The Church of God is not one church in Jamaica but a family of them, and together they make up the largest block in the island’s religious life. The 2011 census counted four groups under the name: the New Testament Church of God, the Church of God in Jamaica, the Church of God of Prophecy and a large category of “Other Church of God”. Between them they held 689,868 people, 25.7% of the population, about one Jamaican in four and more than twice the number of Seventh-day Adventists, the largest single denomination. The family has two quite different roots. The Church of God in Jamaica grew from the work of American holiness missionaries from Anderson, Indiana, who landed in Kingston in 1907. The New Testament Church of God and the Church of God of Prophecy are Pentecostal churches descended from a holiness body in Tennessee, whose Jamaican work began in 1917–18 and which divided in the United States in 1923. This page tells their Jamaican story, explains how they differ, and records their schools, leaders and recent history, including the damage done by Hurricane Melissa in October 2025.
Last updated: 12 October 2026. This is a living reference: Jamaica Homes updates it when events warrant and reviews it every October. Part of our guide to Christianity in Jamaica.
| Church of God in Jamaica | |
|---|---|
| Family | Four census groups sharing the name Church of God; most are holiness or Pentecostal in doctrine |
| Arrived | 1907 (Anderson tradition, George and Nellie Olson); 1917–18 (Cleveland, Tennessee tradition, J. Wilson Bell and J. S. Llewellyn) |
| 2011 census, all groups | 689,868 (25.71% of those answering), up 11.8% on 2001 |
| New Testament Church of God | 192,086 (7.16%); more than 119,000 members in over 360 churches (2025) |
| Church of God in Jamaica | 129,544 (4.83%); 111 congregations in six regions |
| Church of God of Prophecy | 121,400 (4.52%); 298 churches (2025) |
| Other Church of God | 246,838 (9.20%) |
| Headquarters | NTCOG: Rhodons Pen, Old Harbour, St Catherine. COGOP: convention headquarters, St Catherine |
| Leaders (as of 2026) | Bishop Dr Roy Notice, Administrative Bishop, NTCOG; Rev. Courtney Gordon, Executive Chairman, Church of God in Jamaica; Bishop Dr Winston Leith, National Bishop, COGOP |
| World headquarters | Cleveland, Tennessee (NTCOG and COGOP); Anderson, Indiana (Church of God in Jamaica) |
| Institutions | Ardenne High School and Ardenne Prep; Bethel Bible College of the Caribbean; Cedar Grove Academy, Portmore; New Covenant Bible Institute; Yadel Girls’ Home |
| Websites | ntcogjamaica.org (NTCOG) |
The four groups
The census name hides real differences. The groups share a name because their American founders, in the 1880s, each wanted to escape what they saw as man-made denominations and to be simply “the church of God” of the New Testament. Two separate movements grew from that impulse, and both reached Jamaica in the early twentieth century.
| Group | Tradition | In Jamaica since | Parent body | Pentecostal? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Testament Church of God (NTCOG) | Holiness Pentecostal | 1917–18; organised 1925 | Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee | Yes |
| Church of God in Jamaica | Wesleyan holiness, non-Pentecostal | 1907 | Church of God, Anderson, Indiana | No |
| Church of God of Prophecy (COGOP) | Holiness Pentecostal | after the 1923 division (date not confirmed) | Church of God of Prophecy, Cleveland, Tennessee | Yes |
| Other Church of God | Various: Pentecostal, holiness and Sabbath-keeping | various | various or independent | Mostly |
The New Testament Church of God and the Church of God of Prophecy are Pentecostal in belief and worship, but the census counts them separately from the category it labels “Pentecostal” (295,195 people in 2011). That category and the wider Pentecostal movement have their own page, Pentecostal churches; this page covers the four Church of God groups. Readers should remember that in everyday Jamaican speech “Church of God” can mean any of them, and that many independent congregations also use the name.
Anderson missionaries, 1907
The first Church of God to arrive was the one with its headquarters in Anderson, Indiana. Its movement began in 1881, when the evangelist Daniel Sidney Warner and others broke away from existing denominations to preach holiness and the unity of all believers, with the Bible as their only creed. It is a holiness church in the Wesleyan tradition but not a Pentecostal one.
