (Anderson, Indiana), The Congregational Methodist Church, Evangelical Christian Church, Evangelical Church of North America, Evangelical Congregationa Church, Evangelical Friends Alliance (Eastern Region), Evangelical Methodist Church, Free Methodist Church of North America, Japan Immanuel General Mission, Missionary Church (North Central District), The Church of the Nazarene, Primitive Methodist Church, The Salvation Army (USA), The Salvation Army of Canada and Bermuda, The Sanctified Church, and the Wesleyan Church.

Periodicals: The Holiness Digest. • Wesleyan Theological Society Journal.

Sources:

Jones, Charles Edwin. A Guide to the Study of the Holiness Movement. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1974.

★507 ★

Interdenominational Holiness Convention

Salem, OH

The Interdenominational Holiness Convention (IHC) was founded in 1947 as an expression of the more conservative element in the holiness movement. Its primary moving force was H.E. Schmul, at the time a minister in the Wesleyan Methodist Church. By the end of World War II a variety of developments within the larger holiness denomination were, many felt, leading toward a loss of holiness distinctives. Theological education was becoming standard for ministers. And many of the holiness behavioral standards, especially restrictions on dress and entertainment, were being dropped.

In the 1950s the Church of the Nazarene would be hit with schism as conservatives associated with Glenn Griffith left to found the Bible Missionary Church, and then in 1966–1967 conservatives in both the Wesleyan Methodist Church and Pilgrim Holiness Church founded new denominations in reaction to the merger of the two bodies. The Interdenominational Holiness Convention had been their home and continued to be a focus of fellowship and cooperative activity. He also became well-known for his republication of a number of classic nineteenth-century holiness books.

Membership: Those churches and organizations associated with the IHC include: Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection, Bible Methodist Connection of Churches, Bible Missionary Church, Church of the Bible Covenant, Evangelical Wesleyan Church, Independent Holiness Churches, Pilgrim Holiness Church of New York, Pilgrim Holiness Church of the Midwest, United Holiness Church of North America, Voice of the Nazarene Association of Churches, and Wesleyan Holiness Association of Churches.