Church of God in Christ - Timeline Event
Founder
Charles Price Jones, Charles Harrison Mason
Time Period
1897
Description
Charles Price Jones and Charles Harrison Mason founded the Church of God in Christ (commonly called COGIC and pronounced "ko-gik") in 1897 in Mississippi. Prior to the founding of COGIC, both men were excommunicated by black Baptists in Mississippi after they began preaching the Wesleyan teaching of Entire Sanctification. Mason adopted the name Church of God in Christ after Thessalonians 2:14, which he claims was divinely revealed to him. In 1907, COGIC became Pentecostal under the leadership of Mason. Primarily African-American, COGIC is the oldest black Pentecostal denomination in the United States. Although it started as a small sect, it became the largest black Pentecostal body in the world.
Interactive Timeline(s)
Browse Related Timeline Entries
Religious Groups
Timeline Entries for the same religious group: Holiness FamilyHoliness Family: Other ARDA Links
Holiness Family: Religious Family Tree
Timeline Entries for the same religious group: Pentecostal Family
Pentecostal Family: Other ARDA Links
Pentecostal Family: Religious Family Tree
Related Dictionary Terms
Church, Church/Sect Cycle, DenominationPhotographs
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Mason Temple, Church of God in Christ- Wikimedia Commons- photo by Jim Roberts (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Bishop Charles Harrison Mason- Wikimedia Commons- photo by IntellectualChristianWikiUser (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Charles Price Jones portrait- Hathi Trust- from The Negro Trail Blazers of California by Delilah L. Beasley
Elder Kelsey, Church of God in Christ service- Library of Congress, LC-USW3-010246-C
Book/Journal Source(s)
Queen, Edward, Stephen Prothero and Gardiner Shattuck, 1996. The Encyclopedia of American Religious History New York: Facts on File.Melton, J. Gordon, 1978. The Encyclopedia of American Religions, Vol. 1 Wilmington, NC: McGrath Publishing Company.
Web Page Contributor
Benjamin T. GurrentzAffliated with: Pennsylvania State University, Ph.D. in Sociology
