Charles Ewing Brown

Charles Ewing Brown

21 Sermons
Charles Ewing Brown (May 27, 1883 – December 18, 1971) was an American preacher, educator, and editor whose ministry profoundly shaped the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) through his leadership in the Holiness movement during the early to mid-20th century. Born in Elizabethtown, Illinois, to James Henry Brown and Melissa Jane McGowan, he experienced a dual conversion and sanctification as a child, a transformative moment detailed in his writings where he grappled with doubt before embracing spiritual realities. He began preaching in 1895 at age 12, initially in Methodist circles near Newton, Illinois, before joining the Church of God reformation movement in 1907. Educated at Findlay College and Chicago Theological Seminary, he later received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Anderson College, reflecting his self-taught theological depth despite limited formal schooling. Brown’s preaching career gained prominence as he served as editor-in-chief of the Gospel Trumpet from 1926 to 1951, a flagship publication of the Church of God, where he penned influential editorials and books like When the Trumpet Blew (1952), advocating a holiness fundamentalism that rejected premillennialism and cultural separatism. He pastored churches in Ohio and Indiana, notably in Youngstown and Anderson, and taught theology at Anderson College and Theological Seminary from 1918 to 1940, mentoring generations of ministers. Married to Carrie Becker in 1907, with whom he had three children—Charles Becker, James Henry, and Mary Jane—he faced personal trials, including the loss of two children and his wife in 1950. He died at 88 in Indianapolis, Indiana, buried in Anderson’s Maplewood Cemetery, leaving a legacy of nuanced evangelical thought and steadfast devotion to sanctification.
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