Our History

Historical Introduction to the Churches of God, General Conference

The Churches of God, General Conference began in 1825 because of the labors, revivals, and ideas of John Winebrenner, a German Reformed pastor who ministered in and around Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

During the late 1820s, Winebrenner came to theological conclusions about the nature and government of the Church, the importance of the regenerating experience of the new birth and the ordinances (Believer’s Baptism by immersion, Lord’s Supper and Feet Washing). He reaffirmed the belief that the Bible was the “only authoritative rule of faith and practice.”

In 1830 he joined five other “teaching elders,” or ministers, in central Pennsylvania in forming an “eldership” for the purpose of adopting a system of cooperation.

As Churches of God settlers moved west, they established new churches and elderships in western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan. By 1900 the denomination had spread to West Virginia, Maryland, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. The California Eldership began in 1948. Since 2000, congregations have formed in New York, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

Churches of God periodicals, The Gospel Publisher (1835-1845) and The Church Advocate (1846-present), have played a key role in distributing information about and for the Churches of God.

Foreign mission work was established at Asia in 1898 and 1905. Members of Slovak descent started mission churches in Eastern Europe in 1922, but communist governments thwarted this effort. Project HELP was begun in Haiti in 1967 and a ministry to Navajos began in New Mexico in 1976. In 1994, ministry was launched in Brazil followed by new ministry efforts in Kenya in 2008. Throughout the 2000’s, God has graciously opened opportunities to start ministries in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Honduras.

Findlay College (University of Findlay) was incorporated in 1882 and opened for classes in 1886. Winebrenner Seminary began as a graduate department of theology in 1942 and was chartered as a separate institution in 1960.

The name of the denomination has changed several times. First known as the Church of God, in keeping with Winebrenner’s view that “there is but one true Church, namely: the Church of God.” The phrase In North America was added by the first General Eldership in1845. In 1896 the name was made plural: Churches of God in North America. In 1974 two changes were made. The phrase “In North America” was eliminated in recognition of the Churches of God members in Asia and Haiti. “General Eldership” was changed to “General Conference” in recognition that delegates were no longer limited to “elders.” Thus, the name today is Churches of God, General Conference.

Announcement:

National Park Service Names Brownsville, Franklin County, to Underground Railroad Network to Freedom

Date: August 17, 2026

The National Park Service announced that the Pennsylvania community of Brownsville located in Greene Township, Franklin County, has been added to the National Underground Railroad Network of Freedom for 2026 because of its historic role as a station on the Underground Railroad. This follows the announcement in 2025 that the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) awarded a State Historical Marker recognizing the community’s role as a stop on the Underground Railroad. 

Pastor Victor Johnson of the Brownsville Church of God, the cemetery team and the congregation rejoiced in the winning of these two prestigious awards.

Brownsville Church of God

Brownsville Church of God History

Brownsville’s history began as a home for formerly enslaved people. The original settler of Brownsville was William “Batavia” Brown, a man kidnapped from his home in Indonesia and brought to Baltimore, Maryland, to be sold into slavery. Before his sale, a group of farmers hid him and helped him escape to Franklin County, Pennsylvania. He chose to remain in the area, and in the 1820s, he and his wife Rachel built a cabin and raised a family at the base of South Mountain. 

In the subsequent years, other formerly enslaved people joined them in the remote settlement that expanded after the opening of Thaddeus Stevens’ Caledonia Iron Works in 1837.  By the 1840s, it became an active station on the Underground Railroad. Brownsville resident cooperated with antislavery men such as Robert Black and Caledonia Iron Works superintendent William Hammett. In the years before the Civil War, Underground Railroad conductor Hiram Wertz guided 45 to 50 runaway slaves from his family’s farm in Quincy Township to Africa-Brownsville. The secluded African American community became a safe haven on the dangerous journey north to freedom.

The application for both the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom and for the PHMC State Historical Marker are part of an ongoing collaboration between the Brownsville Church of God and the Shippensburg University History Department.  

Together, the student, faculty, and community members worked together to document the rich history of the Brownsville community and the Brownsville Church of God from their founding to the present day. Shippensburg University students conducted oral histories, searched historic archives and newspapers, and undertook hands-on fieldwork, including remote sensing to locate unmarked graves in the Brownsville Church of God Cemetery.  Using the materials collected, Shippensburg University Professor of History Dr. Steven Burg and Applied History graduate students wrote the successful applications for both the PHMC State Historical Marker and the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.

Dr. Burg noted, “It has been a powerful experience for me and my students to work together with the members of the Brownsville Church of God to bring this important story to light. We are absolutely thrilled that both the National Park Service and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania recognized Brownsville’s role on the Underground Railroad. We feel really honored to help others to discover this remarkable piece of American history that happened right here in Franklin County.”

The story of Brownsville continued even after the Civil War. In 1863, Confederate forces destroyed the Caledonia Iron Works, eliminating the major source of jobs for Brownsville residents. Nevertheless, Brownsville endured. 

Around 1870, an itinerant minister named Perry Stanton of the Eastern PA Conference Churches of God came to the area and helped to establish a congregation. The Churches of God was founded by John Winebrenner who became very active in the Anti-Slavery Society of Harrisburg in January 1836.  Today, the Brownsville Church of God is a member in the Eastern Region of the Churches of God General Conference. 

Originally, the congregants met in homes and outdoors. In 1878, the church bought land for its first building and cemetery. John A. Brown, a descendant of William and Rachel Brown and a Civil War veteran, served as the congregation’s minister in the 1870s and 1880s. A century later, the congregation raised a new church alongside where the old church stood, and then in 2015 moved to its present home on Lincoln Highway East.  The church’s historic cemetery still stands on its original site.

A dedication ceremony at the Brownsville Church of God Cemetery on Brownsville Road is being planned to celebrate both the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom designation and the installation of the PHMC State Historical Marker. The State Historic Preservation Office estimates that the historical marker should be forged and ready for installation in late 2026 or early 2027.

In preparation, the Brownsville Church of God is launching a campaign to restore and preserve the church’s historic cemetery where the signage will be installed. The restoration project will preserve and beautify the site, add interpretative signage, install a new fence, place grave markers on burial sites that lack permanent markers, and develop programming about the site and its history.

Anyone interested in helping to support or donate funds to support those restoration efforts may send a check to the following:

Brownsville Church of God, 6390 Lincoln Way East, Fayetteville Pa. 17222 Note, please mark all checks for Brownsville Cemetery Restoration.

Questions can be directed to Pastor Vic Johnson via email or via cell phone (717) 491-5062

For Information About the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, PHMC State Historical Marker, or Brownsville History: Dr. Steven Burg, Shippensburg University. 717-860-7621,