Porter pointed out that he is based in Memphis. The Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is the chief ecumenical officer of the church, and the leader and caretaker for the bishops of the synods. COGIC continues to influence gospel music with a new generation of artists with COGIC roots that include: Kim Burrell, Ivan Powell, Doobie Powell, Kierra Sheard, J. Moss, Micah Stampley, Kurt Carr, Ricky Dillard, Kelly Price, Mary Mary Erica Campbell (musician) and Tina Campbell (musician), Tamela Mann, Dr. Gennie Ruth Cheatham Chandler, Earnest Pugh, Jonathan McReynolds, Jabari Johnson, DuShawn Washington, Instrumentalists: Dr. Vernard Johnson (saxophonist), Samuel Murrell (violinist) and Terrance Curry (trombonist), D'Extra Wiley (II D Extreme) and Michelle Williams (Destiny's Child). In 1982, Patterson led COGIC in its Diamond Jubilee, in a celebration of the International Holy Convocation. Other leaders of the Youth Department who leader became influential leaders of the church included: Bishop F.D. The church is thought to have nearly two million members in 7,000 churches on the continent of Africa. Drew Sheard is a former public-school teacher. [20], The first national tabernacle was built and completed in 1925. He was denied such trial in 2016. 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. This endorsement allows female chaplains who are serving in the military, working in an institution or jails to perform religious services including funerals and weddings. [5] He officially retired on March 19, 2021, and was succeeded by Bishop J. The church believes that women are gifted and called to ministry; it does not, however, officially ordain women to the office of elder, pastor, or bishop. Chairman of the Board of Bishops Bishop Albert Galbraith. For the Anabaptist denomination, see, The official seal of the COGIC features a sheaf of wheat representing the members of the COGIC. Field representative, International Sunday School Department Mother Cleolia Penix. 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. 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. Overseer E.R. 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. Drew Sheard who was elected in 2021. They exist today as adversaries to the kingdom, purpose and will of God. Mother Deborah Mason Patterson#, daughter of founder, Bishop Mason and wife of first presiding bishop James O. Patterson Sr. Although headquartered in Memphis, COGIC's leaders . C. D. Owens had gained national attention in the church as the president of the Youth Department. Another body operating under the same name Church of God in Christ, International, split and organized in the Northeast area under Bishop R. T. Jones of Philadelphia and later Bishop C. E. Williams Sr. of Brooklyn, New York. [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. 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. 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). Male as well as female evangelists were instrumental in spreading COGIC throughout the United States as well as around the world. 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. [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. Bishop Carter came into holiness in 1952 at the Jones Avenue Church of God in Christ, under the leadership of the late Bishop George Briley. COGIC believes "that if such a case arises, the mother should pray and seek the wisdom and guidance of God and the Holy Spirit on whether or not they should resort to emergency abortion if it is necessary to save her life," but if not, the Church traditionally encourages expecting mothers to "seek God's guidance for other options and choices regarding their unborn child so that they do not have to choose aborting it, and can safely go through with their pregnancy until childbirth. 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. Bishop Sheard was first elected to the General Board in 2012 and re-elected in 2016. In 2010 Superintendent J. [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. In her brief tenure, she encouraged the women to stay focused and supportive to the leadership of the church. The international membership of COGIC is estimated be between one and three million adherents. The presiding bishop is part of a general board, consisting of eleven other bishops elected by a general assembly consisting of pastors, elders, chaplains, bishops, missionaries, supervisors, and designated lay delegates. Their pastor was then elder Gilbert Earl Patterson, who also became a COGIC Presiding Bishop, at Holy Temple COGIC in Memphis, Tennessee. [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. Deaconess Missionaries serve and assist in the ceremonial and temporal affairs of the local church. The Voice of Missions a bimonthly magazine, John Seth Bailey#, general board member, jurisdictional bishop, Michigan Southwest Jurisdiction; pastor, Bailey Cathedral, Detroit, MI, Elmer Elijah Cleveland#, jurisdictional bishop, Northern California Jurisdiction, pastor, Ephesians, Oakland, CA, Bishop David Willard Grayson, Sr#, Jurisdictional Bishop of Maine, Founding Jurisdictional Bishop of Eastern New York Fourth, David Daniels, educator, professor, auxiliary bishop, James Logan Delk#, politician, pastor, First, Hopkinsville, KY, James Louis Felton, auxiliary bishop, pastor, Mount Airy, Philadelphia, PA, James Neaul Haynes#, general board member, jurisdictional bishop, Texas Northeast First Jurisdiction; pastor, Saintsville, Dallas, TX, Roderick Hennings, author, auxiliary bishop, pastor, Zion Dominion Global Ministries, Amherst, NY, William Morgan James#, general board member, jurisdictional bishop, Ohio North First Jurisdiction, pastor, St. James, Toledo, OH and James Temple, Cincinnati, OH, Orzo Thurston Jones Jr.