[3][5] This group dropped its belief in a third work of grace in 1948; its annual camp meeting is held in Independence, Kansas, which has been the location of it since 1933.
Irwin was educated as a lawyer but entered ordained ministry after he was converted to a Baptist church.
His services were highly emotional, with participants often getting the "jerks", shouting, speaking in tongues, and holy dancing and laughing.
[9] Thousands attended his meetings, and his teaching was circulated widely within the holiness movement, with its greatest strength in the Midwest and South.
[11] By the time these associations were organized into one denomination in 1898, there were churches in eight American states and two Canadian provinces.
The church was fully integrated with Southern whites and blacks openly worshiping together despite stringent segregation laws.
[14] According to Synan, "All [(Pentecostal) statements for or against racial integration failed to obscure one important fact——the practical integration of poor whites and blacks in backwoods Pentecostal revival services" and this was "a type of race-mixing that has occurred in the South since before the Civil War.
[14] The Constitution and General Rules of the Fire Baptized Holiness Association taught three definite works of grace:[4] 1.
We believe that Jesus Christ shed his blood for the remission of sins that are past (Rom.
We believe, teach, and firmly maintain the scriptural doctrine of justification by faith alone, as taught by John Wesley and the early fathers of Methodism (Rom.
We believe that entire sanctification is an instantaneous, definite, second work of grace obtainable by faith on the part of the fully consecrated believer.6.
[4]In 1900, Irwin confessed to "open and gross sin", which brought "great reproach" to the church.
The revelation of Irwin's failure greatly affected the church; several state associations collapsed.
After 1908, the denomination split on racial lines when Fuller left, with the blessing of the white leadership, and started what would become the Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas.
The church's beliefs were largely consistent with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement in Methodism; however, there were distinct doctrinal positions that made it unique.
Irwin taught of a third blessing that came after salvation and entire sanctification called the "baptism of fire.
[17] This idea was formulated by Charles Parham and only began to influence the Fire-Baptized Church as news of the Azusa Street Revival spread after 1906.
However, he also applied this prohibition to men, claiming that the wearing of neckties fell under the category of adornment and was sinful.
Men belonging to the Bible Holiness Church, both preachers and laity, traditionally do not wear neckties as the denomination has viewed them as being adornment (1 Peter 3:3–7).