[12] Mason stayed in Los Angeles for five weeks and his visit to the Azusa Street Revival changed the direction of the newly formed holiness church. [13], Although the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) began earlier, it is still the case that in 1907, with ten congregations, The Church of God in Christ became the first legally chartered Pentecostal body incorporated in the United States. The general assembly is the supreme authority over the church to decide matters of faith and practice. "[90] This excerpt of Elder Carter's sermon went viral throughout social media and was picked up by major television news broadcasts. Bishop John Drew Sheard is Presiding Bishop and Chief Apostle of the Church of God in Christ, Inc., one of the largest African American Pentecostal denominations in the United States with 12,000 churches in over 112 countries. Youth on a Mission (YOAM) a ministry of young people visiting the mission field to serve each summer. For a brief period of time, the YPWW Congress was combined with the Sunday School Congress in a joint convention until 1951. [27], Bishop James Oglethorpe Patterson Sr. was elected in November 1968 as the first presiding bishop of the church by the General Assembly at the Sixty-First Holy Convocation of the church. She formed her daughters into a singing group who became known as the legendary "Clark Sisters" who helped introduce and became leaders of the contemporary gospel music era. Nevertheless, women are licensed in COGIC to proclaim the gospel as evangelists. In his first year as Presiding Bishop in 2021, in order to combat debt that the church had accrued from previous years, Bishop Sheard helped to launch the "I Love My Church" Initiative, which was a massive fundraising campaign that helped the COGIC denomination to pay off much of its debts, renovate and refurbish its headquarters church, Mason Temple, establish housing complexes for low-income families throughout Shelby County, Tennessee near the church's headquarters, and purchased a former Catholic nunnery convent in Memphis to provide housing for single mothers affected by health challenges, disabilities, teen pregnancies, and domestic violence. [20], The first national tabernacle was built and completed in 1925. The first convention was held in Los Angeles, California, in 1951. The school and college remain closed at present.[29]. The Holy Spirit is the agent that equips, empowers, leads, and guides the church until the return of Christ. According to the Articles of Religion, "We believe that we are not baptized with the Holy Ghost in order to be saved, but that we are baptized with the Holy Ghost because we are saved". Patterson in March 2007. In keeping with the times, the school had some industrial education and training for its students, so that they could learn practical skills. From 1985 to 2009, he maintained the position of Prelate for the First Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of California, where he was responsible for overseeing over 250 . Today the International Women's Convention/Crusade meets annually in May in different cities throughout the nation drawing thousands of women from around the world. [33] In 2009, Bishop Blake unveiled an aggressive program known as "Urban Initiatives" to address the plight of America's urban areas. During his visit, Mason received the baptism of the Holy Ghost; the evidence was believed to be his "speaking in other tongues", in accordance with the biblical account found in the book of Acts 2:4. These women have been listed for their significant contributions and impact to the church. In 1976, under the leadership of Bishop J.O. Religious Figure, former Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), the fourth largest Protestant denominaton in the world. Mason sent ministers and evangelists to cities and urban areas outside the South, including William Roberts (Chicago), O. M. Kelly (New York), O. T. Jones Sr. (Philadelphia), E. R. Driver (Los Angeles), and Samuel Kelsey (Washington, D.C.) From these major cities, COGIC spread throughout the country. He was recognized in Washington, D. C. by President Barack Obama in 2009 and invited to serve on the White House Advisory, Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. In 2000 at the Ninety-Third International Holy Convocation, the COGIC General Assembly elected Bishop Gilbert Earl Patterson to replace Owens as Presiding Bishop. Bishop Mason: Founder of largest Pentecostal denomination - NBC News [25], Bishop Ozro Thurston Jones Sr. was pastor of the Holy Temple Church of God in Christ in Philadelphia and the Jurisdictional Bishop of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Jurisdiction. Military