The Real Story of the First One Hundred Years of the Church

 The Real Story of the First One Hundred Years of the Church

Lonnie Hendrix

Shortly after Herbert Armstrong became affiliated with the Church of God, Seventh-Day in Oregon, two of his associates collaborated in writing A History of the True Religion From 33 A.D. to Date. Andrew Dugger and Clarence Dodd published their work almost one hundred years ago, and it has largely remained the way that these Sabbatarians recount the history of their organizations since it was published. Unlike other Sabbath-keeping Christians (e.g. Seventh-Day Baptists and Seventh-Day Adventists), these folks have insisted on claiming that there has always been a group of Christians who kept the Sabbath – from the Church’s foundation up to the present time. The premise is that those Sabbath-keeping folks constituted the “true” Church down through history, and that all Sunday-keeping Christians represent a “false” brand of the faith.

In Dugger’s and Dodd’s words: 

A history of the true Church of God could not be written without taking into consideration the lives and work of the outstanding leaders of the Gospel Age, that is, the apostles Paul, Peter and John; for by, or under their direction, most of the New Testament Scriptures were written, and the fortunes of the church advanced during the first century, and fashioned for future centuries. 

While there is nothing wrong with this statement, Dugger and Dodd used it to wipe out a great deal of real Church history. After going through a brief summary of the work of those three men, they wrote: 

It has already been shown that the New Testament name for the true church organized by Jesus Christ was the ‘Church of God,’ and as we leave the New Testament writings and launch out into secular history, which we must do, as the New Testament narrative only carries us to about 96 A.D., we will find the same name brought to view down through the Gospel Age. These people, however, have always been called, by their enemies, by other names. The name ‘Nazarenes,’ applied to them by the world, during the first period following the days of the apostles, will be considered first.

Did you catch that? They want to start their history in 96 A.D. – assuming that the writings of those three men support their position, and that nothing else happened between 33 A.D. and that year to contradict their narrative!

Similarly, in his booklet Where is the True Church? (1984), Herbert Armstrong wrote: 

So it was, that before A.D. 50 (the Church had been founded in A.D. 31) a fierce controversy arose as to whether the gospel to be proclaimed was the gospel OF Christ, or a gospel ABOUT Christ. Soon the curtain was wrung down on historic records of the Church. It evidenced the fact that a vigorous cooperative and systematic effort was made to destroy historic records of church happenings of the next hundred years. It was the ‘LOST CENTURY’ in church history. When the curtain of history is raised about A.D. 150, it reveals a church calling itself ‘Christian,’ but one totally different from the Church Jesus founded through his apostles in A.D. 31. 

Now, once again, the reader will notice that Armstrong ignores a century of Church history and doesn’t support any of his statements with any sources or evidence!

Even so, Mr. Armstrong’s successors among the Armstrong Churches of God have adopted a similar narrative about the origins of their organizations. In his Where Is the True Church? and Its Incredible History! (June 2026), David Pack wrote: 

John’s death, in about AD 100, ended the apostolic era and what constituted most of what is considered the Ephesian Era. We have covered some of the details of where the apostles served and aspects of their work. Polycarp introduces the Smyrna Era, but we need to backtrack and summarize certain events of the Ephesian Era, and consider their implications.

Like his mentor before him, Pack believes that the seven churches of the book of Revelation represent seven church eras. In fairness to Dave, he does go back and mention the great fire in Rome (64 CE), and Nero’s persecution of Roman Christians. Likewise, he does also mention the Roman war against the Jews, but he minimizes its impact on the Church. He went on to write: 

The majority of the Church, who were so willing to give up the truth they once embraced, proceeded to shun and condemn those who held fast to what they had all formerly believed. Those ‘Nazarenes’ who chose to remain loyal to the teaching of the apostles were accused of being divisive—deemed guilty of creating ‘schisms.’ We will see that this pattern reappears much later, near the book’s conclusion.

Once again, for Pack, these Nazarenes constituted the “true” Christians – everyone else was an apostate!

Next, we will take a brief look at the self-proclaimed Armstrong Church of God expert on the early history of the Church, Bob Thiel. In his History of Early Christianity, Thiel wrote: 

According to the New Testament, true Christianity was practiced throughout many areas of Asia Minor in the first century (this area is now in the country of Turkey). Most (between 14-20) of the 27 books of New Testament were written to or from church leaders in Asia Minor. (Even Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox leaders recognized that Asia Minor had early "apostolic succession"; essentially what they refer to as the early "apostolic see of Ephesus.") 

