User talk:Krohnjoe

The Michigan Schism: The UH Church and the GLC

Forty years have come and gone, a generation is fading away and the past is now, but a memory. Now is the time where a new generation is taking the place of the old, and another is waiting in the corridors of time. In the short history of the people and churches that make up the now Great Lakes Conference of the Bible Methodist Connection, many changes have been made in the march toward this present age. Some of them were necessary and beneficial; still others caused difficulties, trials and betrayals. Despite all that, one fact is proven to stand out in the four decades of our history, that we have stood together promoting “the gospel and spreading scriptural holiness across these lands.”

The Origin of the United Holiness Church:

The Free Methodist Church established in August of 1860, became the object of dissention in the early 1960’s. Three main groups left the Free Methodist Church resulting in the schism from the mid-1950’s to the late-1960’s. These groups were the Midwest Holiness Association, the Evangelical Wesleyans of North America (these two groups later merging in 1963) and a slightly larger group centered in Michigan, called the United Holiness Church of North America (1966).

In the early months of 1966 a group of ministers, centered in the North Michigan Conference of the Free Methodist Church, began to coalesce around the leadership of E.D. Coxon. The North Michigan Conference had been “increasingly infiltrated by those wishing to adhere to compromising policies of the general church. Old line ministers and layman throughout the conference have been vocal in opposition to the general disregard of Free Methodistism’s first-generation standards of conduct and spiritual fervency.”  The ministers under the leadership of E.D. Coxon concluded that there was no other course but secession from the church. Booklets stating the reasons for such action were distributed throughout the churches in the conference on Sunday, February 16, 1966. These were signed by eighteen withdrawing members and their wives (the ministers withdrawing were: Rev. Lowell Betts, Rev. E.D. Coxon, Rev. Marvin Sickmiller, Rev. Justin Dowd, Rev. David Parks, Rev. Rudy Potter, Rev. L.D. Coxon, Rev. Lowell Derschied, Rev. D.M. Kiffer, Rev. DeWayne Coxon, Rev. Robert Truesdale, Rev. Robert Sickmiller, Rev. James H. Storey, Rev. Carl Johnson, Rev. Kenneth Stetler, Rev. C.K. Carlisle, and Rev. Eugene Book).

Bishop E.C. John after talking with other bishops met with the withdrawing members on February 19, 1966, discontinuing their salaries, defrocking them from the ministry and giving them thirty days to vacate all parsonages. On February 22-23 the dissident ministers and 350-400 laymen meant at a rally in Muskegon, Michigan, in which great revival fires burned in their hearts with many seeking at the altars. Many of the societies in the early days met in homes until alternative property could be secured. This schism in the North Michigan Conference left many churches in the area with only a handful of members as a large portion of the membership endeavor to follow God’s call for separation from the world and in emphasizing scriptural holiness.

The Heart of the Early United Holiness Ministers

“We remain Free Methodists of heart. We realize that some good preachers and laymen will stay with the church, but subtle pressure will be on them to leave the old paths (Jeremiah 6:16).”  On the hearts of the founding ministers of the United Holiness Church was a deep concern for the worldliness that had become abundant in the Free Methodist Church. They had a deep concern for their children and grandchildren lest the end results of remaining with the church would result in the damnation of their souls. It was not easy to leave the mother church. It would have been much easier to stay in the church with the securities of it. The early ministers gave up churches, parsonages, and salaries to follow God’s leading. They left everything, but there again, God called Abraham to leave all and follow Him.

Larry Smith, editor of the Earnest Christian writes, “We admire this action by our brethren in the North Michigan Conference. There is nothing that is more desperately needed throughout the holiness movement than clear-cut separation from worldly religious organizations. Free Methodism has been universally betrayed into the hands of the enemies of historic Methodism. How tragic that good and holy men should remain within a backslidden denomination which God has largely forsaken. [We admire] their action that said if this means secession from the church or even expulsion, let it come.”

The Reasons Stated:

The follow eight points are those that were published in pamphlet form and distributed to the congregations of the North Michigan Conference (February 16, 1966). It was misconstrued by the Bishops as having immediately withdrawn from the Free Methodist Church and was given thirty days to vacate church and parsonage.

These complaints against the church were listed as necessary for as was written “we could do nothing else, so help us God” and we remain “Free Methodists of heart and life.”

