Church of God Headquarters

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This is the headquarters of the Protestant denomination Church of God (Anderson, Indiana). It also houses the religious books publisher Warner Press. The Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) is an evangelical Protestant fellowship founded in Anderson, and is unrelated to other groups with the same name, such as the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) and the Church of God (Charleston, Tennessee).

Founded in 1881 by Daniel S. Warner, the doctrine of the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) advocates fellowship of its followers, sanctification (the process of becoming holy), and congregational church government. Warner and five of his adherents broke away from the General Eldership of the Church of God, believing organized denominations to be too divisive. The Church of God has no formal membership or creed and considers itself to be a reform movement rather than a church or sect. The fact that its title bears the word “church” is only for the purpose of identification.

To many of the citizens of Anderson the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) was a creed established in their very own hometown. The church offered its congregants not only places of worship (six churches in its peak) but education in the form of the Anderson Bible Training School founded in 1917. This institution would grow to become the Anderson Bible School and Seminary in 1925; Anderson College and Theological Seminary in 1929; Anderson College in 1964; and Anderson University in 1987. In the process moving from a predominantly biblical to a more liberal arts curriculum, while remaining affiliated with the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana).

Anderson was also the home of the church’s monthly publication, the Gospel Trumpet. Originally published as the Herald of Gospel Freedom for Daniel S. Warner’s original church, the journal was renamed when Warner founded the Church of God and became its editor in 1881. At that time the paper was being published in Indianapolis. The Trumpet changed headquarters several times, moving to Ohio, Michigan, Colorado, and West Virginia, before relocating to Indianapolis in 1906. The Gospel Trumpet Company was housed at 1200 East 5th Street, in a building that was donated to Anderson University in 1931.