c. 1996 Religion News Service

INDIANAPOLIS _ In the wake of a dispute that resulted in the ousting of its top official, an estimated 20,000 members of the Church of God, the nation’s oldest and the world’s largest Pentecostal denomination, began meeting here Wednesday (Aug. 7) to choose new leadership for the 4 million-member church.

Although members of the Church of God, based in Cleveland, Tenn., gather every two years to choose new leadership, this year’s general assembly has special urgency because of the controversial removal of Robert White from the denomination’s top post.

The church’s governing council ousted White last month and revoked his ministerial credentials for one year, following an 11-week investigation into $40,000 he reportedly earned as profits from three religious books he had written.

The council accused White of insubordination and ruled that the profits should be been turned over to the denomination.

Placed on paid leave in June, White has agreed to grant copyrights of three of his books to Pathway Press, a Church of God publishing house, and to give the church $10,000. White may reapply for ministerial credentials next June, church officials said. White has made no public statements on the matter.”Persons who fill positions of leadership in the Church of God must uphold the highest standards of personal and professional ethics,”Church of God spokesman Mike Baker said in a written statement.”When there are questions regarding any leader’s failure to maintain these expectations the cause of Christ must not be hindered and the churches denied the values of a positive role model.” White’s removal has caused tension within the church, according to David Bundy, an expert on Pentecostal denominations at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. In June, Bundy met with Church of God seminary professors and other church leaders in Cleveland, Tenn.”There is a sense of betrayal. They entrusted to him the leadership of their tradition and to represent them outside the denomination. They feel there has been a violation of that,”Bundy said.

The Church of God has a long history of looking to its leaders as role models for Christian living, Bundy said. The long investigation, hearings and ecclesiastical trial that led up to White’s removal reflect the denomination’s commitment to ethical leadership, he added.

In addition to nightly worship and music services at the Indiana Convention Center, delegates to the Church of God meeting will consider resolutions calling on its congregations to condemn domestic violence and to expand the role of lay people in the general assembly.

Founded in 1886 by Indiana native Ambrose Tomlinson, the Church of God considers itself the oldest Pentecostal denomination, although its historic roots are in the”Holiness”tradition. Holiness churches originated in mid-19th-century American Protestantism. The goal of the movement was to restore Christianity to its proper”primitive New Testament standards,”according to the Dictionary of Religion (HarperCollins).

A decade after it began, the Church of God embraced the emerging Pentecostal experience in American Christianity. Pentecostals are known for their lively worship services and stress the importance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The Church of God is among the world’s fastest-growing Christian denominations worldwide. Fewer than one-quarter of the church’s 4 million members live in the United States. There are Church of God congregations in 130 nations, church officials say, the fastest-growing of which are in Latin America, Asia and Africa.

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