Original Church of Jesus Christ

CC1 · #1 06-23-2007, 03:55 PM

I was riding my motorcycle through Middle Tennessee today and went through a town I had not been to before, Manchester.

On the outskirts of town was a church named the "Original Church of Jesus Christ".

Does anyone know what kind of church this might be? In the back of my mind I seem to remember some small obscure Oneness Pentecostal group (actually two) that insist that the name "Jesus Christ" must be in a church name. I am wondering if this is one of those churches.

Barb · #2 06-23-2007, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CC1

I was riding my motorcycle through Middle Tennessee today and went through a town I had not been to before, Manchester.

On the outskirts of town was a church named the "Original Church of Jesus Christ".

Does anyone know what kind of church this might be? In the back of my mind I seem to remember some small obscure Oneness Pentecostal group (actually two) that insist that the name "Jesus Christ" must be in a church name. I am wondering if this is one of those churches.

CC, the Black Oneness orgs that I am thinking of are not obscure...COOLJC and COTHJ, however, I'm not sure if the church you mentioned is part of any of those groups.

Steve Epley · #3 06-23-2007, 06:10 PM

Probably a splinter from the old Mark Lawson's group I would say.

Sherri · #4 06-23-2007, 06:56 PM

There are several of those in this area (especially around Dyersburg) that have the name Jesus Christ in the title. They believe you have to.

CC1 · #5 06-23-2007, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Epley

Probably a splinter from the old Mark Lawson's group I would say.

I thought I remembered you, Bro. Flemming or perhaps cheesehead way back on FCF talking about a group and a splinter of that group that insisted on the church name including "Jesus Christ" so I thought this might be one of those.

Barb,

I wasn't thinking of the two black org.s you mentioned but I do have to say I do think they are obscure. They may have one or two spots they have a few churches but they are not widely known. I have spent my whole life in Oneness Pentecost and never heard of them until you posted about them some time ago. Keep in mind that outside of a few areas of strength even the UPC is pretty obscure in the overall scheme of religion in America! I don't think the two black OP org.'s you mentioned even make a blip. I have read considerbley about OP over the years and never have seen them listed as being of any significant size.

Steve Epley · #6 06-23-2007, 08:20 PM

The Church of Jesus Christ founded by Mark Lawson had two major teachings that distinquished them namely 1. Christ was as of the name as Jesus thus all baptism had to be done 'Jesus Christ" If Lord was added it was wrong or if just Jesus was said it was wrong. 2. the name of the church was The Church of Jesus Christ and it had to be over the door. The problem came when they split several times and all of them had to add something to the name over their door or organization they had preached against being Pentecostal or Apostolic but some began to include that in their name among other additions since someone had kept the original charter the rest had to change their name. By the way if I remember correctly it was chartered in 1921?

Hoovie · #7 06-23-2007, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Epley

The Church of Jesus Christ founded by Mark Lawson had two major teachings that distinquished them namely 1. Christ was as of the name as Jesus thus all baptism had to be done 'Jesus Christ" If Lord was added it was wrong or if just Jesus was said it was wrong. 2. the name of the church was The Church of Jesus Christ and it had to be over the door. The problem came when they split several times and all of them had to add something to the name over their door or organization they had preached against being Pentecostal or Apostolic but some began to include that in their name among other additions since someone had kept the original charter the rest had to change their name. By the way if I remember correctly it was chartered in 1921?

Man O Man! Did you swallow a church encyclopedia? You amaze me with all the stats and facts.

Steve Epley · #8 06-23-2007, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen Hoover

Man O Man! Did you swallow a church encyclopedia? You amaze me with all the stats and facts.

The History of the American Jesus Name Movement has always interested me. However I have known more than a few of these men.

Scott Hutchinson · #9 06-23-2007, 10:30 PM

I would think this is the group from Cleveland ,TN.
Here is another group from Kingsport.
http://tcojc.us

Sam · #10 06-23-2007, 10:59 PM

I think it was chartered in 1927 by Mark Lawson. I think the charter number was/is 6610
I'm not sure how strong Mark Lawson himself was on the two things Eld. Epley mentioned but some of the preachers were. They insisted that the baptismal formula contain the words "in the name of Jesus Christ." The word "Lord" should not be used and the word "Christ" must be used. I have heard or read that "Christ" was His name based on Luke 1:35 (unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ....); Matthew 2:4 (Herod inquired as to where Christ would be born); and Matthew 24:5 (many will come in my name saying, I am Christ). I have a booklet here somewhere in which the author specifies that the name of the one true NT church is "The Church of Jesus Christ" and that it is wrong to pay tithes in any church that does not have that name displayed.

In 1959 I went to a convention in Charleston, WV and was licensed by that group. At that time, Mark Lawson's son Boyd was on the board of Bishops. I later returned my license since I was attending a UPC church and I thought it might cause some problems. There have been some splits and, from what I understand, the various factions try to retain the words "Church of Jesus Christ" in their name. There is one group in Kingsport, TN who uses the name Church of Jesus Christ. Eld. Flemming was part of this group at one time. (Actually Eld. Flemming could supply some information on this subject). The group in Kingsport, TN may be what's left of the original group.

At one time I was licensed by a group called "The Church of Jesus Christ, Pentecostal Faith." Eld. Flemming told me that this group had merged with the Kingsport, TN group some time back.

Some time after Mark Lawson's death, his son Boyd, had some kind of falling out with the CoJC group he was in. Boyd is now Presiding Bishop of a group called "The Churches of Jesus Christ International" with headquarters in Cleveland, TN. Their web site is
http://www.angelfire.com/tn3/cojci/
If you go there, it takes some time to load. It has not been updated in almost a year. If you click on the "about us" heading, you will see that they do not insist on just the words "Jesus Christ" being used in water baptism and on a church sign.

Someone mentioned Eld. Epley's knowledge of Apostolic ministers and organizations. He is a walking encyclopedia on that subject. It seems that he knows, knows of, or has known, practically everyone in Oneness Pentecost. What a head full of knowledge!