In our last episode looking at 5 influential Afro-American preachers we look at the man born in Floyd County, Georgia who became a missionary Baptist preacher in Jackson, Mississippi, where he met Charles Harrison Mason in 1895 with whom C.P. Jones and two other preachers held a faith healing revival in Jackson.
Like many other leaders of the emerging Holiness Movement, C.P. did not intend to start another denomination. He urged unity under the slogan, “Denominationalism is slavery”. But the difference was too great and Mt. Helm Baptist chose a new name. Jones and C. H. Mason began calling their work the Church of God in Christ about 1899. By 1907, however, Mason was promoting speaking in tongues and Jones’ group chose the name Church of Christ (Holiness).