The Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) is distinct in its Declaration of Faith and in practicing foot washing as an ordinance alongside baptism and the Lord's Supper.
The Church of God traces its start to a meeting in the Barney Creek area of Tennessee in 1886 under Richard G. Spurling, and it took the name Church of God in 1907 under the leadership of A. J. Tomlinson. Its international offices are in Cleveland, Tennessee, which distinguishes it from other bodies that share the Church of God name. It is a Holiness Pentecostal church, teaching sanctification as a second work of grace before baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Sources
Primary
- Declaration of Faith of the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), adopted in 1948
Secondary
- Charles W. Conn, Like a Mighty Army: A History of the Church of God (1955)