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. Field representative, International Sunday School Department Mother Cleolia Penix. Founder 1907-1961* Senior Bishop & Chief Apostle Charles Harrison Mason: . As a result, an ongoing dispute between Elder Carter and Bishop Blake continued without resolution. They disagreed in having an electoral process to select the presiding bishop.[28]. Clean White, Jurisdictional Bishop, Bermuda Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, National Evangelist, Recording Artist, Songwriter, Atlanta, Georgia, This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 15:15. The school enjoyed its greatest growth and success under the leadership of Dr. Arenia Conella Mallory (19041977). [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. . C. P. Jones was elected the General Overseer, C. H. Mason was selected as Overseer of Tennessee, and J. He consecrated and appointed more than 100 bishops during his twenty-one years of leadership. COGIC considers any physical, sexual relationship outside of the sanctity of marriage to be outside of the sovereign will of God and unbiblical. 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. 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. 2nd Assistant Presiding Bishop Bishop Lawrence M. Wooten. During the 1990s, President Bill Clinton was invited by then COGIC Presiding Bishop, Louis Henry Ford to attend the International Holy Convocation. He accepted his call into the ministry in 1956. In 1982 during the Seventy-Fifth Holy Convocation, the diamond jubilee of the church, COGIC published its own hymnal, Yes, Lord!, which included many arrangements and songs written by COGIC and African-American musicians and songwriters. On October 23, 2020, Bishop Blake announced that he would 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. In 1933, he set apart five overseers to the Office of Bishop in the church, the first five bishops of COGIC. The first convention was held in Los Angeles, California, in 1951. It is one of the largest gathering of Christian women from any major denomination and religious organization. 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 . As a classical Holiness Pentecostal denomination,[2][4] COGIC continues to embrace its holiness heritage, teaching modesty in dress, appearance, moderate participation in secular entertainment and prohibitions against profanity, alcohol, substance abuse and immoral behavior. Mrs. Mattie McCaulley of Tulsa, Oklahoma was the first to respond, and was sent to Trinidad. During her leadership, several new buildings were constructed on the 350-acre campus to serve this expansion. He self-identifies as Bishop/CEO of his newly organized fellowship called the 7000 Club (not to be confused with The 700 Club from Pat Robertson). Bishop Prince E. W. Bryant Sr. Board member (2021present). He was able to bridge denominational barriers and encourage non-COGIC ministries to work collboratively with the COGIC denomination. Patterson, the nephew of the above-mentioned Bishop J.O. President, International Department of Missions Bishop Vincent Matthews Jr.. YPWW became a distinctive trademark for COGIC and the principle training institute usually meeting on Sunday night prior to evening worship services. This office is reserved for a woman who serves as counterpart to the Sunday School Superintendent. COGIC teaches that the Holy Spirit is alive and active in 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. By 1906, the church had grown to nearly 100 congregations in three states. The church's new presiding bishop, who took office on March 20, said he will have to. Drew Sheard, Sr. as Presiding Bishop on March 20, 2021. He led a group of students to participate in the March on Selma. The presiding bishop chairs the biennial Church-wide Assembly and provides for the preparation of agendas for the assembly, the Church Council and its executive . Bishop Carlis Moody immediately began to reorganize the Missions Department, giving new guidelines. Helm Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi, attended by Mason and others from several states. It had a membership of more than 400,000, who supported more than 4,000 churches. 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. In her brief tenure, she encouraged the women to stay focused and supportive to the leadership of the church. She began women's work on the state level and appointed the first state mothers. Evangelist Goldia Haynes, Elder Utah Smith, Madame Earnestine Washington, and Marion Williams continued COGIC's influence throughout the fifties and sixties. Assistant General Treasurer Bishop Kendall Anderson. [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. His ministry spanned more than seven decades. Some of these African-American Baptist pastors in local Southern areas such as Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas considered Jones and Mason to be controversial. The study also found that over 70% of COGIC members overwhelmingly opposed the legalizing of same-sex marriage, and considered relationships from infidelity, polygamy, polyamory, and sex outside of marriage as sinful and unbiblical as well.[56]. 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. COGIC theology and beliefs fall in the tradition of Wesleyan-Arminian theology.[40]. Elder L. C. Patrick was added to the National Sunday School. His sons Reverend Charles Blake, Jr. and Reverend Lawrence Blake were officially appointed as the senior pastor and assistant pastor of the church in October of 2022.