It has nine members, elected by the general assembly, including three bishops, three elders, and three lay members. Her predecessor was Evangelist Dr. Rita Womack of Los Angeles, California. The school enjoyed its greatest growth and success under the leadership of Dr. Arenia Conella Mallory (19041977). The racial climate in the post WWI years, when there was high competition for jobs and housing and violent unrest in many cities in 1919, would not sustain this relationship. At the 1907 COGIC Convocation held in Jackson, a separation occurred among Jones and other leaders in the church because of such disagreements. [22], The years of 19621968 has been described as a "Dark Period" in the history of the Church of God in Christ, because there was polarization and conflict in leadership following the death of the founder. World headquarters are in Memphis, Tennessee at Mason Temple. In 1968, COGIC established the C.H. He was also a member of the General Board, the twelve head religious and executive leaders and head bishops of the COGIC denomination from 1988 until 2021. According to the Articles of Religion in the COGIC Official Manual, COGIC believes in biblical inspiration and holds that the Bible is the supreme and final authority for doctrine and practice. Bishop Blake is the senior pastor of the West Angeles Cathedral COGIC in Los Angeles. In 2009 he was appointed as a member of Barack Obama's Inaugural Advisory Council of the Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships where he served for one year on the council. Mrs. Anna Broy Crockett Ford was the first organizer and director of the National Music Department, which was formally established in November 1949. Christ is the Head of the church, and He is the only mediator between God and humanity, and there is no salvation in any other. However, in 1996, the umbrella format was revised under the administration of Bishop C.D. Not everyone in the church were willing to accept "speaking in tongues" as the initial evidence of baptism of the Holy Ghost. [15], COGIC originated among African Americans in the Southern states of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee. The Church of God in Christ will host the installation service of Rev. In 1918, COGIC opened its first institution of higher learning, the Saints Industrial and Literary School in Lexington, Mississippi, for both girls and boys. We believe that the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, according to Acts 2:4, is given to believers who ask for it. During the current administration of Presiding Bishop Charles Blake, COGIC unveiled its Urban Initiatives Program to provide 60,000 programs nationwide through its more than 12,000 congregations to continue to promote the work of civil rights, and to reduce poverty, crime and violence, etc. These departments include: the Women's Department, the Sunday School Department, the Youth Department known as Y.P.W.W. As Pentecostals, the Church believes that demons can be subdued and subjugated through the power of the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ. The then"Minister & Sister Carter" established and . Protestant doctrinal debates about Calvinism and Wesleyan Perfectionism affected how even local African-American Baptist pastors responded to new Christian movements at the time. Elect Lady, International Department of Missions Mother Maddaline Norfleet. He gave the eulogy for Till at Robert's Temple COGIC in 1955. [18], The H. A. Goss faction left COGIC to join the Assemblies of God USA. Al Sharpton, a noted civil rights activist, began his ministerial career as a minister in COGIC. In 1969, he was asked by his father and by Southern California COGIC bishop, Bishop Samuel M. Crouch, to take over as the pastor of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ. In 1981, Bishop J.O. She revolutionized and reorganized the music ministry to become a leading department in the church. He began production of the YPWW Quarterly Topics to train the youth of the COGIC in the faith, doctrine, and polity of the church. COGIC clergy do not officially sanction or recognize same-sex relationships to be united in marriage and the denomination at-large discourages same-sex relationships as unbiblical and immoral. The COGIC constitution at the time did not identify a clear successor or the authority of the executive board after Mason's death. According to Alex Haley, "He and his wife then received bomb threats at home and at church." B. McEwen, came to a head and was addressed at the 57th Holy Convocation. A new constitution and official manual of the church were completed in 1973. Winbush was selected to serve as the first chairman. Patterson, the nephew of the above-mentioned Bishop J.O. We believe that the redemptive work of Christ on the Cross provides healing for the human body in answer to believing prayer. Bishop Darrell L. Hines Board member (2016present). MEMPHIS, Tenn Funeral arrangements are set for COGIC Evangelist Louise Patterson, the widow of the late Bishop G.E. On June 5, 1951, he selected Bishop A. [5] He officially retired on March 19, 2021, and was succeeded by Bishop J. The international membership of COGIC is estimated be between one and three million adherents. Hall Sr. Board member (2021present). Bishop Blake is married to Mae Lawrence Blake, a native of Michigan, and they have three children together, Charles Blake II (Jr.), Lawrence Blake, and Kimberly Blake, and they have eight grandchildren.