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She was the Jurisdictional Supervisor of Women for Texas Southwest Jurisdiction under the late Bishop T. D. Iglehart. As the church continued to grow, she created women auxiliaries including the Purity Class and the Sunshine Band. [5] He officially retired on March 19, 2021, and was succeeded by Bishop J. 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. [33] In 2009, Bishop Blake unveiled an aggressive program known as "Urban Initiatives" to address the plight of America's urban areas. In the 1990's and early 2000's, Blake also penned articles for Ebony and Christianity Today noting the importance of the Black Church's influence on presidential elections and American politics and society in general. "[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. Drew Sheard, Sr. as Presiding Bishop on March 20, 2021. 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. Presiding Bishop Emeritus of the Church of God in Christ, Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America, "COGIC Re-Elects Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr. as Leader - Afro", "PRESS RELEASE: Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake, Sr. Will Not Seek Reelection", "Why the Power of the Black Church Matters This Election", "Whitehouse.gov - Inaugural Advisory Council: Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships", Succession of Church of God in Christ Leaders, Historically African-American Christian denominations, First African Baptist Church (Richmond, Virginia), First African Baptist Church (Savannah, Georgia). He called for an annual gathering of COGIC members, known as the "International Holy Convocation", to be held in Memphis. She revolutionized and reorganized the music ministry to become a leading department in the church. Their pastor was then elder Gilbert Earl Patterson, who also became a COGIC Presiding Bishop, at Holy Temple COGIC in Memphis, Tennessee. Mason was given authority to lead the new denomination. Church Of God In Christ, Inc. 2015-23. Dr. Roy L.H. He also instituted the Annual Prayer Breakfast, conducted Evangelistic Crusades across the country and developed the Church of God in Christ National Evangelist Registry. Remarriage is usually highly discouraged, except in the case of the death of a spouse or former spouse. She began women's work on the state level and appointed the first state mothers. In 1927, the call was made for workers to go to serve the Lord in foreign lands. A.) Bishop Blake is an ardent advocate of education and academic excellence, who holds multiple academic and honorary degrees, from various educational institutions. Charles Blake was born on August 5, 1940 in Little Rock, Arkansas, to the late Bishop Junious Augustus (J. During the tenure of Bishop G.E. 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. They are the largest department in the COGIC. 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. She built a home for missionaries in the Bahamas, a pavilion for senior citizens and unwed mothers in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Chairman of the Board of Bishops Bishop Albert Galbraith. 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. It includes not only those who are members of COGIC, but all believers who have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 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. By. (19721994). Bishop Sheard is married to Evangelist Karen Clark Sheard. Nigeria alone has 19 bishops and more than 2000 churches. 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. The international membership of COGIC is estimated be between one and three million adherents. [46], COGIC teaches that the baptism of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is an experience subsequent to conversion and sanctification, can be experienced by all believers who ask for it. He consecrated and appointed more than 100 bishops during his twenty-one years of leadership. She also established a musical program. We believe the Bible to be the inspired and only infallible written Word of God. Later in 1897, while in Little Rock, Arkansas, C. H. Mason stated that God had given him such a name for the group, the "Church of God in Christ". At the start of the new millennium, then COGIC presiding Bishop Gilbert Earl Patterson, continued to support the advancement of civil rights. [29] The spread of COGIC was due largely to the efforts of its evangelists through crusades and revivals. B. McEwen made conflicting administrative and executive decisions. In Chicago, Ford organized voter registration initiatives. 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. Secretary of the National Board of Trustees Dr. T. Lynn Smith. The school closed in 1977 after her death, as it struggled financially in a period when some families were choosing integrated schools for their children. Church mothers have historically served as the leader of the women's ministries in the local congregations. Page in 1927. 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. [32], Bishop Chandler David Owens Sr. was elected Presiding Bishop after the death of Bishop Ford in 1995. Welcome to the Official Church Of God In Christ, Inc Online Store Dismiss. 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. 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. For many years, West Angeles has been one of the fastest growing churches in the United States and remains the largest COGIC local congregation with a membership of 25,000. 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. She also established the Mattie McGlothen Library and Museum in Richmond, California, as a resource for COGIC historical facts and memorabilia. As the first elected presiding bishop, Bishop Patterson Sr. established the Charles Harrison Mason Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia. [36], In 2022, it was present in 112 countries in 2022. During 19101913, two white ministers, Elder H. A. Goss and Elder Leonard P. Adams, were clergy under the authority of C. H. Mason. 