[13]. [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. He also established the COGIC national headquarters there. Adjutant General Bishop Dickerson L. S. Wells Sr.. General Supervisor, Department of Women Mother Barbara McCoo Lewis. In 1895, C.P. Jones and C.H. Mason were licensed Baptist ministers in Mississippi who began teaching and preaching a Wesleyan doctrine of Christian perfection or entire sanctification as a second work of grace to their Baptist congregations. [35], In 2016, the Church had 5.5 million members in 60 countries around the world. Jurisdictions are set up similar to the national church in terms of composition, polity, and procedure. Drew Sheard June 22 and the consecration service for the jurisdictional and auxiliary bishop designates June 23, 2021. . The Youth Congress eventually become one of the largest conventions in COGIC. He was elected as the denomination's leader on March 27, 2021. Mason Theological Seminary to train its ministers and ministry leaders. In addition to the general board, there is a board of bishops that is composed of all jurisdictional and auxiliary bishops, a national trustee board that is composed of 15 members who are elected for a term of four years, the General Council of Pastors and Elders, which is open to any officially recognized pastor and current credentialed ordained elder in the church. 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. 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. [29] She is also the Jurisdictional Supervisor of Women for the South Carolina Jurisdiction. 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 jurisdictional supervisor is assisted by district missionaries who oversee the women's ministry of the district. [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. Vice Chairman of the General Assembly Bishop Jerry W. Maynard. It was also around this time, that he married his wife, Mae Lawrence Blake, a native of Michigan and daughter of another COGIC bishop and pastor, and they had three children together, Charles Blake, Jr., Lawrence "Larry" Blake, and Kimberly Blake. B. McEwen, Bishop J. S. Bailey, and Bishop O. M. Kelly as his assistants. Youth on a Mission (YOAM) a ministry of young people visiting the mission field to serve each summer. The court ordered the church to convene a constitutional convention in February 1968. The international membership of COGIC is estimated be between one and three million adherents. The first general secretary of COGIC was Elder William B. Holt, a white minister. She established a high school and gained accreditation for it, and then for the junior college which she founded on campus. Green. [5] He officially retired on March 19, 2021, and was succeeded by Bishop J. B. McEwen was elected chairman of the executive board, and O.T. Not everyone in the church were willing to accept "speaking in tongues" as the initial evidence of baptism of the Holy Ghost. Bishop J.W. Golden Jr. Coffey was a child convert to COGIC under the preaching of Bishop Mason, and was influential in organizing many of the auxiliaries, bands, and units that exist within the COGIC Women's Department. "[92], Elder Carter was attempting to address members of COGIC as to sexual misconduct, and specifically, homosexual practices. Drew Sheard was born on January 1, 1959, in Detroit, Michigan, to Bishop and Mrs. John Henry Sheard. They are the largest department in the COGIC. By that time, it was known as Saints Academy and Junior College. It teaches that sanctification should precede the baptism with the Holy Spirit. It can be spoken of as the individual and the collective, physical and spiritual. Vice President of COGIC World Missions-Supervisor Faye M. Butler. Salvation is an operation of the Holy Spirit upon sinners brought about by repentance toward God, which brings about conversion, faith, justification, and regeneration. Pages in category "Presiding Bishops of the Church of God in Christ". In keeping with the times, the school had some industrial education and training for its students, so that they could learn practical skills. As the International Holy Convocation grew to thousands, COGIC leaders had to negotiate with city officials to provide hotel accommodations for the saints. The three-year-initiative with The Human Coalition was also supposed to encourage local COGIC clergy leaders across the United States, both male and female, to partner up with other anti-abortion advocacy groups and Christian ministries to lobby for more anti-abortion restrictions throughout local states.[51]. 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. All officers are elected by the General Assembly. During his administration, Battles organized Regions to oversee evangelistic ministry in various regional areas across the country. Other leaders of the Youth Department who leader became influential leaders of the church included: Bishop F.D. She established new auxiliaries including the International Hospitality Unit, the Educational and Bishop's Wives Scholarship funds, WE-12 and Lavender Ladies. 2 in the denomination and whose death was reported by The Detroit News; Bishop Timothy Scott, a leader for nearly 50 years of the denomination in Mississippi whose death was reported [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. The result of sin is the depravity of man, broken communion with God, shame and guilt, and physical and spiritual death. Originally, this gathering of the 'Saints' lasted for twenty days, from November 25 to December 14. "[91] Bishop Blake apologized to a young man (Andrew C. Caldwell) who, following Superintendent Carter's message, came forward to proclaim that he had been delivered from homosexuality. Patterson Sr., the five major departments of COGIC were united under an umbrella convention known as UNAC-5 (United National Auxiliary Convention). 