On 30 July 1907, months after the earthquake of January that year had destroyed much of Kingston, George Olson, then 24, his wife Nellie and their 20-month-old son Daniel landed in the city. According to a family history written by their daughter Mary Olson, they had left the United States with $1.75 between them. They lodged at 101 Mark Lane, and on 1 August 1907 held their first street meeting at the corner of Barry and Fleet Streets, where a man named Lopey Fowler was converted. Services moved between Mark Lane, Rum Lane, Smith Lane and a tent on Highholborn Street before settling at 55a Highholborn Street. Within four years the work had spread to twelve places in Kingston, St Andrew, St Mary, Clarendon and Portland. The first Jamaican assembly met in 1908, George Olson was ordained in 1909, and the American church set up a Missionary Board in 1911, but regular missionary support did not begin until 1919.
The Olsons’ most lasting legacy was a school. In May 1927 they opened one on Highholborn Street with five pupils, among them their daughter Mary. In 1929 the church bought a 12-acre property called Ardenne in St Andrew with money from its Missionary Board and private donors, and in January 1938 the school moved there. Nellie Olson was its first principal until 1944, followed by Mary Olson until 1969. Ardenne High School is still owned by the Church of God in Jamaica and run jointly with the Ministry of Education. George Olson remained head of the church in Jamaica for decades; Gloria Flemming, who joined his office in September 1948 and later became Ardenne’s long-serving bursar, recalled that it handled a large trade in doctrinal books.
The Tennessee church, 1917–1935
The second root is the Church of God with its headquarters in Cleveland, Tennessee. It traces its origins to a meeting called by the Baptist minister R. G. Spurling at Barney Creek, Monroe County, Tennessee, on 19 August 1886, and to a revival in North Carolina in 1896 at which some participants spoke in tongues. It took the name Church of God in 1907 and, under A. J. Tomlinson, became both a holiness and a Pentecostal church.
Its Jamaican story begins with a Jamaican. In the summer of 1917 J. Wilson Bell, a Pentecostal evangelist in Kingston, wrote to the church’s headquarters in Cleveland, and the church today dates its start in Jamaica to his work. According to a church history, the American missionary J. S. Llewellyn arrived in April 1918 and, working with Bell and J. M. Parkinson, the first two recognised ministers, organised a congregation of seven members in Kingston. The work spread to five preaching stations and to Spanish Town, and by 1922 it had reached Clarendon.
The church’s official record gives 1925 as the year it was formally organised, which is why it celebrated its centenary in 2025. The church’s own website credits that organisation to Llewellyn; the fuller church history credits E. E. Simmonds, who arrived from Florida on 23 April 1925. A local man, H. A. Hudson, directed Simmonds to a group of believers at Borobridge in Clarendon, where the first church was officially set up with 62 members. On a five-month tour Simmonds also founded churches at Mount Providence (37 members) and Frankfield (18 members), and he is remembered as the first national overseer. The first Island Convention met at Leicesterfield, Clarendon, from 4 to 6 July 1928, with seven churches. In 1935 Hudson became the first Jamaican Island Overseer; by then there were 53 churches with about 1,600 members across Clarendon, St Ann, Manchester, St Elizabeth and Trelawny.
Because another group was already working in Jamaica as the Church of God, the American church chose a different name when it registered the Jamaican body, and it became the New Testament Church of God. By 1940, the church says, it was established island-wide and producing its own preachers and youth leaders, and by 1941 it was preparing to send missionaries to other Caribbean islands. The “New Testament” name has since been used by the Cleveland church in much of the Caribbean and in Britain.
Church of God of Prophecy
The Church of God of Prophecy shares the same Tennessee roots. In 1923 disputes over finance and governance split the Church of God: the larger body kept the Cleveland name, while a smaller body stayed with A. J. Tomlinson. After years of litigation over the name, a court in Bradley County, Tennessee, ordered Tomlinson’s church to add a distinguishing phrase, and on 2 May 1952 it became the Church of God of Prophecy. It too has its world headquarters in Cleveland, Tennessee, and today reports about 800,000 members in more than 135 countries.
The date at which the Tomlinson church began separate work in Jamaica could not be confirmed for this page. The undivided church had looked to the islands from early on: a Bahamian couple, Edmund and Rebecca Barr, took its message to the Bahamas in 1909, the first time it went outside the United States. Today the Church of God of Prophecy has congregations in every part of Jamaica, from towns to farming districts; when it helped coffee farmers at Mavis Bank in the Blue Mountains after bush fires in 2015, Bishop Rudolph Daley said, “Most of our brethren plant coffee.” Theological training came to Jamaica in the early 1960s, and the church’s Bible Training Camp produced its first graduates in 1965. That programme became the Bible Training Institute in 1978 and is today the New Covenant Bible Institute.