#, general board member, jurisdictional bishop, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Jurisdiction; pastor, Holy Temple, Philadelphia, PA, Otha Miema Kelly#, general board member, jurisdictional bishop, Eastern New York First Jurisdiction; pastor, Kelly Temple, Harlem, NY, Otis Lockett#, church planter, jurisdictional bishop, North Carolina Second Jurisdiction, pastor, Evangel Word Fellowship, Greensboro, NC, George Dallas McKinney#, scholar, general board member, jurisdictional bishop, Southern California Second Jurisdiction; pastor, St. Stephen's Cathedral, San Diego, CA, S.E. He was a lifelong member of the. 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. In 2015, after more than 40 years of faithful service, Bishop Carlis L. Moody was emeritized as Bishop of Missions. Military chaplains have also been instrumental in spreading COGIC through military installations. COGIC became a staple of gospel music under the guidance and leadership of Dr. Mattie Moss Clark. COGIC theology and beliefs fall in the tradition of Wesleyan-Arminian theology.[40]. Drew Sheard, Sr. as Presiding Bishop on March 20, 2021. In 2000 at the Ninety-Third International Holy Convocation, the COGIC General Assembly elected Bishop Gilbert Earl Patterson to replace Owens as Presiding Bishop. Each department convened its own convention in various cities through 1975. Born in Birmingham, Alabama on October 2, 1931, Bishop Owens started preaching as a young child. After being removed from the office of Senior Bishop, he remained the Jurisdictional Bishop of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania until his death in 1972. Mother Jennie Bell Dancy Jones of Arkansas became the first National Field Representative under Bishop Patrick. In 2014, at the COGIC International Holy Convocation held in St. Louis, Missouri, COGIC minister Elder Earl Carter was selected by the General Board to be the keynote speaker for Saturday night. He called for an annual gathering of COGIC members, known as the "International Holy Convocation", to be held in Memphis. 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 "Bishop Mason was one who lifted African Americans who were former slaves and the children of slaves, lifted them up from the degradation of slavery, ex-slavery, the brokenness of poverty,". [9] This Holiness group/fellowship adopted the name Church of God in Christ, and COGIC began to develop congregations throughout the South. Protestant doctrinal debates about Calvinism and Wesleyan Perfectionism affected how even local African-American Baptist pastors responded to new Christian movements at the time. [5] He officially retired on March 19, 2021, and was succeeded by Bishop J. Mason as General Overseer and Chief Apostle. By. Vice Chairman of the National Judiciary Board Bishop Enoch Perry. 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. The church started with only 50 members in 1969 when he became pastor. COGIC believes, though, that even then in the case of saving the life of the mother, that abortion should still only be considered as a last resort, if all other options to help the mother and the unborn fetus have been thoroughly exhausted. They were given the authority through a "gentlemen's agreement" to license ministers and establish churches under the COGIC name. However, in 1996, the umbrella format was revised under the administration of Bishop C.D. It teaches that sanctification should precede the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Pages in category "Presiding Bishops of the Church of God in Christ". Ford, as Saints' Academy, a private co-educational grade school. In 1988, after a thirteen-year exodus from COGIC, Bishop G. E. Patterson returned as the founding Prelate of the newly formed Tennessee Fourth Jurisdiction. During the 1940s and 50s, Bishop Mason often invited the white elected officials of the city of Memphis to the International Holy Convocation on Civic Night. Rev. William B. Holt was appointed as General Superintendent. 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. Macklin was selected as the first chairman. Bishop J.W. 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. 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. Churches are organized in dioceses called jurisdictions, each under the authority of a bishop. The current presiding bishop and chief apostle is Bishop J. Bishop Michael E. Hill Assistant Secretary to the General Board (2021present) and board member (2021present). Treasurer of the General Council of Pastors and Elders Pastor William Ward. In 1916, a few white churches were organized as a white branch of COGIC. World headquarters are in Memphis, Tennessee at Mason Temple. . [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. 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. He also served as the Presiding Prelate of the New Jersey Garden State Jurisdiction and the Central Georgia Jurisdiction. 