
Pentecost Band Leaders Embrace Marital Purity
While Free Methodists during the Progressive Era were known for following stringent Holiness lifestyle guidelines. (For example, simple dress, no instrumental music during services, refraining from any leisure activity that was deemed “worldly.”) Many Pentecost Band members took Holiness living to an entirely new level. One of the most fascinating and controversial of these beliefs was the practice of marital purity (more commonly called social purity). Most band workers were single and served in bands with workers of the same sex. However, a few married couples co-led different bands, including Vivan and Ida Dake, Minnie Baldwin Shelhammer and E.E. Shelhamer. … Continue reading Pentecost Band Leaders Embrace Marital Purity