Jamaicans have risen high in the church’s international leadership. Bishop Dr Clayton Martin, born in Clarendon, joined the church in 1972, was appointed national overseer for Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Guyana and French Guiana in 1998, served for 12 years, and since 2010 has been the church’s General Presbyter for the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean Islands. Bishop Dr Winston Leith, converted in 1972 at the Stony Hill Church of God of Prophecy, was national overseer by 2018 and remains National Bishop as of 2026.
Other Churches of God
“Other Church of God” was the largest of the four census groups in 2011, with 246,838 people, 9.2% of the population. The published census tables do not break it down, so it is not possible to say from the census which churches it contains. It is a residual category for people who named a Church of God other than the three listed, and it almost certainly includes many independent and locally founded congregations that use the name. Bodies known to work in Jamaica under a Church of God name include:
- Church of God (Seventh Day), a Sabbath-keeping church with 58 congregations organised in five zones covering the whole island (2025).
- Church of God (Holiness), a holiness body from the United States whose Jamaican work began in 1932. It reports nine churches with about 250 people attending, and runs the Jamaica Holiness Bible College, opened in 2006 at its church at 143 East Street, Kingston.
- The Church of God with international offices in Charleston, Tennessee, which appointed Carlton Brown to lead its work in Jamaica from 1 September 2025.
- United Church of God, a Sabbath-keeping church with congregations in Kingston, Montego Bay and Ocho Rios.
Some churches sit on the boundary between this category and the Pentecostal one. The Pentecostal Church of God, founded in Spanish Town by American missionaries in the 1950s, had 49 congregations by 2015; how its members described themselves to census takers is not known. For the wider Pentecostal movement see Pentecostal churches.
Migration and the diaspora
The Church of God family travelled with Jamaican migrants. Oliver Lyseight, born in 1919 and raised in Claremont, Hanover, in a Methodist family, met the New Testament Church of God in 1935, became a Sunday school superintendent and parish youth director over nine churches, and then a pastor. In 1951 he emigrated to England, where he preached among Caribbean migrants in the West Midlands. On 20 September 1953 he held the first public service of what became the New Testament Church of God in England and Wales, with seven members in a rented YMCA hall in Wolverhampton. Lyseight, who died in 2006, is remembered as a spiritual leader of the Windrush generation. The British church reported more than 15,000 members and about 40,000 adherents in 2025, and its leaders visited Jamaica that May for the centenary, Bishop Claion Grandison saying its story “cannot be told without Jamaica”.
The same pattern holds in North America, where many Jamaican pastors and members have planted churches, and where diaspora congregations send money home. The New Testament Church of God itself names migration of trained ministers, especially to the United States, as one cause of a shortage of pastors in Jamaica. See also our glossary entry on British Jamaicans.
Since independence
The great growth of the Church of God family came in the half-century after independence. The 1960 census counted 191,231 people in a single Church of God grouping. By 2001 the four groups held 617,158, more than three times as many, and by 2011, 689,868, making the family larger than any other Christian tradition on the island. Between 2001 and 2011 alone the historic churches lost 10.8% of their people.
The churches also became institution-builders. The Church of God in Jamaica took over the Excell Learning Centre at 5 Brumalia Road, Mandeville, after its founder retired in 2009, and in September 2014 reopened it as Ardenne Preparatory, part of the Ardenne group of schools, with 154 pupils. In 2015 it dedicated the Olson Memorial Chapel on Hope Road, St Andrew, named after its founders. The New Testament Church of God provided the land in Portmore for Cedar Grove Academy, a government high school that opened in September 2013, at first partly in the church’s hall; its first CSEC cohort recorded 100 per cent passes in nine subjects in 2018. The NTCOG has its national office and convention centre at Rhodons Pen, Old Harbour, St Catherine.