[6]. Bishop Prince E. W. Bryant Sr. Board member (2021present). He led a group of students to participate in the March on Selma. Assistant Financial Secretary Bishop David A. Sanders. [35], In 2016, the Church had 5.5 million members in 60 countries around the world. These offices are found in every local, district, and jurisdiction to support development and growth of the Sunday School. Drew Sheard, Sr. as Presiding Bishop on March 20, 2021. Together they traveled across the country proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. General Treasurer Bishop Charles Harrison Mason Patterson Sr.. Financial Secretary Bishop Frank A. [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. In 1982, he was selected by Ebony magazine as one of the 15 "Greatest Preachers in America". Owens and became known as AIM (Auxiliaries in Ministry). [50], In July 2016 during their annual Auxiliaries in Ministries convention, COGIC announced their Urban Initiative Outreach ministries and Missions and Charity departments would be partnering up with The Human Coalition, an anti-abortion advocacy group, from 2016 to 2019 for a three-year initiative to encourage COGIC pastors and ministers to encourage anti-abortion advocacy in their local churches. Mallory retired in 1976 after fifty years of service; and she had a national reputation. 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 . The current leader of the International Music Department is recording artist Dr. Myron Williams, succeeding Dr. Judith Christie McAllister of Los Angeles, California, who is also a praise and worship national recording artist. Deaconess Missionaries serve and assist in the ceremonial and temporal affairs of the local church. Overseer E.R. Upon his return to Jackson, Mississippi, Mason faced opposition when he recounted his experience. 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. As the church continued to grow, she created women auxiliaries including the Purity Class and the Sunshine Band. This came on the heels of former Presiding Bishop Charles Edward Blake Sr.'s October 2020 announcement that he would not seek reelection. On October 23, 2020, Bishop Blake announced that he will not seek a re-election as Presiding Bishop nor as a member of the General Board and that he would retire from the Office of Presiding Bishop and from the General Board in 2021.[34]. He established the World Fellowship of Black Pentecostal Churches and gained COGIC membership in the Congress of National Black Churches. G. E. Patterson established the Temple of Deliverance, the Cathedral of Bountiful Blessing which grew to become the largest Pentecostal church in Memphis with over 14,000 members. ", 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". Driver, who was the overseer of California and pastor of the Saints Home COGIC led an interracial congregation made up of many Blacks, Whites, and Latinos, for many years. As founder and CEO of Save Africas Children, a program of the Pan African Childrens Fund, he helps to support more than 200,000 children in 400 orphan care programs throughout more than 23 nations on the continent of Africa. Sister Church Support Ministry a church in the USA giving support to a church on the mission field. Some pastor's wives have served as pastor of congregations usually after the death of a pastor sometimes serving under the title of "shepherdess, shepherd mother, or church administrator. Bishop Mason was opposed to the ordination of women to formal ministry, but in 1911 created an autonomous department to promote the ministry of women in the church. It had a membership of more than 400,000, who supported more than 4,000 churches. Carter currently posts material on YouTube and Facebook reporting alleged misconduct and impropriety within current leadership of COGIC and other Christian (mainly African-American) denominations. YPWW became a distinctive trademark for COGIC and the principle training institute usually meeting on Sunday night prior to evening worship services. Each state in the US consists of at least one jurisdiction, and several states have more than one jurisdiction. [45] It teaches that salvation is a work of grace brought about through faith in Jesus Christ; it does not promulgate nor encourage the doctrine of eternal security, also known as "once saved, always saved. 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. In November 2008, Bishop Blake was re-elected to serve a four-year term as Presiding Bishop. The Holy Spirit is the agent that equips, empowers, leads, and guides the church until the return of Christ. (Young People Willing Workers), and Missions and Evangelism. Drew Sheard who was elected in 2021. [29] The spread of COGIC was due largely to the efforts of its evangelists through crusades and revivals. Vice President of COGIC World Missions-Bishop Glenn Plummer. The general assembly meets biannually each year in April and November while the presidium acts as the executive branch of the church, overseeing the day-to-day operation when the general assembly is not in session. The current president of the Missions Department is Bishop Vincent Mathews Jr. of South Africa. The three-year initiative would also help encourage COGIC clergy to use their missions and charity ministries in local churches to help offer aid and assistance to African-Americans and people of other ethnic minorities, and people of low incomes in local communities who are considering and contemplating abortion and offer aid and assistance to people dealing with economic and medical issues from pregnancy. Superintendent, International Sunday School Department Superintendent Mark Ellis. [12] On November 15, 2016, Bishop Blake was reelected as the Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ during the 2016 COGIC Election held by the COGIC General Assembly to a third four-year term. Patterson established protocols of worship, policy and practices. He was elected four times uncontested as presiding bishop. [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. Pentecostals have been criticized because of their noticeable absence from the official record of activism that has been largely overshadowed by black ministers of other denominations such as Baptists and Methodists; however, there is evidence to verify and document the role and response of COGIC ministers and other Pentecostal denominations to the cause and struggle for Civil Rights in the United States during the 20th Century. [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. When she died in 1945, she had laid an impressive foundation for the women's ministry in COGIC. He was denied such trial in 2016. She developed the role of the State Minister of Music and traveled the world conducting seminars and workshops perfecting the quality of choir music, their performance, appearance and demeanor, and the COGIC sound. Known for the achievements of her students and school alumni, she had also served during these years, by invitation and appointment, on national federal commissions and with noted African-American women's groups. The denomination considers these to be inconsistent with COGIC doctrine and teaching. 