What scripture clearly shows, is that although there were Christians in various areas, the focus for the New Testament writers were the churches in Asia Minor. And interestingly, the last book of the Bible is specifically addressed to the churches of Asia Minor (Revelation 1:4,11). The last of the original apostles to die, John, died in Asia Minor and his disciple Polycarp of Smyrna was a major leader there. Those there also taught the true gospel of the kingdom and opposed others who promoted a different gospel. There were actually two major groups that claimed Christianity in the late second century that claimed succession from the apostles, and only one of them has remained faithful--for some further details, please see Early Church History: Who Were the Two Major Groups Professed Christ in the Second and Third Centuries?” Later, in the same article, he wrote: “While scholars have a variety of opinions, this page itself will simply mention the following beliefs held by true Christians in the second century, with links to highly documented articles on each subject (which are primarily based on the Bible and early historical writings). Amazingly, a leading Protestant scholar (H. Brown) has admitted: It is impossible to document what we now call orthodoxy in the first two centuries of Christianity (Brown HOJ. Heresies: Heresy and Orthodoxy in the History of the Church. Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody (MA), 1988, p. 5). In other words, much of what now passes for ‘orthodox Christianity’ did not exist in the first two centuries after Jesus was crucified and resurrected. This is basically because while there was only one original church, another major group emerged in the second century who changed certain original Christian practices and became what most now seem to feel represent ‘orthodoxy’ (for details, please see Early Church History: Who Were the Two Major Groups Professed Christ in the Second and Third Centuries?)” 

OK, I gave Bob a little more space just because he claims to be an expert!

Unfortunately, all of this Church “history” from Dugger and Dodd to Bob Thiel is inaccurate and misleading – and I’m being generous! Instead of historically accurate accounts of Church history, these men have carefully crafted historical fiction and propaganda to support their narrative that they alone represent the “TRUE” Church. By the way, a good rule of thumb: history written with an agenda or to prove a thesis never turns out to be historically accurate. The folks who write this kind of “history” are looking for evidence which supports their beliefs, and they ignore any and all evidence which contradicts their narrative!

For those of you who may be interested in the real story of what happened during the first one hundred years of the Church, I’d like to invite you to read my twelve-part series on my own blog. My narrative is evidence-based. It presents an extensive exploration of Scripture and looks at the other sources available to us from that period (e.g. the epistle of Barnabas, epistle of Clement, epistles of Ignatius, epistle of Polycarp, The Didache, The Shepherd of Hermas, Josephus, etc.) This evidence-based perspective concludes: 1) that First Century Christians were familiar with most of the writings which became our canon of the New Testament, 2) that the vast majority of Gentile Christians NEVER kept the Sabbath, Holy Days, or clean and unclean meats, 3) that Jewish Christianity was largely destroyed by the events of 70 A.D., 4) that most Christians, Jewish and Gentile, gathered on the Lord’s Day (Sunday) to fellowship and worship, 5) that pagan influences on the early Church were minimal at best. Don’t believe that my summary is accurate? I invite you to take a look at the evidence and decide for yourself.

The First One Hundred Years of the Church (Part 1)

The First One Hundred Years of the Church (Part 2)

The First One Hundred Years of the Church (Part 3)

The First One Hundred Years of the Church (Part 4)

The First One Hundred Years of the Church (Part 5)

The First One Hundred Years of the Church (Part 6)

The First One Hundred Years of the Church (Part 7)

The First One Hundred Years of the Church (Part 8)

The First One Hundred Years of the Church (Part 9)

The First One Hundred Years of the Church (Part 10)

The First One Hundred Years of the Church (Part 11)

The First One Hundred Years of the Church (Part 12)

COGWA’s Epic 15-Year Glow-Up: From Rebellion to “Look How Virtuous We Are!”

Gather round, scattered sheep of the former Worldwide Church of God empire. Pull up a folding chair in your living-room Sabbath service and prepare to be blessed by the latest self-congratulatory press release from the one, the only, the truly virtuous Church of God, a Worldwide Association. Because according to their latest elders’ letter, COGWA has spent the last fifteen years radiating nothing but peace, productivity, and pure, unadulterated service—the noble opposite of that ugly selfishness they heroically fled from back in 2010.