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]. COGIC teaches that according to the Word of God, there will be final events and conditions that address the end of this present age of the world. She developed the International Women's Convention into a training institute for women in the ministry. ", 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". The church has more than 3,000 churches in Asia, and 2,000 churches in the Caribbean and South America. We believe the Bible to be the inspired and only infallible written Word of God. 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. The current president of the Missions Department is Bishop Vincent Mathews Jr. of South Africa. Drew Sheard who was elected in 2021. The son-in-law of Bishop Mason, J. O. Patterson Sr., had served the church previously as a member of the executive board and as executive secretary. [29], Bishop Gilbert Earl (G. E.) Patterson began his ministry as co-pastor of the Holy Temple COGIC with his father, Bishop W. A. Patterson. After graduating from high school, he matriculated to Wayne State University, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in education and a Master of Education degree in mathematics. At the 1907 COGIC Convocation held in Jackson, a separation occurred among Jones and other leaders in the church because of such disagreements. They exist today as adversaries to the kingdom, purpose and will of God. Chairlady, International Youth Department Evangelist Vandalyn Kennedy. The seminary is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) and is part of a consortium of the Interdenominational Theological Center. In 1945, Bishop S. Crouch of the Northern California Jurisdiction appointed Elder H. C. Johnson as State Sunday School Superintendent who appointed Missionary Lucille Cornelius to be Chairlady, the first woman to lead the supervision of COGIC women in the Sunday School Department. 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 . Throughout the dispute, Elder Carter made allegations against Bishop Blake for impropriety, sexual misconduct, and abuse of power as presiding bishop. The first youth leader on a national level was Elder M.C. Sin was transmitted to humanity when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, as a result all men have original sin. Bishop Brandon B. Porter Secretary to the General Board (2021present) and board member (2012present). [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. According to a 2015 statistical study by the Pew Research Center, the denomination was estimated to have a United States membership of approximately 84% African-Americans, 5% White Americans, 8% Latino-Americans, and roughly 2% Asian-Americans. A Jeter and D. J. Page in 1927. Vice President of COGIC World Missions-Bishop Glenn Plummer. By. Bishop Charles E. Blake, Sr. is the fifth Presiding Bishop and the seventh leader in succession, appointed in November 2007 by the General Assembly of the Church of God in Christ. The first meeting was held in Memphis, Tennessee around 1937. 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. Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr., Presiding Bishop Emeritus of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), the largest Black Christian denomination in the country with a membership of 6.5 million, and an international statesman and humanitarian, has been named to the National Advisory Panel of The PuLSE Institute (Institute for Public Leadership and Social Equity), As previously stated, COGIC although predominately black, had a significant white membership during its first decade of existence, with a number of white ministers holding leadership positions in the church. The church has a tradition of prayer, fasting, praise, and consecration that was once unique to Holiness or Holiness Pentecostal groups. "[90] This excerpt of Elder Carter's sermon went viral throughout social media and was picked up by major television news broadcasts. After being removed from the office of Senior Bishop, he remained the Jurisdictional Bishop of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania until his death in 1972. A general supervisor of women is appointed by the presiding bishop and given authority to lead the International Women's Ministry of the church. [29] The spread of COGIC was due largely to the efforts of its evangelists through crusades and revivals. 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. 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. African-American parents sent their children to this school from across the United States, especially those who had grown up in Mississippi and knew its reputation. The Elders' Council met and organized the first Missions board of the Church of God in Christ. [4] He was reelected to a third term as Presiding Bishop on November 15, 2016. He has one older brother, J. In 1924, the Sunday School was formally organized under "Father" F. C. Christmas (19161944). 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. 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. Bishop Blake is the senior pastor of the West Angeles Cathedral COGIC in Los Angeles. He gave the eulogy for Till at Robert's Temple COGIC in 1955. After graduating from high school, he matriculated to Wayne State. (RNS) A Detroit bishop of the Church of God in Christ has been named the new presiding bishop of the nation's largest historically Black Pentecostal . [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. During the tenure of Bishop G.E. They rejected denominational names such as Baptist, Methodist, or Episcopal.
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