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. Secretary of the General Council of Pastors and Elders Superintendent Prince W. Bryant, II. Young were appointed as a committee by C. P. Jones to investigate reports of a revival in Los Angeles, California that was being led by an itinerant preacher named William J. Seymour. Battles served as president until his death in December 1996. In her brief tenure, she encouraged the women to stay focused and supportive to the leadership of the church. National officers of the church are chosen at the general assembly every four years unless special elections are warranted. The church has more than 3,000 churches in Asia, and 2,000 churches in the Caribbean and South America. In 1964 however, disagreement between the authority of the Senior Bishop and the executive board, led by Bishop A. A.) [9] This Holiness group/fellowship adopted the name Church of God in Christ, and COGIC began to develop congregations throughout the South. During his administration, Battles organized Regions to oversee evangelistic ministry in various regional areas across the country. In 1988, he was installed as Pastor of Greater Emmanuel Church. She was greatly interested in the building of Mason Temple and she kept her national building fund drives functioning until she knew the building was ready for dedication. Religious Figure, former Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), the fourth largest Protestant denominaton in the world. He has also been awarded the Salvation Army's William Booth Award, the Greenlining Institute's Big Heart Award, and was the designated recipient of the L.A. Urban League's Whitney M. Young Award for the year 2000. As a visionary who is both inspiring and influential, the awards and recognitions that Bishop Blake has received are extensive. In 1917, the YPWW was officially organized under the leadership of Elder Ozro Thurston Jones Sr., who in 1928 established the first Youth Congress bringing together youth leaders and workers on a national level. 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. Bishop Malcolm W. Coby Board member (2021present). Some of these African-American Baptist pastors in local Southern areas such as Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas considered Jones and Mason to be controversial. In November 1975, at the National Holy Convocation in Memphis, TN., with the consent of the General Board, Bishop Carlis Moody Sr. of Evanston, Illinois, was appointed by Bishop J. O. Patterson to be president of the Department of Home and Foreign Missions. Charles Edward Blake Sr. (born August 5, 1940) is an American minister and pastor who served as the Presiding Bishop and leader of the Church of God in Christ, a 6 million-member Holiness Pentecostal denomination, that has now grown to become one of the largest predominantly African American Pentecostal denominations in the United . Bishop Patterson was the second youngest person to ever be elected Presiding Bishop of COGIC at the age 60 in 2000, second to his uncle, Bishop J. O. Patterson Sr. who was 56 when he was elected Presiding Bishop in 1968. The church started with only 50 members in 1969 when he became pastor. In 1992, during the Ford administration, UNAC was disbanded in favor of three separate conventions namely: the International Sunday School Convention, the MY Convention (Music and Youth) and the ME Convention (Missions and Evangelism) again meeting in separate cities.. There are more than 200 ecclesiastical jurisdictions around the world, with 170 in the United States. [11] In 2016, Bishop Blake was appointed as the Co-Chairperson to the leadership council of the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America. COGIC does not teach that Spirit baptism is the same as salvation. They have three children and eight grandchildren. From 1997-2001 Bishop Sheard served COGIC as President of the International Youth Department; and he served as Chairman of the AIM Convention from 2004 to 2012. She was the Jurisdictional Supervisor of Women for Texas Southwest Jurisdiction under the late Bishop T. D. Iglehart. He was the founding Chair of the Board of Directors for,[10] and has served as a board member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors, for the Interdenominational Theological Seminary. Mason was influenced by the testimony of the African-American Methodist evangelist Amanda Berry Smith, one of the most widely respected African-American holiness evangelists of the nineteenth century. COGIC teaches that because God uses conception through and after sexual reproduction and intercourse to create human life, that willfully aborting a human fetus is contrary to God's Word and Christian ethics, and it is considered to be a sin against God and the Bible within the denomination. Bishop J.W. Medger Evers, the famed NAACP Field representative for the state of Mississippi who was gunned down in the front of his house in 1963 was raised in by his mother as a member of COGIC before later becoming a Baptist. President Moody also added these ministries to the Missions Department:[62]. He also established the COGIC national headquarters there. C. P. Jones was elected the General Overseer, C. H. Mason was selected as Overseer of Tennessee, and J. She is the longest