The Church of God of Prophecy (COGOP) emerged from a late 19th-century restoration movement in the Appalachian Mountains. In August 1886, Richard Spurling, an ordained Baptist minister, rejected what he viewed as the restrictive creeds and exclusivism of Landmark Baptist teaching. Seeking a return to faith based solely on the New Testament, he organized the Christian Union with seven others from local Baptist congregations in North Carolina and Tennessee.
In September 1886, Richard G. Spurling Jr. was ordained as pastor and shared his father’s goal of restoring the early Christian church. He organized additional congregations, helping the small movement grow. Around 1895, a revival led by B. H. Irwin introduced Holiness teachings to the area. Spurling Jr. accepted much of this doctrine while avoiding what he saw as extreme interpretations. By 1902, Spurling influenced a group led by W. F. Bryant to form the Holiness Church at Camp Creek, North Carolina, where Spurling served as pastor.
A major turning point came on June 13, 1903, when Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson, a former Quaker and missionary in the region, joined the Camp Creek congregation. His leadership quickly unified the movement, which began establishing new churches in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
At the first general meeting of these churches in 1906, they began developing a formal structure. In 1907, they adopted the name “Church of God.” Tomlinson experienced a baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1908, which aligned the movement with the growing Pentecostal revival. The following year, he was elected General Overseer.
Disagreements over church governance and finances in 1923 caused a major division. The larger faction became the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), while the smaller group continued under A. J. Tomlinson’s leadership and later became known as the Church of God of Prophecy. Legal action over the use of the name “Church of God” ended in 1952, when a court required the Tomlinson-led body to adopt the name “Church of God of Prophecy.” The new title reflected its belief that it represented the prophetic church of the last days described in the New Testament.
Historically, the church enforced strict lifestyle rules. Members were discouraged from wearing makeup or jewelry, attending movies or dances, or listening to secular music. Former members have described these practices as rigid, though such restrictions have eased in recent decades.
Under M. A. Tomlinson’s leadership, which lasted until 1990, the church expanded its publishing and media ministries. It established the White Wing Publishing House, operated bookstores, and produced The Voice of Salvation radio and television programs. In 2006, the denomination revised its long-held position on divorce and remarriage, allowing divorced members who remarried after cases of fornication to join the church.
Today, the Church of God of Prophecy reports more than 1.5 million members in over 135 countries. The church describes its teachings as based on “the whole Bible rightly divided” and continues global ministries through publishing, media, and missions, including its operation of Fields of the Wood, a Bible theme park in North Carolina.
Key Sources:
Hill, S. S., Lippy, C. H., & Wilson, C. R. (2005). Encyclopedia of Religion in the South. Mercer University Press.
Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religious Movements 