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), [94][95], After the November 2016 COGIC Holy Convocation, Carter left the COGIC denomination because Blake had been re-elected as the Presiding Bishop. 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. These elders became the first Pentecostal General Assembly of the Church of God in Christ. 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. Robinson was a staunch advocate for holiness and taught strict guidelines for the women with regard to dress and worldliness. Together he and his wife, Karen, founded Karew Records, a faith-based record label focusing on various forms of Gospel, Christian and Inspirational music. When she died in 1945, she had laid an impressive foundation for the women's ministry in COGIC. [23][24] After Mason's death, in accordance with the 1952 church constitution, the control of the church reverted to the COGIC Board of Bishops. In 1988, he was installed as Pastor of Greater Emmanuel Church. Patterson established protocols of worship, policy and practices. The Church of God in Christ is the fifth largest Protestant religious denomination in the United States, the largest Pentecostal church in the country and the second largest Pentecostal organization in the world with churches in 60 countries worldwide and an estimated membership of nearly 6.5 million members. 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. Patterson in March 2007. The current chairman of AIM is Bishop Linwood E. Dillard of Memphis, TN.[62]. It was destroyed by fire in 1936. 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]. Since 2007, Ebony has recognized Bishop Blake annually, as one of its 100+ most influential African Americans. The rain in the background represents the, Members of the General Board (2021present), General supervisors for the Department of Women, Young People Willing Workers (YPWW) International Youth Department (IYD), United National Auxiliary Conference (UNAC) and Auxiliaries in Ministry (AIM), Last edited on 26 February 2023, at 15:15, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Worldwide Fellowship of the Assemblies of God, Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America, List of jurisdictions of the Church of God in Christ, "Bishop Mason built COGIC out of revival, the faith of former slaves", "A Brief Historical Sketch of the Church of God in Christ, International (Arkansas)", "PRESS RELEASE: Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr. Will Not Seek Reelection", "Catholics, Mormons, Assemblies of God growing; Mainline churches report a continuing decline", "The most and least racially diverse U.S. religious groups", "Human Coalition Launches Three-year Initiative with Church of God in Christ", "Proclamation on Marriage | COGIC General Assembly", "Racial and ethnic composition among members of the Church of God in Christ", https://mccormick.edu/content/daniels-david-ii, "RootsWeb's WorldConnect Project: York's Fentress County Tennessee", http://www.mtairycogic.com/index.php/about-us/243-drlouisfelton, "James Haynes Obituary (19312015) Dallas, TX Dallas Morning News", "Ohio North First Jurisdiction COGIC | About Us", "Senior Pastor | St. Stephen's Cathedral Church Of God in Christ", "Chicago's Historic Roberts Temple COGIC Receives Landmark Status", "Our Pastor GREATER EMMANUEL INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST", "Nathaniel Simmons Obituary (2006) Atlanta, GA Atlanta Journal-Constitution", "Barnett Thoroughgood Obituary (2012) Norfolk, VA The Virginian-Pilot", "Wells Memorial Church of God in Christ About Us", "Influential Hampton Roads Bishop Levi E. Willis Sr. dies", "Bishop Roy L.H. [19], Mason continued to travel across the nation preaching and establishing COGIC churches. Battles served as president until his death in December 1996. Malcolm X's Funeral was held in Harlem, New York City at Faith Temple Church Of God in Christ. Bishop Sheard was inducted into the prestigious Morehouse College Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers. [93] Leaders within the COGIC, other denominations and Bishop Blake's own family came to his defense. The COGIC constitution at the time did not identify a clear successor or the authority of the executive board after Mason's death. This group of seven bishops became known officially as the executive commission; they took on greater responsibility over church affairs until Mason's death. Bishop J. General Treasurer Bishop Charles Harrison Mason Patterson Sr.. Financial Secretary Bishop Frank A. A Jeter and D. J. We believe in the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling a Christian is enabled to live a holy and separated life in the present world. [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. 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. The beliefs of the Church of God in Christ are briefly written in its Statement of Faith, which is reproduced below:[41] It is often recited in various congregations as part of the order of worship and all national and international convocations. The Church of God in Christ will host the installation service of Rev. Chairman of AIM Bishop Linwood Dillard. She organized the sewing circle and after meeting Elder Searcy, she encouraged the women to support mission work through the Home and Foreign Mission bands. However, the General Assembly vested authority in the executive board composed of the seven bishops selected by Bishop Mason before his death.