The Church of God in Christ is a historically African American classical Pentecostal denomination headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1897 by Bishop Charles Harrison Mason, the church teaches the necessity of personal repentance, entire sanctification, and the baptism in the Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking in unknown tongues.
Origins: Charles Harrison Mason and the 1897 founding
The roots of the Church of God in Christ reach back into the late nineteenth-century Mississippi Delta. Charles Harrison Mason, born to formerly enslaved parents in Shelby County, Tennessee, in 1864, experienced Christian conversion as a teenager and entered the ministry within the Missionary Baptist tradition. However, while attending Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock in 1893, Mason became dissatisfied with formal academic theology, concluding that spiritual power required intensive prayer, personal holiness, and total reliance on Holy Scripture.
In 1895, Mason met Charles Price Jones, a fellow African American Baptist minister who shared his deep longing for spiritual purity. Influenced by the Wesleyan Holiness revival sweeping the United States, Mason and Jones began conducting revival campaigns across Arkansas and Mississippi. They preached the doctrine of "entire sanctification"—the belief that following conversion, a believer can experience a second definite work of divine grace that completely cleanses the sinful nature and empowers a life of conscious moral holiness.
Their Holiness message clashed sharply with the traditional Calvinistic doctrine of local Baptist associations. In 1897, the Mississippi Baptist State Convention expelled Mason and Jones for teaching what Baptist officials considered heretical perfectionism. In response, Mason and Jones gathered their followers and incorporated an independent Holiness body in Jackson, Mississippi. Seeking a purely biblical name that was not man-made, Mason derived the title from 1 Thessalonians 2:14: "the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus." This early struggle for institutional autonomy was a defining chapter in the history of the Black Church in America.
Azusa Street and the Pentecostal transformation (1907)
For its first decade, the Church of God in Christ functioned as a Holiness association without Pentecostal practices. That theological orientation changed radically in March 1907, when Mason traveled to Los Angeles, California, to investigate the famous revival led by William J. Seymour at the Apostolic Faith Mission on Azusa Street.
During a night of fervent prayer in Los Angeles, Mason experienced what he described as an overwhelming baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in unknown tongues as the Spirit gave utterance. Convinced that this was the biblical fulfillment of Pentecost, Mason returned to Mississippi eager to share the message with his fellow ministers. However, Charles Price Jones and other conservative leaders firmly rejected the teaching, arguing that speaking in tongues was not a necessary biblical evidence of Spirit baptism. The disagreement resulted in a painful parting: Jones withdrew to organize the Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A., while Mason retained the legal name and charter of the Church of God in Christ.
In late 1907, Mason called an assembly of twenty ministers in Memphis, Tennessee, establishing the first Pentecostal General Assembly of the denomination. Crucially, because Mason held an official state incorporation charter, he used his authority to license both Black and White Pentecostal ministers. For seven years, until the formation of the Assemblies of God in 1914, hundreds of White Pentecostal evangelists held legal ministerial credentials issued by Mason, making early COGIC an unusual center of interracial religious cooperation in the Jim Crow South, as recounted in the broader history of Pentecostalism.
Core COGIC beliefs: Sanctification, Spirit baptism, and ordinances
The doctrinal foundation of the denomination reflects its distinct synthesis of Wesleyan-Holiness roots and classical Pentecostal convictions. Unlike finished-work Pentecostals who view sanctification as a gradual lifelong process beginning at salvation, core COGIC beliefs maintain a three-stage theological progression:
- Justification by Faith: The initial work of divine grace wherein a sinner repents of sin, places faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and is pardoned and regenerated.
- Entire Sanctification: A second, distinct work of grace wrought by the Holy Spirit that purifies the believer's heart from inbred sin, empowering a consecrated life of personal holiness and moral integrity.
- Baptism in the Holy Spirit: An enduement of supernatural power for service and witness, distinct from and subsequent to sanctification, with the initial physical evidence of speaking in other tongues, as explored in our guide to what Pentecostals believe.