Crime has touched the churches too. In September 2018 James Johnson, a 29-year-old Church of God of Prophecy pastor and the church’s public relations officer, was shot dead by a gunman while teaching a class at the church’s convention headquarters in St Catherine. In September 2020 Bishop Dr Roy Notice, formerly pastor of Waltham Park Road and president of Bethel Bible College, began a four-year term as Administrative Bishop of the New Testament Church of God, elected by its 285 ministers in a vote run by the Electoral Office of Jamaica. He led the church through its centenary, which it marked from 2024 to 2025 and celebrated at its National Convention in Old Harbour in July 2025, with Bishop Dr Gary Lewis, General Overseer of the world church, as guest preacher.
Beliefs and worship
All the main Church of God groups are evangelical Protestant churches that hold the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, preach personal conversion and teach holiness of life. They differ most on the Holy Spirit and on church government.
| New Testament Church of God | Church of God of Prophecy | Church of God in Jamaica | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holy Spirit | Baptism in the Holy Ghost after sanctification; speaking in tongues is its initial evidence | Baptism in the Holy Ghost with speaking in tongues | Holiness teaching; not Pentecostal, no requirement of tongues |
| Sanctification | A work after the new birth | Holiness of life taught | Entire sanctification, in the Wesleyan holiness tradition |
| Ordinances | Baptism by immersion, Lord’s Supper, foot washing | Baptism by immersion, Lord’s Supper, foot washing | Baptism by immersion, Lord’s Supper, foot washing |
| Healing | Divine healing provided in the atonement | Divine healing taught | – |
| Last things | Premillennial return of Christ | Second coming of Christ | Anderson writers generally amillennial (non-binding) |
| Government | Episcopal: administrative bishop, national executive council, district overseers | Episcopal: national bishop within an international structure | Congregational, with a national general assembly |
Worship in the Pentecostal Churches of God is lively and participatory, with congregational singing, testimony, prayer for the sick and, at times, speaking in tongues. Prayer meetings, fasts (one Clarendon congregation was on day 16 of a 40-day fast when its church burned down in 2020), conventions and crusades are central to church life, and members wash one another’s feet as an ordinance alongside the Lord’s Supper. In the Anderson tradition of the Church of God in Jamaica there is no formal membership roll: all who are saved are regarded as belonging to the church. As our overview of Christianity in Jamaica notes, the spirited worship of the Pentecostal churches echoes older Jamaican traditions, including the Revival movement of the 1860s. Historically the holiness churches condemned alcohol and tobacco, and the Church of God of Prophecy opposed divorce and remarriage until it changed its policy in 2006.
Organisation and institutions
New Testament Church of God. The church is led by an Administrative Bishop and a National Executive Council; in 2026 the council has 13 members. Its 361 churches are grouped into 81 districts, each under a District Overseer, and about 276 ministers serve them. National ministries include Bethel Bible College of the Caribbean, its theological college; men’s (Life Builders), women’s, youth, family life and discipleship ministries; a music and worship unit formed in January 2021; and a ministry for the care of ministers. Its social projects include Yadel Girls’ Home in Old Harbour. Earlier sources describe the church as the New Testament Church of God in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
Church of God in Jamaica. Congregations are self-governing and meet together in a General Assembly, led by an executive chairman. A church list gives 111 congregations in six regions: Western (10), South Central (27), North Central (17), Central (21), South Eastern (19) and North Eastern (17). Many congregations run basic schools, among them the Gloria Flemming Basic School at the Highholborn Street church.
Church of God of Prophecy. A National Bishop leads the Jamaican church from its national office, assisted by a National Administrative Assistant and parish administrative assistants, within the church’s Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean Islands region. The church reported 298 churches in 2025. Its training arm, the New Covenant Bible Institute, works in partnership with Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts; ten students graduated with a Master of Arts in Religion in May 2015.