1.	The fact that shallow, sentimental experiences and “decisions for Christ” have been substituted for the radical type of Christian experience in conversion and entire sanctification. 2.	The fact that in many of the Free Methodist Churches formalism has replaced the “freedom of the Spirit.” 3.	The fact that there is a double standard of principles and conduct held within the church which fosters division and genders strife, making it nearly impossible to promote that unity of the spirit which is necessary to true revival. “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” 4.	The fact that the clause prohibiting the wedding ring has been removed, and that there has been a gradual lowering of the standards of modesty, and that there is an easy going attitude concerning questionable amusements. 5.	The fact that there is no standard raised against the misuse of television, which has caused multiplied worldliness and moral decay. Home television is produced for entertainment, and as the morality of America dissipates, the same men who feed the theatre will seek to satisfy the appetites of those who watch television. It is prophesied of these, that “in the last days wicked men shall wax worse and worse.” 6.	The fact that the recent inaugurated World Mission Budget makes I mandatory that we support some programs in the church in direct violation to our conscience. 7.	The fact that the names of good and humble men have been assassinated so that their influence and usefulness have been greatly impaired. 8.	The fact that every possible protest has been ineffective such as petitions to general conferences, pleas to annual conferences, letters to bishops, commissions, headquarters and schools. One such protest – brought by a Society at the 1965 North Michigan Annual Conference was in these words: “Incredible as it may seem, we are being called to support the building of churches which have kitchen facilities in their basements. This we cannot do. We cannot for conscience sake distribute all the Sunday School literature which comes from our Publishing house. Our hearts are grieved at the laxity in the maintaining of Biblical standards on our college campuses. These and other trends away from the position of primitive Free Methodism have caused us no little concern.”

The UH and Afterward:

The first General Conference of the United Holiness Church of North America was on June 15, 1966, held at a camp meeting in Carson City, in which E.D. Coxon, a former Free Methodist District Superintendent was elected the General Superintendent of the new denomination. The United Holiness Church soon grew to include between thirty to forty churches in addition to which was added mission work in Texas and Mexico. The denomination also published their own paper, known as the United Holiness Sentinel, which was printed for many years under the leadership of its editor, Rev. Blake Jones.

The denomination soon established Jordan College, located at Cedar Springs, as its denominational school. It became the centre of controversy in the late-1970’s and caused many churches to leave of which the majority become independent. In 1985 the denomination changed their name to the Wesleyan Bible Church of North America in an attempt to improve their image and to distant themselves from a Pentecostal group that was using a similar name in the southern United States.

In the mid-1990’s the United Holiness Church began to seek merger with the Bible Methodists and invited Dr. James B. Keaton Sr. to become the General Superintendent (former G.S. being: E.D. Coxon, James H. Storey, and Lowell Derschied). In 1994, merger with the Bible Methodist Connection was established and the United Holiness Church, became the Great Lakes Conference. The Conference’s current leader is Rev. Blake Jones, who became conference president in 1999.

The Canadian Societies’ origin:

The United Holiness Church was not just Michigan in origin but also had two Canadian churches from the West Ontario Conference of the Free Methodist Church. In 1966, there were “some good Christian people of Ontario were yearning for a holiness church which would hold up the high standard of Christian holy living without compromise with the world. The churches at this time were getting more and more worldly. The Spirit of the Lord was grieved and so were His most faithful children.”

In the winter and spring of 1966 they heard of a group of North Michigan preachers and laymen who had begun a new denomination to perpetuate the way of holiness as taught by the Wesleyan interpretation of the Bible. Contact was made with Rev. E.D. Coxon (General Superintendent of the new denomination) and he and Rev. Marvin Sickmiller came to Goderich, Ontario on April 28, 1966, with the intention of organizing two new societies. This was the beginning of the United Holiness Church in Goderich and in Dawn Valley.

The Dawn Valley Society has had the following pastors: 1.	Rev. C.K. Carlisle 2.	Rev. Hubert Hucthkiss 3.	Rev. Dale Shillington 4.	Rev. Blake Jones 5.	Rev. Joel Byer

Conclusion:

The United Holiness Church continued what was begun by is parental organization, the Free Methodist Church. They taught no new doctrine, but continued to emphasis the standards of modesty and entire sanctification. It was more ecumenical in style and therefore the group was more receptive to a merger with the Bible Methodist Connection of Churches. The future will only be able to tell the impact that this denomination has had on the Conservative Holiness Movement with many of the movements leaders coming from the UH Church (such as Rev. Kenneth Stetler, Rev. Blake Jones, Dr. Mark Bird, Rev. Joseph U. Smith, and Dr. James B. Keaton Sr.). The United Holiness Church was established so that its members may preserve the divine heritage that was handed down to them from their predecessors. Truly as it says in their first pamphlet, they “remain Free Methodists of heart and life.”

Bibliography

Black, Brian. The Holiness Heritage.

Coxon, E.D. Removing the Ancient Landmarks: Booklet.

Origin and History of the Dawn Valley United Holiness Church.

Smith, Larry. The Earnest Christian: Michigan Free Methodists Leave Church; State Reasons.

Thornton, Wallace. History of the American Holiness Movement.

United Holiness Discipline, 1966.