former presiding bishops of cogic

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 . [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]. During the 1990s, President Bill Clinton was invited by then COGIC Presiding Bishop, Louis Henry Ford to attend the International Holy Convocation. Since 2007, Ebony has recognized Bishop Blake annually, as one of its 100+ most influential African Americans. Bishop Blake is an ardent advocate of education and academic excellence, who holds multiple academic and honorary degrees, from various educational institutions. [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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Bishop David A. 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. Funeral services set for COGIC Evangelist Louise Patterson 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. COGIC teaches that the Holy Spirit is alive and active in the world. She established a high school and gained accreditation for it, and then for the junior college which she founded on campus. In 2021 he was again re-elected Bishop as a member of the Presidium (General Board) of the Church of God in Christ, Inc., at that time he was also subsequently elected to the Office of the Presiding Bishop as Chief Apostle. The church's new presiding bishop, who took office on March 20, said he will have to. Michigan Chronicle Endorses Bishop J. Drew Sheard for Re-election to 2nd Assistant Presiding Bishop Bishop Lawrence M. Wooten. It is one of the largest gathering of Christian women from any major denomination and religious organization. [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. He referred in his sermon to gay men as "sissies", "perverted and lost", and said, "If you want to feel like a girl; I wish God would give you the monthly of a girl; I wish He had you bleeding out of your butt. Humanity can only be restored through salvation offered only through Jesus Christ. In April 2018, Presiding Bishop Charles Blake along with Lee Saunders, Andrew Young, DeMaurice Smith, and Brian Dunn coordinated the "I AM 2018 Mountaintop Conference" at the historic Mason Temple in Memphis to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. COGIC believes marriage is a monogamous sacred, civil, and legal union between a husband and wife that is recognized as a covenant between them and God for the purpose of the couple being a helpmate to each other and raising a family together. During World War I, the FBI opened a file on Bishop Mason and conducted surveillance on him because of his pacifism during the war. [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. Despite what seems to be obvious limitations to minister because of ordination, women have been given great latitude and numerous opportunities to serve in ministry in COGIC. Bishop Sheard is a former mathematics teacher and . 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. Michigan Chronicle Endorses Bishop J. Drew Sheard for Re-election to This seasonal period was selected because most of the COGIC members were farmers and were finished harvesting their crops around this time. Research Center at Boston University, the Greenlining Institutes Big Heart Award, a Trumpet Award, and the Urban Leagues Whitney M. Young award, among many others. 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. For a brief period of time, the YPWW Congress was combined with the Sunday School Congress in a joint convention until 1951. The rope that holds the shaft together represents Charles Harrison Mason, COGIC's founding father. As African Americans migrated north and west to industrial cities during the Great Migration, he began to establish COGIC churches in the north and, especially after 1940, in the west. Blake was the fifth Presiding Bishop (and seventh leader) of the historically African-American denomination from 2007 to 2021. Bishop Sheard was inducted into the prestigious Morehouse College Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers. [29], Bishop Louis Henry Ford of Chicago, Illinois, was elected after the death of J.O. In 1945, Mason dedicated Mason Temple in Memphis as the church's national meeting site. Drew Sheard is a former public-school teacher. James Moore, Thomas Whitfield (singer), Deniece Williams, Hubert Powell, Donnie McClurkin, LaShun Pace, The Anointed Pace Sisters, Dr. Bettye Ransom Nelson, Bishop Richard "Mr. Clean" White, Bishop Paul S. Morton, The Clark Sisters: (Jacky Clark-Chisholm, Elbernita "Twinkie" Clark, Dorinda Clark-Cole and Karen Clark-Sheard). He consecrated and appointed more than 100 bishops during his twenty-one years of leadership. The Church of God in Christ elects Bishop J. Drew Sheard as its new This came on the heels of former Presiding Bishop Charles Edward Blake Sr.'s October 2020 announcement that he would not seek reelection. 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 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 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. Drew Sheard is a former public-school teacher. 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. Jurisdictions are set up similar to the national church in terms of composition, polity, and procedure. Presiding Bishop J. 