| Institution | Place | Church | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ardenne High School | Ardenne Road, St Andrew | Church of God in Jamaica | Founded 1927 on Highholborn Street; on present site since 1938 |
| Ardenne Preparatory School | Hope Road, St Andrew, and Mandeville | Church of God in Jamaica | Mandeville campus opened 2014; Kingston school broke ground in 2022 on an administration block to replace one destroyed by fire in 2019 |
| Bethel Bible College of the Caribbean | Jamaica | New Testament Church of God | The church’s theological college |
| Cedar Grove Academy | Portmore, St Catherine | New Testament Church of God (land) | Government high school opened 2013 on church land |
| Yadel Girls’ Home | Old Harbour, St Catherine | New Testament Church of God | Children’s home |
| New Covenant Bible Institute | Jamaica | Church of God of Prophecy | Roots in the Bible Training Camp, 1965 |
| Jamaica Holiness Bible College | 143 East Street, Kingston | Church of God (Holiness) | Opened 2006 |
Notable churches
Most Church of God buildings are modern, many of them simple concrete churches built by their own congregations, so few are listed heritage sites. Places that matter in the family’s history include:
| Church or site | Place | Group | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highholborn Street Church of God | Kingston | Church of God in Jamaica | Grew from the Olsons’ tent meetings on Highholborn Street after 1907 |
| Olson Memorial Chapel | Hope Road, St Andrew | Church of God in Jamaica | Dedicated July 2015; named after George and Nellie Olson |
| Constant Spring Road Church of God | 93B Constant Spring Road, Kingston | Church of God in Jamaica | Dedicated July 1956; 70th anniversary in 2026 |
| Borobridge New Testament Church of God | Clarendon | NTCOG | Site of the first officially organised church, 1925, with 62 members |
| Leicesterfield | Clarendon | NTCOG | Venue of the first Island Convention, July 1928 |
| NTCOG Convention Centre and national office | Rhodons Pen, Old Harbour | NTCOG | Venue of the 2025 centenary convention |
| Water Lane New Testament Church of God | Montego Bay | NTCOG | Visited by Prime Minister Bruce Golding while in office |
| Stony Hill Church of God of Prophecy | St Andrew | COGOP | Where Bishop Winston Leith was converted in 1972 |
More historic churches are described in our guide to churches and cemetery sites.
Notable people
| Name | Group | Role |
|---|---|---|
| George Olson (b. about 1883) and Nellie Olson | Church of God in Jamaica | Missionaries from Anderson, Indiana, from 1907; founders of Ardenne High School |
| Mary Olson | Church of God in Jamaica | Principal of Ardenne High School, 1944–1969 |
| J. Wilson Bell | NTCOG | Kingston evangelist who contacted the Cleveland church in 1917 |
| J. S. Llewellyn | NTCOG | First Church of God missionary to Jamaica and the Caribbean, 1918 |
| E. E. Simmonds | NTCOG | Organised churches in Clarendon in 1925; first national overseer |
| H. A. Hudson | NTCOG | First Jamaican Island Overseer, 1935 |
| Oliver Lyseight (1919–2006) | NTCOG | From Hanover; founder of the New Testament Church of God in England and Wales, 1953 |
| Rev. Dr Wellesley Blair | NTCOG | Administrative Bishop for Jamaica and the Cayman Islands in the early 2010s |
| Bishop Dr Roy Notice | NTCOG | Administrative Bishop since 2020 |
| Bishop Dr Clayton Martin | COGOP | Born in Clarendon; national overseer 1998–2010; General Presbyter for the Caribbean since 2010 |
| Bishop Dr Winston Leith | COGOP | National Bishop of Jamaica |
| Rev. Adinhair Jones | Church of God in Jamaica | Executive chairman in 2014–2015 |
| Rev. Courtney Gordon | Church of God in Jamaica | Executive chairman as of 2026 |
| Gloria Flemming (b. 1926) | Church of God in Jamaica | Church office worker from 1948 and long-serving bursar of Ardenne; celebrated her 100th birthday in June 2026 |
Membership and growth
The census asks people which religion or denomination they belong to, so it counts everyone who identifies with a church, including children and occasional attenders. Church rolls count baptised or active members and are usually much smaller.
| Group | 2001 | % 2001 | 2011 | % 2011 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Testament Church of God | 163,912 | 6.31% | 192,086 | 7.16% | ▲ 17.2% |
| Church of God in Jamaica | 124,184 | 4.78% | 129,544 | 4.83% | ▲ 4.3% |
| Church of God of Prophecy | 113,225 | 4.36% | 121,400 | 4.52% | ▲ 7.2% |
| Other Church of God | 215,837 | 8.31% | 246,838 | 9.20% | ▲ 14.4% |
| All Church of God | 617,158 | 23.77% | 689,868 | 25.71% | ▲ 11.8% |
| For comparison: Pentecostal | 247,452 | 9.53% | 295,195 | 11.00% | ▲ 19.3% |
Source: Statistical Institute of Jamaica, Population and Housing Census 2011. The 1960 census counted 191,231 people in one Church of God grouping. Full tables are on Jamaica Religion Stats. The 2022 census religion tables have not yet been published.