chaplains have also been instrumental in spreading COGIC through military installations. Organized in the South and having a predominately African-American membership, COGIC has had a long history in advancing civil rights. Today thousands of COGIC women when ministering the gospel or serving in official capacities are seen in their civic (black) or ceremonial (white) habits. Finding two groups of women in the church, one group praying known as the Prayer Band, the other group studying and teaching the Word known as the Bible Band, she combined the two under the name of the Prayer and Bible Band. They exist today as adversaries to the kingdom, purpose and will of God. Drew Sheard was consecrated as Jurisdictional Bishop, succeeding Bishop Herbert J. Williams, Sr., the founding prelate of North Central Michigan Jurisdiction. Over time, the ministers and churches under Leonard P. Adams also separated from COGIC; they assimilated into other white Pentecostal groups or organizations. But during the early twentieth century, the Pentecostal movement had rapid growth nationally and attracted racially integrated congregants to its worship services. He was a speaker at the Democratic National Conventions first Ecumenical Service where he eloquently, challenged all to protect the unborn by advocating pro-life. 2nd Assistant Presiding Bishop Bishop Lawrence M. Wooten. Built in the 1940s during World War II, the nearly 4000-seat building was the largest church auditorium of any African-American religious group in the United States. Bishop Sheard was first elected to the General Board in 2012 and re-elected in 2016. Carter was found in contempt of court for failing to obey the court order and was jailed until he removed all videos and agreed to comply. The then"Minister & Sister Carter" established and . Church of God in Christ - Wikipedia [93] Leaders within the COGIC, other denominations and Bishop Blake's own family came to his defense. COGIC clergy are also allowed to be married. During the tenure of Bishop J. O. Patterson Sr. as Presiding Bishop in the 1970s and 80s, Bishop Patterson established several interdenominational Christian schools and seminaries, and helped to establish the World Fellowship of Black Pentecostal Churches and gained COGIC membership in the Congress of National Black Churches as well, a national caucus of Black church denominations that represent different denominations and organizations of the Black Church in America. Funeral services set for COGIC Evangelist Louise Patterson B. McEwen, came to a head and was addressed at the 57th Holy Convocation. These auxiliaries are found in nearly every church, district, and jurisdiction within COGIC and function to support the holistic approach that COGIC has toward ministry within the church and the larger community that COGIC congregations serve. In 1933, he set apart five overseers to the Office of Bishop in the church, the first five bishops of COGIC. The church's new presiding bishop, who took office on March 20, said he will have to. ", COGIC teaches that sanctification is a continuous operation of the Holy Spirit, by which he "delivers the justified sinner from the pollution of sin, renews his whole nature in the image of God and enables him to perform good works". Today COGIC has more than 12,000 churches, and several schools, missions, and medical clinics in more than eighty nations, including every inhabited continent. He was elected four times uncontested as presiding bishop. Treasurer of the General Council of Pastors and Elders Pastor William Ward. Lizzie Woods Robinson (19111945) was the first "General Mother" of the church. William B. Holt was appointed as General Superintendent. He has one older brother, J. Chairman of AIM Bishop Linwood Dillard. Mitchell#, national evangelist, pastor, St. Andrew, Denton, TX, Carlis L. Moody#, foreign missionary, jurisdictional bishop emeritus, Germany Jurisdiction; pastor, Faith Temple, Evanston, IL, Eugene Franklin Rivers, political activist, pastor, Azusa Christian Community, Boston, MA, William Roberts#, jurisdictional bishop, Illinois First Jurisdiction, pastor, Robert's Temple, Chicago, IL, John Drew Sheard, general board member, jurisdictional bishop, Michigan North Central Jurisdiction; pastor, Greater Emmanuel Institutional, Detroit, MI, Nathan Simmons#, national evangelist, pastor, Citadel of Hope Evangelistic, Atlanta, GA, Robert James Ward#, jurisdictional bishop, Eastern Missouri First Jurisdiction; pastor, Historic Kennerly Temple, St. Louis, MO, Wyoming Wells#, jurisdictional bishop, Greater North Carolina Jurisdiction; pastor, Well's Memorial, Greensboro, NC; Well's Chapel, Greenville, NC, Frank Otha White#, General Board Member, Jurisdictional Bishop, New York Eastern Third Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction; Pastor, Zion Cathedral, Freeport, NY, David Lawrence Williams Sr.