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 . The church has more than 3,000 churches in Asia, and 2,000 churches in the Caribbean and South America. He is an example of servant leadership and has become a voice to the nations to uphold the standards of holiness. He began production of the YPWW Quarterly Topics to train the youth of the COGIC in the faith, doctrine, and polity of the church. However, his out-spoken criticism of the racial prejudice and discrimination of whites led most, if not all of them, to leave his church for other ministries where the message against racism was not so obvious and offensive to them. March 22, 2021. Between 2009 and 2011, in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa, Blake founded and was the first president of the Pan African Children's Fund (PACF). She was the Jurisdictional Supervisor of Women for Texas Southwest Jurisdiction under the late Bishop T. D. Iglehart. [29] Former International Music Department President Professor Iris Stevenson-McCullough (originally from Rochester, NY) is a major influence in the gospel music industry around the world. He led a group of students to participate in the March on Selma. Their pastor was then elder Gilbert Earl Patterson, who also became a COGIC Presiding Bishop, at Holy Temple COGIC in Memphis, Tennessee. 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. Dr. Mattie Moss Clark#, second and longest-serving president of Int'l. Nevertheless, as time progressed in the 1950s and 60s, and as COGIC began to grow and became increasingly institutionalized as a denomination, several other churches and denominations began partnering up with COGIC's leaders to help advance the cause of Civil Rights for African Americans, most notably such as the National Baptist Convention, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and many other similar predominantly Black denominations as well. These elders became the first Pentecostal General Assembly of the Church of God in Christ. 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. The first youth leader on a national level was Elder M.C. She revolutionized and reorganized the music ministry to become a leading department in the church. During her leadership, several new buildings were constructed on the 350-acre campus to serve this expansion. For the Anabaptist denomination, see, The official seal of the COGIC features a sheaf of wheat representing the members of the COGIC. Amen. He was assassinated the next day, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.[54]. 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. Washington, Bishop Chandler D. Owens, Bishop Brandon B. Porter, and Bishop J. 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. President, International Department of Evangelism Evangelist Gary Sprewell, Elect Lady, International Department of Evangelism . C. P. Jones was elected the General Overseer, C. H. Mason was selected as Overseer of Tennessee, and J. This group of seven bishops became known officially as the executive commission; they took on greater responsibility over church affairs until Mason's death. Patterson Sr., the five major departments of COGIC were united under an umbrella convention known as UNAC-5 (United National Auxiliary Convention). A general supervisor of women is appointed by the presiding bishop and given authority to lead the International Women's Ministry of the church. On February 21, 1965, when Malcolm X was assassinated and the family needed a place for his funeral, no major black church or facility would open their doors for the service. 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. [26], The parties filed lawsuits in the Chancery Court of Shelby County, Tennessee, to resolve the legitimate authority of the denomination. COGIC became a major force in the collective Black Church and worldwide Pentecostal movement. 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. The current president of the Missions Department is Bishop Vincent Mathews Jr. of South Africa. In 1982, he was selected by Ebony magazine as one of the 15 "Greatest Preachers in America". Second Vice Chairman of the National Board of Trustees Attorney Amos Smith. Although headquartered in Memphis, COGIC's leaders . The current International Sunday School Superintendent is Superintendent Mark Ellis of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the International Field Representative is Mother Cleolia Penix of Chicago, Illinois.[29]. Drew Sheard was born on January 1, 1959, in Detroit, Michigan, to Bishop and Mrs. John Henry Sheard. [29] COGIC continued to grow and in 1973, the church claimed a worldwide membership of nearly three million. 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. 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 1988, he was installed as Pastor of Greater Emmanuel Church. Today the International Women's Convention/Crusade meets annually in May in different cities throughout the nation drawing thousands of women from around the world. General Secretary Bishop Joel H. Lyles Jr.. Chairman of the General Assembly Bishop Lemuel F. Thuston. Battles served as president until his death in December 1996. All officers are elected by the General Assembly. The jurisdictional supervisor is assisted by district missionaries who oversee the women's ministry of the district. [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. [63] The current president of the Department of Evangelism is Bishop Elijah Hankerson III of St. Louis, Missouri. He was a strong advocate for social justice. The presidium includes a separately elected