| Group | Church figure | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Testament Church of God | more than 119,000 members in over 360 churches | 2025 | Jamaica Observer |
| New Testament Church of God | 361 churches, 81 districts, about 276 ministers | 2025–26 | Church website |
| New Testament Church of God | 365 churches | April 2026 | The Gleaner |
| New Testament Church of God | 53 churches, about 1,600 members | 1935 | Church history |
| Church of God of Prophecy | 298 churches | November 2025 | Church of God of Prophecy |
| Church of God in Jamaica | 111 congregations in six regions | recent | Church list |
| Church of God (Seventh Day) | 58 congregations in five zones | December 2025 | General Conference Missions |
| Church of God (Holiness) | 9 churches, about 250 attending | recent | COGH World Missions |
Why one Jamaican in four
No single study explains the family’s size, but several factors stand out in its history. The churches put down roots early in rural Jamaica: by 1935 the NTCOG’s 53 churches were spread across Clarendon, St Ann, Manchester, St Elizabeth and Trelawny. They handed leadership to Jamaicans early: the NTCOG had a Jamaican island overseer by 1935 and says it was producing its own preachers by 1940, and the Church of God of Prophecy was training ministers locally from the early 1960s, so congregations could multiply without waiting for missionaries. Their participatory worship and clear holiness teaching are often cited as part of their appeal. The name itself is open: any new congregation can call itself a Church of God, which may help explain why the “Other” category is the largest of the four. Church leaders give their own explanation. When the 2011 census results were published in 2012, Bishop Wellesley Blair of the NTCOG told The Gleaner that “people want real things. They are tired of the fake things”, and rejected the charge that his church grew by “sheep stealing” from others.
Growth has been uneven. Between 2001 and 2011 the NTCOG grew by 17.2%, faster than the population, while the Church of God in Jamaica grew by only 4.3%. The NTCOG’s own figure of about 119,000 members is well below the 192,086 people who gave it as their church in 2011, a gap typical of churches whose wider circle of adherents is much bigger than their baptised membership.
Hurricane Melissa and current issues
Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm, struck Jamaica on 28 October 2025 and did its worst damage in the western parishes. Bishop Roy Notice told The Gleaner in April 2026 that about 20 New Testament Church of God churches had been completely destroyed and about 70 significantly damaged, in St Elizabeth, Westmoreland and Hanover among other parishes. Congregations were worshipping in tents and under tarpaulins that tore in heavy wind and rain. One church in Black River needed more than $6 million for its roof alone; another faced a repair bill estimated at $31 million. Some congregations planned to rebuild with concrete roofs.
The Church of God of Prophecy’s first report, in November 2025, found 43 of its 298 churches affected, with 77 churches in the worst-hit parishes and four parishes still to report; it set up a National Relief Committee and Fund and sent care packages to a distribution hub in Manchester. In February 2026 its Presiding Bishop, Tim Coalter, visited St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, St James and Trelawny with Bishop Leith and Bishop Clayton Martin. About J$15 million in international gifts had been pledged or given, and under a Church Assistance Programme stronger congregations “adopt” damaged ones. The Church of God (Seventh Day) reported damage to churches across several of its zones.
Churches also became relief centres. In St Elizabeth, the Escarpment Road and Middle Quarters New Testament Churches of God held a Mission Rise 3.0 outreach with doctors, dentists, counsellors and lawyers, and repaired the roofs of three homes; the Middle Quarters church itself had lost its roof. Diaspora churches sent help through the NTCOG, including US$6,000 from a congregation in Florida and generators shipped to Falmouth through the Market Street church.
Other issues in 2025–2026 include a shortage of pastors in the NTCOG, which it links to migration and to the heavy demands on bi-vocational ministers; crime and curfews, which a Manchester bishop said in 2026 had stopped his Church of God from holding night services since March; and the care of a large estate of churches, schools and halls. Jamaica Homes covers these stories under church land and church property.
Timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1881 | Daniel Sidney Warner begins the Church of God movement later centred in Anderson, Indiana |
| 1886 | R. G. Spurling’s Christian Union meets in Tennessee, origin of the Cleveland Church of God |
| 1907 | 30 July: George and Nellie Olson land in Kingston; 1 August: first street meeting |
| 1908 | First assembly of the Anderson Church of God in Jamaica |
| 1917 | J. Wilson Bell of Kingston writes to the Church of God in Cleveland, Tennessee |
| 1918 | J. S. Llewellyn arrives; a congregation of seven is organised in Kingston |
| 1923 | The Tennessee Church of God divides; the Tomlinson body later becomes the Church of God of Prophecy |
| 1925 | 23 April: E. E. Simmonds arrives; church organised at Borobridge, Clarendon, with 62 members |
| 1927 | Olsons open the school that becomes Ardenne High |
| 1928 | First NTCOG Island Convention at Leicesterfield, Clarendon, 4–6 July |
| 1929 | Ardenne property bought in St Andrew |
| 1932 | Church of God (Holiness) begins work in Jamaica |
| 1935 | H. A. Hudson becomes first Jamaican Island Overseer; 53 churches |
| 1938 | Ardenne High moves to its present site |
| 1951 | Oliver Lyseight emigrates to England |
| 1952 | Tomlinson’s church becomes the Church of God of Prophecy |
| 1953 | 20 September: first NTCOG service in Wolverhampton, England |
| 1956 | Constant Spring Road Church of God dedicated |
| 1960 | Census counts 191,231 in the Church of God |
| 1965 | First graduates of the COGOP Bible Training Camp |
| 2001 | Census: four Church of God groups total 617,158 |
| 2011 | Census: 689,868, 25.7% of the population |
| 2013 | Cedar Grove Academy opens on NTCOG land in Portmore |
| 2014 | Ardenne Prep opens in Mandeville |
| 2015 | Olson Memorial Chapel dedicated on Hope Road |
| 2018 | COGOP pastor James Johnson killed at the church’s convention headquarters |
| 2020 | Bishop Dr Roy Notice becomes NTCOG Administrative Bishop |
| 2025 | NTCOG centenary; Hurricane Melissa destroys or damages scores of Church of God buildings |
| 2026 | COGOP Presiding Bishop visits storm-hit parishes; Constant Spring Road church marks 70 years |
Updates to this page
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 12 October 2026 | Page created. |
Sources: Statistical Institute of Jamaica, Population and Housing Census 2011; The Gleaner, census and Church of God growth (21 October 2012), “Bishop Notice takes on bigger task” (13 September 2020), Church of God of Prophecy pastor killed (22 September 2018), Ardenne High at 90 (9 January 2017), “Easter hope” on storm-damaged churches (5 April 2026), Gloria Flemming at 100 (27 June 2026), Constant Spring Road Church of God at 70 (5 August 2026), Pentecostal Church of God minister (25 July 2015); Jamaica Observer, NTCOG elects new leader (5 September 2020), UK delegation for the centenary (13 May 2025), “Short of shepherds” (16 May 2025), NTCOG celebrates 100 years (12 July 2025), “Hope in Melissa’s aftermath” (7 December 2025), Excell Learning Centre rebrands as Ardenne Prep (20 September 2014); New Testament Church of God Jamaica, About Us, National Council, National Ministries, Declaration of Faith and 2026–27 Annual Focus (ntcogjamaica.org); NTCOG Jamaica church history as reproduced by FiWi Business; New Testament Church of God England and Wales, Dr Oliver A. Lyseight; Ardenne High School, history; Mary R. Olson, “George and Nellie Olson” (Church of God heritage); Church of God Ministries, Olson Memorial Chapel (4 August 2015); Church of God of Prophecy, Hurricane Melissa initial report (November 2025), Presiding Bishop’s visit to Jamaica (17 February 2026), Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean Islands; COGOP Caribbean, staff; New Covenant Bible Institute, history; General Conference of the Church of God (Seventh Day), Missions newsletter (December 2025); COGH World Missions, Jamaica; The Church of God (Charleston, Tennessee), 2025 appointments; United Church of God Caribbean; Between Sundays podcast, episode 23 (June 2026); C. Kinder, thesis on race in A. J. Tomlinson’s Church of God; Wikipedia, Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), Church of God (Anderson, Indiana), Church of God of Prophecy, Oliver Lyseight, Ardenne High School and Religion in Jamaica; Jamaica Homes, Jamaica Religion Stats and earlier reporting.