From their sparkling headquarters in McKinney, Texas (because nothing says “humble service” like a slick corporate campus with assigned pastors guarding every flock), they now “serve” 104 U.S. congregations and 166 international ones—270 total little kingdoms. They even planted shiny new flags in Uganda and Australia this year. Finances? Up every single year since the split—small but consistent growth, they boast. New doors for preaching the gospel? Wide open. And for fifteen glorious years, they’ve enjoyed “peace and productivity,” which they graciously pray will continue… provided everyone keeps remembering how much holier they are than the selfish monsters they left behind.

Cue the world’s tiniest violin.

Let’s rewind to the actual origin story these folks love to airbrush. December 2010: COGWA didn’t “apostatize” in some noble doctrinal rebellion—nope, doctrines are basically identical to UCG’s. It was a classic power-grab soap opera over governance and authority. UCG’s General Council of Elders had just elected a new council more sympathetic to a less autocratic, more collegial model (you know, the whole “Council of Elders” thing they’d bragged about since forming in 1995 to avoid Herbert Armstrong-style one-man rule). The “old guard”—including future COGWA heavyweights like Jim Franks, Mike Hanisko, and Leon Walker—didn’t like it one bit. Cue the immediate triggers: personnel reassignments, communication blackouts, and demands for ministerial loyalty oaths. Hanisko later admitted the real reasons were “unethical, sometimes sinful conduct” by UCG leadership and “ungodly treatment of brethren.” (Translation: “How dare the council try to curb our hierarchical vibes?”) Earlier, when they controlled UCG, they’d already divided no fewer than 22 congregations to crush local advisory boards, building funds, and any whiff of congregational input—hundreds of elders bailed then too. But sure, now they were the selfless heroes.

The damage was biblical in scale. Over 170 elders and ministers walked out between June 2010 and March 2011 (roughly half the full-time paid pastors). About 40% of UCG’s membership—thousands of people—followed, swelling COGWA to around 8,000 attendees and 170 elders by early 2011. Congregations split right down the middle. Families stopped speaking. Friendships evaporated. The “great work” of preaching the gospel? Yeah, that took a backseat while lawyers, dueling websites, and angry Feast-of-Tabernacles meltdowns took center stage. Real servant-hearted stuff, right? Families torn apart so a few ministers could keep calling the shots.

But here’s the punchline that turns this into pure comedy gold: COGWA is UCG with a fresh coat of paint, better branding, and the exact same attitude of selfishness—just rebranded as “service.” Same legalistic checklist—keep the Sabbath, Holy Days, tithes, clean meats, and the full Armstrong starter pack or you’re not really “in” and definitely not making it into the Kingdom. Same top-down structure where “assigned pastors” make sure the sheep stay in their assigned pens. Same endless chest-thumping about numbers, money, and “new doors” while pretending it’s all about humble service instead of empire-building. They just swapped the acronyms and the zip code.

Fifteen years later and they’re still patting themselves on the back in their annual letter: “One of the key elements for maintaining peace and productivity is the concept of service, which is the very opposite of selfishness.” Translation: “We’re not like those guys. We’re the good ones. Please keep sending in those tithes so we can keep growing our little 270-congregation empire and reminding everyone how selfless we are—unlike the UCG we fled because they tried to make governance slightly less heavy-handed.”

Spoiler alert: It’s selfishness with a smiley-face emoji. Same attitude, different headquarters. Another splinter from a splinter from a splinter, all claiming to be the one true continuation of Herbert W. Armstrong’s legacy while the rest of the scattered brethren watch the same tired soap opera on repeat—complete with the same governance fights, the same loyalty tests, and the same “we’re the virtuous ones” press releases.

So the next time COGWA pats itself on the back for its “spirit of service,” just remember: they didn’t leave UCG because they were holier. They left because they wanted to be the ones in charge—exactly like the UCG leaders they accused of the same sin. Fifteen years later, they’re still exactly the same—only now they get to write the press releases.

Service? 

The show never ends.

 

From our headquarters in McKinney, we serve 104 congregations in the U.S. and 166 outside the U.S. for a total of 270 congregations. Each has an assigned pastor. This past year we added new congregations in Uganda and Australia. Each year since our beginning we have seen increases in our finances—small but consistent growth. We have also seen the opening of new doors for preaching the gospel. So, what will this new fiscal year bring for the Church?

