Grace Communion International (GCI), formerly named the Radio Church of God and the Worldwide Church of God, is a Christian denomination based in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
According to the organization's website, the denomination has 30,000 members in 550 churches in 70 countries, is structured in the episcopal model and is a member of the National Association of Evangelicals.
In 1934, Herbert W. Armstrong, a former advertising agent turned radio- and televangelist, founded the Radio Church of God, a radio ministry in Eugene, Oregon. Armstrong's biography states that he had formerly been ordained in 1931 by the Oregon Conference of the Church of God (Seventh Day), an Adventist group, but split with them in 1933. On January 7, 1934, Armstrong began hosting a broadcast on a local 100-watt radio station KORE in Eugene. The program was essentially a condensed church service on the air, with hymn singing featured along with Armstrong's message. Armstrong later named his program The World Tomorrow, perhaps inspired by the theme of the 1939 World's Fair, "The World of Tomorrow". To facilitate the work of the growing church, Armstrong incorporated it on March 3, 1946, as the Radio Church of God. Although his views were rejected by the local congregation, he gained a following through his World Tomorrow broadcasts and The Plain Truth magazine.
In 1947, Armstrong incorporated his California ministry, relocated the church's headquarters to Pasadena, California, and founded Ambassador College as the denomination's educational arm. The broadcast of The World Tomorrow went into Europe on Radio Luxembourg on January 7, 1953. In 1968, the movement was renamed the Worldwide Church of God (WCG).
Armstrongism
The Worldwide Church of God adhered to the teachings of its founder, Herbert W. Armstrong, until his death. Armstrong practiced a blend of Christian fundamentalism with some tenets of Judaism and Seventh-Day Sabbath doctrine. Armstrong preached that Britain and the United States were populated by descendants of two "lost tribes" of Ancient Israel.