#, general board member, jurisdictional bishop, Virginia Second Jurisdiction; pastor, Mason Memorial, Norfolk, VA, Levi Edgar Willis#, radio and television personality, jurisdictional bishop, Virginia Third Jurisdiction; pastor, Garden of Prayer Temple, Norfolk, VA, Roy Lawrence Hailey Winbush#, general board member, jurisdictional bishop, Louisiana First Jurisdiction; pastor, Gethsemane, Lafayette, LA, Bishop Richard Mr. The COGIC emphasized the use of the choir as an integral part of the worship experience. It also increasingly stressed high academic standards so that its graduates could go to normal school or college, especially to teach other African Americans. In 1964 however, disagreement between the authority of the Senior Bishop and the executive board, led by Bishop A. [53], In 1965, during the March to Selma, a young COGIC minister Charles E. Blake, (previous COGIC Presiding Bishop) was studying at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, GA. There is a presiding bishop, known as the chief apostle of the church. President, International Music Department Dr. Myron Williams, General Assembly and Call Meeting (April) Memphis, General Council of Pastors and Elders (May), International Women's Crusade and Convention (May), Auxiliaries in Ministry (AIM) Conference (July), Bishop Mason's Birthday/Founder's Celebration (September), International Holy Convocation and General Assembly (November), Mother Lizzie Woods Robinson first general supervisor (19111945), Mother Lillian Brooks Coffey second general supervisor and founding president of the Women's International Convention (19461964), Mother Annie L. Bailey third general supervisor (19641975), Mother Mattie McGlothen fourth general supervisor (19751994), Mother Emma F. Crouch fifth general supervisor (19941997), Mother Willie Mae Rivers sixth general supervisor (19972017), Mother Barbara McCoo Lewis seventh general supervisor (2017present), Evangelist Emily Bram Bibby#, longest-serving national female evangelist, Missionary Pearl Paige Brown#, foreign missionary. She served as chairperson of the board of supervisors, member, Executive Board, member, Screening Committee, member, Program Committee General Church, coordinator, Leadership Conference, International Marshall, secretary, and Assistant General Supervisor for the Department of Women. Drew Sheard is a former public-school teacher. Mother Willie Mae Rivers (19972017) of Goose Creek, South Carolina, succeeded Mother Crouch. She was the Jurisdictional Supervisor of Women for Texas Southwest Jurisdiction under the late Bishop T. D. Iglehart. He was a strong advocate for social justice. Bishop Blake led COGIC through the death of G. E. Patterson while preparing the church for its 100th Holy Convocation; an important milestone for the church. Assistant Financial Secretary Bishop David A. Sanders. [2][3] On March 21, 2007, he became the Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ, Inc., as a result of Presiding Bishop Gilbert E. Patterson's death. Bishop Blake was the pastor of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ,[7] one of the largest African-American churches in the Western United States, with a membership of over 24,000, from 1969 until his retirement in 2022. In 2015, after more than 40 years of faithful service, Bishop Carlis L. Moody was emeritized as Bishop of Missions. From the very beginning of gospel music, COGIC members have influenced its rise. Chandler David Owens Sr. (October 2, 1931 - March 6, 2011) was an American minister and Holiness Pentecostal denomination leader of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), for which he served as the Presiding Bishop from 1995 to 2000, after the death of Bishop Louis Henry Ford. In a November 2007 special election, he was elected to complete the unexpired term of his predecessor as Presiding Bishop. [39], COGIC is a trinitarian Holiness Pentecostal denomination. Education was considered key to advancement of the race. (Young People Willing Workers), and Missions and Evangelism. Bishop Jones was the only living bishop of the five original bishops consecrated by Bishop Mason. Elder L. C. Patrick was added to the National Sunday School. On the local church level in addition to the office of missionary, COGIC developed and has maintained the position of the "church mother." During the 1950s and 60s, during the height of the civil rights movement, COGIC ministers and congregations played host to many significant events. Mason was given authority to lead the new denomination. The Church of God