CHURCH OF GOD. — Under this name several Protestant sects are known.
1) C. d. D. (Reform Movement), founded by S. Warner in 1880 in the State of Indiana (United States). This sect rejects both the Catholic hierarchy and what it calls Protestant ecclesiasticism, because it claims they oppose the idea of the primitive Church, filled with the Holy Spirit and directed by Him. It does not wish to be a separate sect, but a reform movement within other Churches. It supports many missions in various parts of the world.
2) C. d. D. (Adventist), founded in 1865 by some Adventists who dissented from the interpretation of prophecies given by others.
3) C. d. D. and the Saints of Christ, founded in 1896 by a negro railway employee of the Santa Fe (United States), W. C. Crowdy. It is an extravagant sect.
4) C. d. D. as organized by Christ. It is a small sect included by authors among many other sorts of groups called “Evangelical Associations.”
5) C. d. D. (General Assembly), arising in Tennessee (United States) among a group of people from various sects. Seeing that their sects did not interpret Sacred Scripture as they believed it should be interpreted, they gathered and formed in 1886 the “Christian Union”; they organized in 1902 under the name “Holiness Church” (Church of Holiness), and finally in 1902 adopted the name “General Assembly of the C. d. D.”
6) C. d. D. (New Dunders) organized in the State of Indiana (United States) in 1848 by Giorgio Patton and some companions, who separated from the German Baptist Brothers. In addition to Baptism, they considered foot washing, the kiss of greeting, the anointing of the sick, etc., as essential.
7) C. d. D. in Christ (Mennonite), one of the 16 divisions of the Mennonites.