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. COGIC considers any physical, sexual relationship outside of the sanctity of marriage to be outside of the sovereign will of God and unbiblical. In 1945, Mason dedicated Mason Temple in Memphis as the church's national meeting site. The Youth Congress eventually become one of the largest conventions in COGIC. In a November 2007 special election, he was elected to complete the unexpired term of his predecessor as Presiding Bishop. The COGIC emphasized the use of the choir as an integral part of the worship experience. As a result, the general board exercises great authority over the church. He was elected as the denomination's leader on March 27, 2021. This list may not reflect recent changes . He gave the eulogy for Till at Robert's Temple COGIC in 1955. 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. He was one of the nine members of the strategy committee that organized the sanitation strike in Memphis. 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. He served on the trustee board for 12 years and has served on the general board for eight years. COGIC has always been traditionally anti-abortion. These events include physical death, the intermediate state, bodily resurrection, the Second Coming of Christ, the Great Tribulation, the Battle of Armageddon, the Millennial Reign, the Final Judgment, the future of the wicked in hell, and life for the redeemed in heaven.[48]. It ultimately ended by 1930, when the Depression set in. Ford was pastor of the St. Paul COGIC in Chicago and was Presiding Prelate of the Historic Illinois First Jurisdiction. The first general secretary of COGIC was Elder William B. Holt, a white minister. Bishop J.W. His dream was to establish an international ministry complex known as "Saints Center" and an accredited institution known as "All Saints University". It teaches that sanctification should precede the baptism with the Holy Spirit. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Bishop O. T. Jones Sr, however, did not leave the COGIC. 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. 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. His ministry spanned more than seven decades. MEMPHIS, Tenn. The Church of God in Christ announced it has elected a new Presiding Bishop to lead the organization. A new constitution and official manual of the church were completed in 1973. The church declares to be evangelical in ministry, fundamental in doctrine and practice and Pentecostal in worship and expression. These departments include: the Women's Department, the Sunday School Department, the Youth Department known as Y.P.W.W. 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 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. Patterson Sr., the five major departments of COGIC were united under an umbrella convention known as UNAC-5 (United National Auxiliary Convention). 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. [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. Coffey also began the use of the title "Jurisdictional Supervisor" for state mothers as more jurisdictions were forming in each state.[59]. Protestant doctrinal debates about Calvinism and Wesleyan Perfectionism affected how even local African-American Baptist pastors responded to new Christian movements at the time. Together he and his wife, Karen, founded Karew Records, a faith-based record label focusing on various forms of Gospel, Christian and Inspirational music. 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]. [5] Although an international and multi-ethnic religious organization, it has a predominantly African-American membership based within the United States. 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]. Drew Sheard was born on January 1, 1959, in Detroit, Michigan, to Bishop and Mrs. John Henry Sheard. He was a lifelong member of the. Bishop Blake led the COGIC to become a greater global ministry, primarily in Africa and Latin America, while at the same time investing in the inner cities where many COGIC congregations are located. In November 2008, Bishop Blake was re-elected to serve a four-year term as Presiding Bishop. COGIC members gathered for praying, fasting, teaching, preaching, fellowship and conducting business related to the national COGIC organization. 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. [93] Leaders within the COGIC, other denominations and Bishop Blake's own family came to his defense. Bishop Blake has several academic and honorary degrees, including a Doctor of Divinity from California Graduate School of Theology, a Doctor of Law degree from Oral Roberts University and an honorary doctorate from California State University, Los Angeles. Bishop Sheard is a former mathematics teacher and . Some of these African-American Baptist pastors in local Southern areas such as Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas considered Jones and Mason to be controversial. 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. The fastest growing areas include Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil, and India. 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 . It has nine members, elected by the general assembly, including three bishops, three elders, and three lay members. Hall Sr. Board member (2021present). 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. The then"Minister & Sister Carter" established and . He testified to receiving entire sanctification after reading her autobiography in 1893. 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. Patterson in March 2007. COGIC licensed female evangelists may also serve as chaplains in military, federal, state, and local institutions requiring chaplains. We believe that the only means of being cleansed from sin is through repentance and faith in the precious Blood of Jesus Christ. Organized in the South and having a predominately African-American membership, COGIC has had a long history in advancing civil rights. Under her leadership, the Women's International Convention added the term "and Crusade" to highlight and promote the evangelistic approach of the convention. This group of seven bishops became known officially as the executive commission; they took on greater responsibility over church affairs until Mason's death. [6], In June 1896, Jones held a Holiness convention at Mt. 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. According to its 1973 Constitution, the church has two structures to govern the church: civil and ecclesiastical. 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.