The International Holiness Mission
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Church, and he played an important part in the union of the International Holiness Mission and the Church of the Nazarene. From the time of his entry into the Mission, Nazarene terms and methods appear in the legislation, 225 which, whatever the motive for introducing them, certainly smoothed the way to union. Besides the efforts of Maclagan and providing a favourable context for them, there was a growing desire and demand in the Mission for a more democratic form of government which had its origins in the days of Willis and Jessop, found disruptive expression in the Calvary Holiness Church schism, persisted in the suggested administration of 1935, and, after sundry reverses, emerged to prepare the International Holiness Mission for the ecclesiastical democracy of the Church of the Nazarene. The visit of George Frame, the district superintendent of the British Isles District of the Church of the Nazarene, to the October Convention of the Mission at Bolton in 1951 brought the process to a climax. At his request the Executive Council granted him an interview at their autumn meeting and listened with favour to his suggestion that the two movements should come closer together. Exploratory Committees were appointed by both movements in Britain and South Africa, and their reports favouring union were considered at the Executive Council Meeting on 15th and 16th April, 1952. After a period of prayer, Dr. Hardy C. Powers, a general superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene, and Frame were received by them, and they gave them an insight into the administration of the Church of the Nazarene. When they withdrew, the Executive Council came to its decision. Many factors must have been at work at that critical moment; the need of the South African Field; the desire for a more democratic form of government; Maclagan's influence; the advantage of belonging to a larger denomination; the vacant presidential chair. 226 The decision was almost unanimous: by twenty votes to one the Executive Council endorsed the reports of the Exploratory Committees. 227 It remained for the individual churches to be consulted. Their vote was as emphatic as the Executive Council's: all, with the exception of the church at Southampton, voted in favour of union. On October 29th, 1952, in the Zion Methodist Church, Leeds, the International Holiness Mission formally united