international presiding bishop by the general assembly who serves a term of four years, who, then appoints two assistant presiding bishops. According to its 1973 Constitution, the church has two structures to govern the church: civil and ecclesiastical. All rights reserved. We believe in the Blessed Hope, which is the rapture of the Church of God, which is in Christ, at His return. Furthermore, the new constitution created the office of the presiding bishop and a general board of twelve bishops and defined their responsibilities. Mother Willie Mae Rivers (19972017) of Goose Creek, South Carolina, succeeded Mother Crouch. His passion for meeting the needs of the whole man reaches globally through his humanitarian efforts. The most notable rift occurred in 1969, when fourteen bishops met in Evanston, Illinois, to form the Church of God in Christ, International. In 2000, he was elected as the Presiding Bishop of COGIC. Church of God in Christ: COGIC Presiding Bishop Ousted As a result, the general board exercises great authority over the church. Today COGIC operates the All Saints Bible College in Memphis, the C. H. Mason system of bible colleges, and the C. H. Mason Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia. 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. The first general secretary of COGIC was Elder William B. Holt, a white minister. White. She developed the International Women's Convention into a training institute for women in the ministry. 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.. 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. 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. (19721994). On May 19, 1952, he added Bishop J. O. Patterson Sr. Bishop James Oglethorpe Patterson 1968-1989* *Tenure as leader of the church: Presiding Bishop Gilbert Earl Patterson 2000-Present: Bishop Louis Henry Ford 1990-1995* Bishop Chandler David Owens 1995-2000* [21], In 1907, there were ten COGIC churches, but by the time of Bishop Mason's death in 1961, COGIC had spread to every state in the United States and to many foreign countries. [35], In 2016, the Church had 5.5 million members in 60 countries around the world. Jesse Jackson was invited to speak during the COGIC International Holy Convocation when he was running for the presidency. Presiding Bishop J. OUR HISTORY | ucogic This office is reserved for a woman who serves as counterpart to the Sunday School Superintendent. Welcome to the Official Church Of God In Christ, Inc Online Store Dismiss. 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. 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. [44], COGIC teaches that salvation is the work of redemption to the sinner and his restoration to divine favor and communion with God. 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. 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. Bishop John Drew Sheard Sr., who had previously been elected to the General Board in 2012 and 2016, was reelected to the General Board and subsequently elected as the current Presiding Bishop on March 20, 2021, in the first-ever virtual online election for the denomination. His decision means that the Feb. 23 Quadrennial Election will vote-in a new Presiding Bishop. 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. 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. By that time, it was known as Saints Academy and Junior College. [29] In 1926, upon the recommendation of Mother Lizzie Roberson, Elder C. G. Brown of Kansas City Missouri, was appointed the first Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Home and Foreign Missions Department by Bishop C. H. Mason. 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). [15], 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. Sin originated in eternity when Satan committed open rebellion against God in heaven. They were also instrumental in establishing 75 churches across the nation. Today however, many church mothers have been reserved to titular positions as many pastor's wives have assumed the role of leader of women's ministries in local congregations. The school enjoyed its greatest growth and success under the leadership of Dr. Arenia Conella Mallory (19041977). 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. She is also the Jurisdictional Supervisor for the First Jurisdiction, Southern California. [32], Bishop Chandler David Owens Sr. was elected Presiding Bishop after the death of Bishop Ford in 1995. Patterson, former presiding bishop of the Church of God In Christ.. Vice President of COGIC World Missions-Supervisor Faye M. Butler. Bishop J. 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. B. McEwen, Bishop J. S. Bailey, and Bishop O. M. Kelly as his assistants. The early conventions of the Evangelist Board were basically crusades led by Page and a few other Evangelists from across the country. 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. [5] He officially retired on March 19, 2021, and was succeeded by Bishop J. Other leaders of the Youth Department who leader became influential leaders of the church included: Bishop F.D. These auxiliaries are found in nearly every church, district, and jurisdiction within COGIC and function to support the holistic approach that COGIC has toward ministry within the church and the larger community that COGIC congregations serve. CN Morning Rundown: Watch COGIC Installation, Consecration of Bishops