serving president of the International Music Department and her influence and legacy have been indelible and are recognized around the world. He is known to many as being an eloquent, compassionate and practical leader, as well as a humanitarian and an advocate with a God-given gift for ministering to the whole man. His testimony "literally went viral, and brought upon him criticism and sardonicism. Assistant Elect Lady, COGIC World Missions-Supervisor Lee E.Van Zandt. Drew Sheard was born on Jan. 1, 1959, in Detroit, Michigan, to Bishop and Mrs. John Henry Sheard. At its first convocation held in 1897, the group identified simply as the "Church of God." However, the Church believes that in some extreme or rare cases, medical and operational abortion may be the safest way to help the mother if the pregnancy is jeopardizing the mother's life and health. For the Anabaptist denomination, see, The official seal of the COGIC features a sheaf of wheat representing the members of the COGIC. Jones was acquainted with Seymour between 1895 and 1905, as Seymour's travels led him to many Holiness preachers such as John G. Lake and Martin Wells Knapp. There was the creation of the Sunday School Field Representative. Their pastor was then elder Gilbert Earl Patterson, who also became a COGIC Presiding Bishop, at Holy Temple COGIC in Memphis, Tennessee. Although headquartered in Memphis, COGIC's leaders . [55], A 2014 statistical study from the Pew Research Center Forum on Religion & Public Life, reported that most members of COGIC usually got married between the ages of 25 and 30, and that over 42% of COGIC members between the ages of 25 and 65+ were married, at least 19% were divorced or separated, 32% were never married, and at least 5% were widowed. We believe the Bible to be the inspired and only infallible written Word of God. The current Presiding Bishop is Bishop John Drew Sheard Sr., who is the Senior Pastor of the Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ of Detroit, Michigan. One of her contributions was to divide the women's fellowship in the local congregations into two groups: The Christian Women's Council for the middle aged and senior women, and the Young Women's Christian Council (YWCC) for the younger women. Women in COGIC have been influential in the leadership and organization of the church since its inception. 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. [10] After testifying to being sanctified, members of the church referred to themselves as "Saints", believing that they were set apart to live a daily life of Christian Holiness in words and deeds.[11]. In 2017, Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake appointed gospel artist and Evangelist Dr. Dorinda Clark Cole of Detroit, Michigan as the Elect Lady. Mason as General Overseer and Chief Apostle. In 1951, the first separate National Sunday School Convention convened in Kansas City, Missouri. He was one of the nine members of the strategy committee that organized the sanitation strike in Memphis. He accepted his call into the ministry in 1956. White. ", Elder Carter said that such public rebuke and condemnation were unwarranted, as he was not given a chance to say why he had made such statements. C. D. Owens had gained national attention in the church as the president of the Youth Department. B. McEwen, Bishop J. S. Bailey, and Bishop O. M. Kelly as his assistants. It was reopened in the early 1990s under the administration of Bishop L.H. Churches are organized in dioceses called jurisdictions, each under the authority of a bishop. The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) is a HolinessPentecostal Christian denomination,[2][4] and the largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States. The early conventions of the Evangelist Board were basically crusades led by Page and a few other Evangelists from across the country. Supervisor Irene Oakley#, pastor, supervisor, bishop's wife, Mother Louise Patterson, evangelist, former first lady and wife of G.E. During World War I, the FBI opened a file on Bishop Mason and conducted surveillance on him because of his pacifism during the war. Pages in category "Presiding Bishops of the Church of God in Christ". Amen. The Elders' Council met and organized the first Missions board of the Church of God in Christ. Bishop Lawrence M. Wooten Second Assistant Presiding Bishop (2021present) and board member (2012present). During the tenure of Bishop L. H. Ford as Presiding Bishop in the 1990s, he helped gain COGIC membership into the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America, a more diverse, international caucus of different Pentecostal church denominations and organizations that sought to heal the racial divides in the North American Pentecostal movement.[57]. It teaches that sanctification should precede the baptism with the Holy Spirit. She was the wife and companion of Bishop John Seth Bailey, a trusted adviser of Bishop Mason, and later the first assistant presiding bishop of the church. The judicial board serves as the judicial branch and is the supreme body that interprets polity and practice. They exist today as adversaries to the kingdom, purpose and will of God. Each jurisdictional bishop appoints a jurisdictional supervisor to lead the work of the women on a jurisdictional level. B. McEwen was elected chairman of the executive board, and O.T. Drew Sheard is a former public-school teacher. Patterson, Evangelist Joyce L Rodgers#, Jurisdictional Supervisor, Former Chairlady of Youth Dept., international evangelist, Dr. Lytia R. Howard, Emeritus, President of the Sunshine Band, COGIC Pastor, Mother Leatha Herndon Chapman Tucker#, church organizer, national evangelist, Mother Elizabeth White#, foreign missionary, Dr. Rita Womack, national evangelist, former Elect Lady, Mother Willa Mary Collins#, founding First Lady of Holy Trinity Church of God in Christ in Evansville, Indiana.

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