in Christ was formed in 1897 by a group of disfellowshipped Baptists, most notably Charles Price Jones (18651949) and Charles Harrison Mason (18641961). There was the creation of the Sunday School Field Representative. Patterson, former presiding bishop of the Church of God In Christ.. Their pastor was then elder Gilbert Earl Patterson, who also became a COGIC Presiding Bishop, at Holy Temple COGIC in Memphis, Tennessee. On April 24, 2022, while addressing his local congregation at the West Angeles COGIC for their sunday morning service, he announced that he has been dealing with and coping with Parkinson's disease, "for the past ten years", and that as of April 2022, he was going to be retiring as the senior pastor of West Angeles COGIC, and that his two sons who are also COGIC elders and ministers, Reverends Charles, Jr. and Lawrence Blake, would be taking over as the de facto pastor and assistant pastor of the West Angeles congregation, respectively. Field representative, International Sunday School Department Mother Cleolia Penix. In 1968, Two sanitation workers who were also COGIC members, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were crushed to death in a garbage compactor where they were taking shelter from the rain. Patterson, as Presiding Bishop of the Church in the 2000s, he helped bridge denominational barriers and encouraged non-COGIC ministries and denominations to work collaboratively with the COGIC denomination to help support charity efforts for poor and disadvantaged African Americans and people affected by poverty and disasters in foreign countries through the COGIC Charities Department and the COGIC Missions and Evangelism Department. Church Of God In Christ, Inc. 2015-23. Upon his return to Jackson, Mississippi, Mason faced opposition when he recounted his experience. The presiding bishop and all twelve members of the general board are to be elected every four years and preside over the church when the General Assembly is not in session. From 1985 until 2009, he was the Jurisdictional Prelate of the First Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of Southern California, overseeing more than 250 churches that compose the jurisdiction. It was reopened in the early 1990s under the administration of Bishop L.H. Mason Theological Seminary to train its ministers and ministry leaders. World headquarters are in Memphis, Tennessee at Mason Temple. Chairman of the General Council of Pastors and Elders Superintendent Michael Eaddy. As has been stated, COGIC does not ordain women as elder or bishop, however, COGIC would not have become the largest predominately African-American Pentecostal church in the world, nor have the largest Women's convention of any major denomination without the contributions of women. Bishop Sheard is a former mathematics teacher and . During the formative stages of COGIC, Bishop Mason organized departments to further support the work of the church as it continued to grow and expand. [16], A few years after the Azusa Revival, in 1914, shortly before the United States entered World War I, approximately 300 white ministers, representing a variety of independent churches and networks of churches, including the "Association of Christian Assemblies" of Indiana; and the "Church of God in Christ and in Unity with the Apostolic Faith Movement" from Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas; met in Hot Springs, Arkansas. New COGIC leader J. Drew Sheard seeks to be a 'unifier' in Memphis On May 19, 1952, he added Bishop J. O. Patterson Sr. Also in 1952, Mason revised the constitution to determine the leadership and succession of the church after his death. The school enjoyed its greatest growth and success under the leadership of Dr. Arenia Conella Mallory (19041977). [37] The National Council of Churches ranks it as the fifth largest Christian denomination in the U.S.[38] COGIC is a HolinessPentecostal Christian denomination,[2][4] with a predominantly African-American membership. [15], In 1951, when Bishop Mason was approaching 85 years of age, he set up a "special commission" to help with the administration and oversight of the church. Missions work in COGIC began under Elder Searcy in 1925. His dream was to establish an international ministry complex known as "Saints Center" and an accredited institution known as "All Saints University". When she died in 1945, she had laid an impressive foundation for the women's ministry in COGIC. By. There are more than 200 ecclesiastical jurisdictions around the world, with 170 in the United States. Among those who died after reportedly contracting the virus were: First Assistant Presiding Bishop Phillip A. Brooks, a preacher, and leader from Detroit who was No.