Supervisor Irene Oakley#, pastor, supervisor, bishop's wife, Mother Louise Patterson, evangelist, former first lady and wife of G.E. Ford, as Saints' Academy, a private co-educational grade school. Drew Sheard elected as COGIC's new presiding bishop; two Memphis bishops elected to general board Sheard, 62, was elected in late March to lead the predominantly African American . Throughout the 1970s and 80s, as COGIC continued to grow to millions of members nationwide, COGIC ministers all over the country continued to advance civil rights in their communities. There seemed no prospect of an integrated Pentecostal movement under the leadership of an African-American such as C. H. He appointed regional presidents to serve as liaisons to the jurisdictional presidents. Bishop. After the death of Mother McGlothen, Mother Emma F. Crouch (19941997) of Dallas, Texas, served as the fifth General Supervisor. 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]. 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. [citation needed] Bishop Ford is credited with inviting President Bill Clinton, a personal friend, to speak to the Eighty-Sixth International Holy Convocation on November 13, 1993. In 1918, COGIC opened its first institution of higher learning, the Saints Industrial and Literary School in Lexington, Mississippi, for both girls and boys. The early pioneers of this newly formed Holiness-Pentecostal body in 1907 were E. R. Driver, J. Bowe, R. R. Booker, R. E. Hart, W. Welsh, A. He consecrated and appointed more than 100 bishops during his twenty-one years of leadership. A. Blackwell, E. M. Blackwell, E. M. Page, R. H. I. Clark, D. J. After being ejected for accepting these new Pentecostal teachings, Mason called a meeting in Memphis later in the year and reorganized the Church of God in Christ as a Holiness-Pentecostal body. He testified to receiving entire sanctification after reading her autobiography in 1893. ", 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. All officers are elected by the General Assembly. In 1927, the call was made for workers to go to serve the Lord in foreign lands. 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. Al Sharpton, a noted civil rights activist, began his ministerial career as a minister in COGIC. 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. In 2017, Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake appointed gospel artist and Evangelist Dr. Dorinda Clark Cole of Detroit, Michigan as the Elect Lady. Bishop Sedgwick Daniels Board member (2008present). [8][9] In 1984, after the death of his father, he was ordained and consecrated as a jurisdictional bishop of the First Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of Southern California for the COGIC denomination, and remained in that position until 2009 when he stepped down from the position to dedicate himself fully to the duties of the Office of the Presiding Bishop. [33] C. E. Blake served as the Presiding Prelate of the First Jurisdiction of Southern California. C. P. Jones and those Holiness leaders who did not embrace the Azusa Revival experience continued as Holiness 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. The YPWW department began in 1928 with the convening of its first Youth Congress. 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. Mother Deborah Mason Patterson#, daughter of founder, Bishop Mason and wife of first presiding bishop James O. Patterson Sr. Blake has also formerly served as an Advisory Committee Member of the Pentecostal World Conference, and as the founder and Co-chair of the Los Angeles Ecumenical Congress (LAEC), an interdenominational coalition of religious leaders and pastors for the city of Los Angeles. These departments include: the Women's Department, the Sunday School Department, the Youth Department known as Y.P.W.W. He was officially installed as the senior pastor of the church the following year in 1970. Church Of God In Christ, Inc. 2015-23. By. Lizzie Woods Robinson (19111945) was the first "General Mother" of the church. As COGIC continued to grow, the various departments began the practice of convening annually to conduct the business unique of their ministries. F or the first time, the nation's largest Pentecostal and African-American denomination, the 5.5 million-member Church of God in Christ (COGIC), has voted out its presiding bishop. 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. COGIC has always been traditionally anti-abortion. After the death of Mother Coffey in 1964, Dr. Annie L. Bailey (19641975), became the third General Supervisor. The rope that holds the shaft together represents Charles Harrison Mason, COGIC's founding father. Bishop Sheard was inducted into the prestigious Morehouse College Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers. The human soul is immortal and will spend eternity either in heaven as the redeemed or in hell as the damned. Nevertheless, women are licensed in COGIC to proclaim the gospel as evangelists. In 2010, Bishop Blake led more than 50,000 delegates to the 103rd International Holy Convocation to St. Louis, Missouri. [15], COGIC originated among African Americans in the Southern states of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Helm Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi, attended by Mason and others from several states. Demons exist as manifestation of evil or unclean spirits. Gilbert. Assistant Secretary of the Board of Bishops Bishop Adrian Williams. 