For 15 years, we have seen peace and productivity in the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, and we pray that this will continue. But we must never take it for granted. We must continue to work to promote this atmosphere in the Church throughout the world. One of the key elements for maintaining peace and productivity is the concept of service, which is the very opposite of selfishness. Whenever we focus on serving others instead of ourselves, good fruit is produced. 

Are you playing games with God?

Truly, nothing screams “New Covenant freedom in Christ” quite like a 2,000-word manifesto demanding that every Christian on Earth must kneel at the spiritual altar of Herbert W. Armstrong, join the one-and-only reincarnated Worldwide Church of God (or else), and treat a mid-20th-century radio preacher as the guy who personally restored “apostolic rule” while everyone else is just “playing games with God.” 
Jesus must be so relieved that you cleared this up for Him. After all, in Matthew 16:18 He only said He would build “His church”—not “churches,” you see. So obviously that means one single, visible, headquarters-based organization with a top-down government structure, tithe-collecting conferences, and a guy in Pasadena (or wherever the latest splinter landed) holding the divine copyright on truth. Because when the Son of God said “church,” He clearly meant “denominational franchise with membership cards and a loyalty oath to a dead apostle’s successor.” Anyone who thinks otherwise is calling Jesus a liar. Got it. Solid exegesis. 
And that Elijah prophecy in Matthew 17:11? Kitchen’s got it locked: Jesus was totally foreshadowing Herbert W. Armstrong restoring “the government of God” exactly as it existed in the first century (you know, the one where Peter was the rock and nobody ever disagreed or started new works). Never mind that Jesus Himself already told us John the Baptist fulfilled the Elijah role for the first coming (Matthew 11:14; 17:12-13). Details, details. Armstrong gets the sequel because… fruits? Ordination by the Oregon Conference? A handful of guys laying hands on him in the 1930s while the other Church of God factions were declared spiritually dead by divine fiat? 
Nothing says “law, not grace” like tying your eternal salvation to whether you stayed inside the right splinter after 1970s schisms. Ministers who left? Spiritually sealed for death. Members who remain? They alone get to ordain the Two Witnesses and hold the Philadelphia candlestick. Everyone else is either Laodicean lukewarm or headed for martyrdom-as-repentance. Because the New Covenant is totally about God running a cosmic game of musical chairs where the prize for leaving the “true church” is a ticket to be beheaded so you can maybe get grafted back in. 
Kitchen even gives us the eschatological bonus round: the Worldwide Church of God (his version) goes to a “place of safety” (Revelation 12:14-17, of course), the Two Witnesses tag-team in Jerusalem as the first witness’s hype men, Herbert himself gets resurrected as a “sport God being” (I assume that’s “spirit God being”—autocorrect is brutal), and the whole thing reboots Ambassador College in the World Tomorrow. It’s all one program, you see. One spiritual Temple. One unbroken chain of government. Jesus isn’t a liar, the Word cannot be broken… and apparently neither can the organizational chart. 

Here’s the actual New Covenant problem with all this: 
The New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:6-13) is explicitly not like the old one. No more central physical temple, no more Levitical priesthood, no more “one visible headquarters on Earth” model. The church is the body of Christ—every believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:12-27; Ephesians 4:4-6). Authority flows from Christ the Head, not from an unbroken chain of ordinations that somehow survived from Peter through the Sardis-era Oregon Conference to HWA. The priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:9) means you don’t need a special class of “government of God” ministers to mediate between you and Jesus. 
The idea that salvation and truth are locked inside one human organization with a divine government structure is classic Old Covenant thinking dressed up in Revelation 2-3 proof-texts and historicist-era labels. It’s the same error the Pharisees ran with: “We have Abraham as our father” → “We have Herbert as our father and the Philadelphia candlestick.” It turns the gospel into geography, membership rolls, and loyalty to a man’s “fruits” instead of faith in Christ’s finished work. 
So no, Samuel, people aren’t “playing games with God” by refusing to join your reincarnated WCG and bow at the Armstrong altar. They’re simply living in the New Covenant reality where Jesus built His church out of living stones—scattered, imperfect, arguing, and still loved—without needing a single organizational franchise to keep the franchise alive. 
The real game-playing is pretending the New Covenant is just the Old Covenant with better branding and a radio program. Jesus isn’t a liar. But this theology sure treats the cross like it was optional.