COGIC teaches that the Holy Spirit is alive and active in the world. During the 1990s, President Bill Clinton was invited by then COGIC Presiding Bishop, Louis Henry Ford to attend the International Holy Convocation. [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. MEMPHIS, Tenn Funeral arrangements are set for COGIC Evangelist Louise Patterson, the widow of the late Bishop G.E. 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. In November 2008, Bishop Blake was re-elected to serve a four-year term as Presiding Bishop. It is a separate and distinct work of grace that occurs in the lives of believers after conversion. Since so many new holiness groups and fellowships were forming that used the name "Church of God," C. H. Mason sought a name to distinguish his Holiness group from others. 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. The first convention was held in Los Angeles, California, in 1951. [29] She is also the Jurisdictional Supervisor of Women for the South Carolina Jurisdiction. [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. She was the Jurisdictional Supervisor of Women for Texas Southwest Jurisdiction under the late Bishop T. D. Iglehart. He also established the COGIC national headquarters there. President Moody also added these ministries to the Missions Department:[62]. 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). He was one of the nine members of the strategy committee that organized the sanitation strike in Memphis. Chairman of the National Board of Trustees Bishop Dwight E. Walls Sr.. First Vice Chairman of the National Board of Trustees Superintendent Melton Timmons. 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. 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. 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 . [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. Vice President of COGIC World Missions-Bishop Nate' M. Jefferson. On May 19, 1952, he added Bishop J. O. Patterson Sr. Also in 1952, Mason revised the constitution to determine the leadership and succession of the church after his death. They exist primarily in the spiritual realm and are organized according to duty and function. 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. Mrs. Mattie McCaulley of Tulsa, Oklahoma was the first to respond, and was sent to Trinidad. In 1984 and 1988 respectively, Rev. The civil structure of the Church of God in Christ includes a president, first vice-president, second vice-president, general secretary, general treasurer, and the financial secretary. He established COGIC Charities which has provided thousands of dollars in college scholarships and disaster relief efforts such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. . 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. By 1906, the church had grown to nearly 100 congregations in three states. Church of God in Christ names Detroit's Bishop J. Drew Sheard new As the International Holy Convocation grew to thousands, COGIC leaders had to negotiate with city officials to provide hotel accommodations for the saints. The current chairman of AIM is Bishop Linwood E. Dillard of Memphis, TN.[62]. During the 1950s and 60s, during the height of the civil rights movement, COGIC ministers and congregations played host to many significant events. Detroit pastor J. Drew Sheard elected COGIC presiding bishop 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. Drew Sheard was born on January 1, 1959, in Detroit, Michigan, to Bishop and Mrs. John Henry Sheard. Bishop Chandler David Owens (1931-2011) - Find a Succession of COGIC Leaders Chandler David Owens Sr. - Wikipedia During the 1930s and 40s, a white COGIC elder named James L. Delk who remained in the church after many whites had left, was very active in politics in Missouri and worked to promote civil rights by writing legislatures and petitioning the federal government on the behalf of COGIC. 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. We believe that the regeneration by the Holy Ghost is absolutely essential for personal salvation. 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. Divorce is considered inconsistent with biblical teachings and is highly discouraged as well, but exceptions are made for special circumstances. President, International Youth Department Superintendent Nathaniel Green. Bishop L. H. Ford (Former Presiding Bishop COGIC) - YouTube Sister Church Support Ministry a church in the USA giving support to a church on the mission field. [32], Bishop Chandler David Owens Sr. was elected Presiding Bishop after the death of Bishop Ford in 1995. It also increasingly stressed high academic standards so that its graduates could go to normal school or college, especially to teach other African Americans. The pair modeled the pastor and wife ministry team in COGIC. [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. Organized in the South and having a predominately African-American membership, COGIC has had a long history in advancing civil rights. The most notable rift occurred in 1969, when fourteen bishops met in Evanston, Illinois, to form the Church of God in Christ, International. 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. 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. 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 . His testimony "literally went viral, and brought upon him criticism and sardonicism. He was succeeded by Bishop Joe L. Ealy. [15], COGIC originated among African Americans in the Southern states of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Protestant doctrinal debates about Calvinism and Wesleyan Perfectionism affected how even local African-American Baptist pastors responded to new Christian movements at the time. His passion for meeting the needs of the whole man reaches globally through his humanitarian efforts. As a result, many local congregations, foreign missions, and schools were established through the leadership and efforts of women in COGIC. 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. Adjutant General Bishop Dickerson L. S. Wells Sr.. General Supervisor, Department of Women Mother Barbara McCoo Lewis. It had a membership of more than 400,000, who supported more than 4,000 churches. 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.. This seasonal period was selected because most of the COGIC members were farmers and were finished harvesting their crops around this time. He continued to build on the department through expansion of the Regional Administration into 10 geographical locations across the country. "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,". It includes not only those who are members of COGIC, but all believers who have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The current General Supervisor of Women is Dr. Barbara McCoo Lewis of Los Angeles, California. Mother Lillian Coffey appointed Mother Reatha Herndon as president of the National Women's Evangelist Board in 1951. We believe that there is One God, eternally existent in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He announced that he met with the ministry leaders and church council and trustee board members and consulted with them to approve of Reverend Charles Blake, Jr and Reverend Lawrence Blake, taking over much of his duties as the de facto pastor and assistant pastor of the church. Ford, as Saints' Academy, a private co-educational grade school. [63] The current president of the Department of Evangelism is Bishop Elijah Hankerson III of St. Louis, Missouri. Lizzie Woods Robinson (19111945) was the first "General Mother" of the church.