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. By 1906, the church had grown to nearly 100 congregations in three states. Mother Willie Mae Rivers (19972017) of Goose Creek, South Carolina, succeeded Mother Crouch. [20], The first national tabernacle was built and completed in 1925. 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. B. McEwen, Bishop J. S. Bailey, and Bishop O. M. Kelly as his assistants. The church started with only 50 members in 1969 when he became pastor. [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. Bishop Sheard is married to Evangelist Karen Clark Sheard. Bishop J. (19721994). He served faithfully as an Ordained Deacon, the Sunday School Superintendent and the Guitarist. It had a membership of more than 400,000, who supported more than 4,000 churches. We believe that the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, according to Acts 2:4, is given to believers who ask for it. Some of these African-American Baptist pastors in local Southern areas such as Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas considered Jones and Mason to be controversial. During World War I, the FBI opened a file on Bishop Mason and conducted surveillance on him because of his pacifism during the war. 2nd Assistant Presiding Bishop Bishop Lawrence M. Wooten. In November 2012, Bishop Blake was re-elected again to serve a four-year term as the Presiding Bishop. [6], In June 1896, Jones held a Holiness convention at Mt. Drew Sheard was appointed Superintendent of the Emmanuel District, by Bishop Herbert J. Williams, Sr., Prelate of the North Central Michigan Jurisdiction. His decision means that the Feb. 23 Quadrennial Election will vote-in a new Presiding Bishop. We believe in the Blessed Hope, which is the rapture of the Church of God, which is in Christ, at His return. President, International Department of Evangelism Evangelist Gary Sprewell, Elect Lady, International Department of Evangelism . 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. Holy Temple COGIC was the first church to open its doors to the garbage workers. The judicial board serves as the judicial branch and is the supreme body that interprets polity and practice. During the 1990s, President Bill Clinton was invited by then COGIC Presiding Bishop, Louis Henry Ford to attend the International Holy Convocation. In 1982 he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in . Mason was given authority to lead the new denomination. Rev. Church of God in Christ elects new Presiding Bishop 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. Other leaders of the Youth Department who leader became influential leaders of the church included: Bishop F.D. More:J. He is credited with systematically restructuring church departments and ministries, expanding the church in Asia, primarily India and the Philippines, and placing the COGIC on a solid financial status. 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. 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. COGIC considers any physical, sexual relationship outside of the sanctity of marriage to be outside of the sovereign will of God and unbiblical. At its first convocation held in 1897, the group identified simply as the "Church of God." He began production of the YPWW Quarterly Topics to train the youth of the COGIC in the faith, doctrine, and polity of the church. At the 1907 COGIC Convocation held in Jackson, a separation occurred among Jones and other leaders in the church because of such disagreements. Amen. The most notable rift occurred in 1969, when fourteen bishops met in Evanston, Illinois, to form the Church of God in Christ, International. Battles served as president until his death in December 1996. She revolutionized and reorganized the music ministry to become a leading department in the church. Chairlady, International Youth Department Evangelist Vandalyn Kennedy. [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. The Holy Spirit is the agent that equips, empowers, leads, and guides the church until the return of Christ. Each department convened its own convention in various cities through 1975. Bishop Mason taught COGIC members against going to war, but more so he was against African-American men being called to fight a war overseas for freedom and then coming home and being treated as second-class citizens and being lynched, even in their uniforms, because of racism. He also instituted the Annual Prayer Breakfast, conducted Evangelistic Crusades across the country and developed the Church of God in Christ National Evangelist Registry. 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. This came on the heels of former Presiding Bishop Charles Edward Blake Sr.'s October 2020 announcement that he would not seek reelection. 