The church was founded in 1897 in Ireland by William Irvine, an evangelist with the interdenominational Faith Mission. Irvine began independently preaching a return to the method of itinerant ministry he claimed was set forth in Matthew 10. Church growth was rapid, spreading outside Ireland. Irvine eventually began preaching a new order in which the hierarchy that had developed within the church would have no placement. This teaching became controversial within the church and led to his expulsion by church overseers around 1914. One of the church's most prominent evangelists, Edward Cooney, was expelled a decade after Irvine. The church then became much less visible to outsiders for the next half-century. Publication of several articles and books, increased news coverage, and the appearance of the Internet have since opened the church to wider scrutiny.