COGIC strongly emphasizes divine healing for the human body, believing that physical restoration was purchased through Christ's atoning stripes. Pastors and elders regularly anoint the sick with oil and lay hands on believers in accordance with James 5:14. In addition to practicing water baptism by full immersion and the Lord's Supper, COGIC observes feet washing as a sacred ordinance, following Christ's example of humility and servant leadership in John 13.
Mason Temple and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s final speech
During the Great Migration, thousands of African American families relocated from the rural South to industrial cities in the North and West, establishing COGIC congregations in Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. Mason established the international headquarters of the church in Memphis, Tennessee, on Mason Street.
Between 1939 and 1941, the denomination erected Mason Temple, a massive brick-and-steel auditorium seating more than 3,700 people. At the time of its completion, Mason Temple was the largest convention facility owned by African Americans in the United States. It served not only as a cathedral for national religious gatherings but also as a civic center and safe harbor for civil rights organizers during decades of racial segregation.
Mason Temple holds an enduring place in American history. On the stormy evening of April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. entered the crowded temple to address striking Memphis sanitation workers. Speaking from the sacred pulpit, Dr. King delivered his immortal "I've Been to the Mountaintop" sermon, declaring, "I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land." Less than twenty-four hours later, Dr. King was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Today, Mason Temple stands as an official historical landmark honoring both Pentecostal faith and the civil rights struggle.
The Holy Convocation and episcopal governance
Governance in the Church of God in Christ is episcopal, combining strong hierarchical oversight with congregational loyalty. The denomination is led by the Presiding Bishop alongside a General Board composed of twelve consecrated bishops elected every four years by the General Assembly, the supreme legislative body representing ministers and lay delegates.
Geographically, churches are organized into ecclesiastical jurisdictions, each overseen by a jurisdictional bishop who ordains elders, supervises pastors, and guides regional development. Women play a monumental role in the life of the church through the Department of Women, an autonomous auxiliary founded by Mother Lizzie Woods Roberson in 1911. While COGIC does not ordain women as senior pastors or bishops, Church Mothers, licensed evangelist missionaries, and deaconesses direct vital community charities, educational programs, and local ministries.
The annual focal point of denominational life is the Holy Convocation, held every November. Established by Bishop Mason in 1907, the Holy Convocation draws tens of thousands of delegates, pastors, and international bishops to celebrate worship, hold national business meetings, and seek spiritual renewal. While traditionally hosted at Mason Temple in Memphis, the convocation's immense size led the denomination to utilize major convention centers in St. Louis and Memphis in recent years.
The extraordinary legacy of COGIC gospel music
It is impossible to overstate the influence of the Church of God in Christ on modern American music. From its earliest decades, Bishop Mason encouraged worshippers to praise God with every musical instrument mentioned in Psalm 150—drums, guitars, tambourines, brass horns, and especially the Hammond B-3 organ.
While traditional mainline denominations viewed syncopated rhythms and percussive instrumentation as worldly, COGIC sanctuaries became incubators of sacred innovation. Pianist Arizona Dranes pioneered gospel piano techniques in the 1920s, while Sister Rosetta Tharpe, raised in COGIC tent revivals, combined fiery guitar riffs with spiritual lyrics, becoming a recognized godmother of rock and roll. Legendary artists such as Andraé Crouch, Edwin Hawkins, Mattie Moss Clark, and the Clark Sisters revolutionized contemporary gospel and soul music. The energetic praise, rich choral arrangements, and soulful vocal improvisation developed in COGIC sanctuaries went on to reshape modern praise music, directly fueling the twentieth-century Charismatic movement.
What to expect when visiting a Church of God in Christ congregation
Visitors attending a Sunday morning service at a COGIC church can expect an environment of formal dignity, exuberant praise, and genuine southern hospitality. Members typically dress in fine Sunday attire, and male and female ushers dressed in crisp uniforms assist worshippers.
Services feature powerful gospel choir music, congregational prayer where believers pray aloud in unison at the altar, and passionate, rhythmic preaching that moves hearts toward repentance and spiritual joy. To find a local congregation in your area, consult our national directory of Pentecostal churches, explore our state breakdown of Pentecostal churches by state, and read our comprehensive guide to visiting a Pentecostal church service.