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. Factions developed within the organization as both the senior bishop and Bishop A. [42], COGIC teaches that angels are messengers sent from God who served during the creation, throughout the Old Testament, the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, the establishment of the church and the ministry of the apostles, and continue to be at work in the Kingdom of God. Dr. Roy L.H. BISHOP CHARLES E. BLAKE, SR. - Church Of God In Christ Category : Presiding Bishops of the Church of God in Christ Thereafter, missionaries were sent to Africa and the islands of the Caribbean, Asia, and elsewhere. Mother Dorothy Exume#, foreign missionary, Evangelist Reatha D. Herndon#, first and longest-serving elect Lady, church organizer, national evangelist, Supervisor Deola Wells Johnson, national evangelist, jurisdictional supervisor, Evangelist Maria Gardner Langston, COGIC pastor, national evangelist, former Elect Lady, Mother Elsie Washington Mason#, third and final wife of Bishop Mason, Mother Lelia Washington Mason#, second wife of Bishop Mason. Today, the International Youth Department (IYD) is led by the International Youth President, Superintendent Nathaniel Green of Dallas, TX, and the International Chairlady, Evangelist Vandalyn Kennedy of Queens, NY. [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. They disagreed in having an electoral process to select the presiding bishop.[28]. 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. [93] Leaders within the COGIC, other denominations and Bishop Blake's own family came to his defense. In the 1920s, Arizona Dranes, a blind Evangelist Missionary became one of the first gospel artists to bring the musical styles of COGIC to the public in her records for Okeh and performances. We believe that the redemptive work of Christ on the Cross provides healing for the human body in answer to believing prayer. 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. These offices are found in every local, district, and jurisdiction to support development and growth of the Sunday School. General Treasurer Bishop Charles Harrison Mason Patterson Sr.. Financial Secretary Bishop Frank A. In 1982, Patterson led COGIC in its Diamond Jubilee, in a celebration of the International Holy Convocation. Young, James Brewer, Daniel Spearman, and J. H. Boone. 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. Originally, this gathering of the 'Saints' lasted for twenty days, from November 25 to December 14. COGIC became a staple of gospel music under the guidance and leadership of Dr. Mattie Moss Clark. [7] The leadership of the Mississippi State Convention of the National Baptist Convention intervened and expelled Jones, Mason, and others who embraced the Wesleyan teaching of entire sanctification. Ford was pastor of the St. Paul COGIC in Chicago and was Presiding Prelate of the Historic Illinois First Jurisdiction. President Moody also added these ministries to the Missions Department:[62]. Jesse Jackson was invited to speak during the COGIC International Holy Convocation when he was running for the presidency. There is a presiding bishop, known as the chief apostle of the church. The Church of God in Christ elects Bishop J. Drew Sheard as its new Bishop Darrell L. Hines Board member (2016present). This convention brings thousands of COGIC members representing all the major departments including Sunday School, Missions, Evangelism, Music, and Youth together in July and meets in cities around the U.S. These women have been listed for their significant contributions and impact to the church. We believe that the regeneration by the Holy Ghost is absolutely essential for personal salvation. Giving Down by Half in Church of God in Christ - News & Reporting Overseer E.R. They are fallen angels who joined Satan in his failed attempt to usurp power in Heaven. Bishop Sheard has over 30 years of leadership in the Church of God in Christ. Mason. His ministry spanned more than seven decades. The general secretary, general treasurer, and financial secretary terms run concurrent with the current presidential administration that is elected every four years.[20]. Remarriage is usually highly discouraged, except in the case of the death of a spouse or former spouse. 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. [31], Bishop Ford also renovated several COGIC structures in Memphis, including Mason Temple. All rights reserved. [18], The H. A. Goss faction left COGIC to join the Assemblies of God USA. Vice President of COGIC World Missions-Bishop Nate' M. Jefferson. He protested during the 1950s and 1960s against lodging segregation in Memphis, while participating in COGIC Holy Convocations there during the Civil Rights era before federal laws prohibiting such segregation. In 1933, he set apart five overseers to the Office of Bishop in the church, the first five bishops of COGIC. "[50][51] COGIC also encourages mothers that if they know they will not be able to provide proper care to their child, they should seek assistance to give the child up for either private adoption, legal adoption through domestic or international adoption agencies, or foster care. In looking to COGIC'S future, Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake, Sr., senior pastor of West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles, announced last year that he would not seek-re-election as a member of the General Board or Presiding Bishop. We believe that there is One God, eternally existent in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. President, International Youth Department Superintendent Nathaniel Green. [47], COGIC teaches that the church is the community of Christian believers who have accepted Jesus Christ and submit to his Lordship and authority in their lives. General Secretary Bishop Joel H. Lyles Jr.. Chairman of the General Assembly Bishop Lemuel F. Thuston.