Pilgrim Holiness Church
Knapp, founder of the IAHC, ordained and his Worldwide Missions Board sent Charles and Lettie Cowman who had attended God's Bible School to Japan in December 1900.The awakening crystallized in the establishment of many nondenominational and interdenominational holiness unions and associations and independent churches.The Union was not thought of as a church, nor intended as such, but was an interdenominational fellowship, marked by simplicity and the absence of restrictions.A fourfold emphasis was declared concerning the regeneration of sinners, the entire sanctification of believers, the premillennial and imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the evangelization of the world.The Union met the need of many people for fellowship and cooperation in the spread of scriptural holiness and grew rapidly.Extensive revival work was carried on by members of the Union, resulting in the formation of the many city missions, churches, rescue homes, and camp meetings.The Pentecostal Rescue Mission joined the International Holiness Church in March 1922, and became the New York District.The Church, which began in a revival movement in 1880 and was first known as The Holiness Bands, maintained a Bible school at El Monte, California, and a growing missionary work in Peru and Palestine.The growth of the Pilgrim Holiness Church continued through revival work and evangelism in greater measure than by the uniting of other bodies.Missionary work was carried on in many lands, and The Pilgrim Holiness Church extended beyond the United States and Canada to the following places: South Africa, including Natal, Transvaal, Cape Province, and Orange Free State; Swaziland; Mozambique; Zambia; the Caribbean area, including Grand Cayman, Jamaica, St. Croix, St. Thomas, Saba, St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, Barbuda, Barbados, St. Vincent, Trinidad and Tobago, and Curaçao; Guyana; Suriname; Brazil; Peru; Mexico; Philippine Islands; and England.[2] Merger between The Pilgrim Holiness Church and The Wesleyan Methodist Church of America was proposed at various times, and was voted upon by the General Conferences of the two bodies in 1958 and 1959, failing to pass in the Wesleyan Methodist General Conference by a margin of a single vote.On June 16, 1966, the Twenty-Fifth International Conference of The Pilgrim Holiness Church also adopted The Basis for Merger and Constitution.Eugene Gray informed his Bloomington, Ill., church that he was resigning and leaving the denomination, and that they were free to do whatever they felt they should.They felt, first of all, that spiritually they would not benefit due to the trend of worldliness and wavering from the standards and convictions of the Founding Fathers.June 16–25, 1967, the 1st annual Camp Meeting was held indoors at the Decatur Pilgrim Holiness Church located at 2615 Prairie Ave. Rev.They believe that the Holy Spirit is instrumental in leading a believer to recognize the need of holiness of heart, wrought instantaneously as a second definite work of grace when one's will is yielded to God's, therefore making it possible for him to perfectly love God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength.