COGIC Issues: 102nd Annual Holy Convocation

Corrections have been made to this page 11/02/2009: Bishop Gilkey's first name is Joseph and Enoch Perry's title was referenced as "Bishop". Those statements were incorrect. Special note 11/29/09: See bottom of the article for commentary and update.

As the Church Of God In Christ's 102nd Annual Holy Convocation  begins Nov. 2-9, 2009, there are some significant 21st century challenges that the church faces.

2 of the most acute questions have been asked by individuals such as Pastor D.L.Foster of GCMWatch.com and myself among others:

1- How will COGIC handle the perpetrators of sexual abuse among clergy?

2- How will COGIC handle the victims of sexual abuse and make them whole?

And what may be a similarly related issue:

3- Truly, how is the real property of congregations and the congregations themselves handled when a pastor dies and why is the congregation overlooked?

Section I: Clergy Sexual Abuse

1- How will COGIC handle the perpetrators of sexual abuse among clergy?

2- How will COGIC handle the victims of sexual abuse and make them whole?

In what was a shocking revelation, Deidre Malone of the Malone Group, and spokeswoman on behalf of COGIC, said that the Presiding Bishop of the Church Of God In Christ, Bishop Charles E. Blake stated that:   She further stated that Bishop Charles E. Blake will announce an initiative regarding clergy sexual misconduct during the Holy Convocation Nov. 2-9.

"The church has been working on this issue for more than 15 years,"

First, it is refreshing to see that this issue will be addressed and addressed openly and hopefully clearly. Although I haven't heard from any official as to the plans and statements that will be made, at ReportCOGICabuse.org, it can be noted that I have at least tried to at least present information pertinent to addressing the care of the victims of these sort of atrocities.

The sad thing is that if the church has been aware of these sort of atrocities for 15 years, why hasn't it  responded with greater sense of urgency and a more exacting resolve? Over the last 15 years there have been 3 Chief Apostles of the church:

Bishop Chandler D. Owens

Bishop G.E. Patterson

Bishop Charles E. Blake

I would say that based on the atrocities of former General Board member, Bishop J.D. Husband, that someone had to know that there was trouble long prior to 15 years ago. GCMWatch also reported this:

"In 1991, through his lawyer, Bishop J.D. Husband, a charter member of the Church of God in Christ’s General Board, admitted guilt to “all charges” levied against him. But multitudes of people are still baffled about what Husband did. Other than rumors, the evidence against him was kept secretive and not even reported to legal authorities."

Although Mrs. Malone's comments leave much open room, one wonders what is it that the church has been working on for 15 years regarding the clergy sexual abuse issue and under who's direction that this "work" been taking place and to what aim. Hopefully that will be addressed during the Convocation and the church will come out with a greater sensitivity toward the victims of sexual abuse and a plan that will permanently remove sexual predators and abuses from all clergy activities. Clearly the days of simply looking the other way, as has been the recent MO of many of our leaders, is over, and children of God are demanding a much greater and more biblical accountability of the church leadership.

Section II: Church Property In Transition

3- Truly, how is the real property of congregations handled when a pastor dies and why is the congregation overlooked?

Legal council for the church,  Judge Enoch Perry has said that service in COGIC by it's pastors and leaders is basically voluntary and is at an arms length status. One report is as follows: 

Perry told lawyers that COGIC national has no power to make member churches or pastors obey its rules. The reason: “everything in COGIC is voluntary”. Perry said all dues, tithes, fees, reports and financial stipulations on bishops, superintendents, national office holders, licensed ministers, missionaries, local church reports, jurisdictional reports and the likes are all voluntary and nothing was mandatory. Perry said the church has no ability to enforce dues assessed to its members. The only possible repercussion he said is that “credentials are not lost, just not renewed” [Summary of 2008 Deposition regarding Pastor Sherman Allen (pg 46)]

In the sworn testimony regarding the transition of Emmanuel COGIC 4/11/2005 Elder Perry said this when asked about the structure of the church :

"Well the church of God in Christ is a hierarchical organization, that is we are ecclesiastical. You have your General Board at the top. The General Board filters down to the board of Bishops..."(pg. 15)

and

"Primarily, the local church has the responsibility in terms of its day to day action, but as it relates to the national church for example, the jurisdictional Bishop who is the representative of the national church has the right to come onto that property anytime he wants to. If you look at the 1952 constitution of our church it states specifically that no local church , no board of trustees, no directors can withhold the pulpit from the jurisdictional bishop or any national official. So to that end it's part of the national church and the local church. You can't separate the two, the local church is part of the national organization." (Pg. 54-55)

and this

"because it is a rule and regulation of our church and as I said before and bears repeating anytime you join the church you give your implied consent to be governed and ruled by the regulations of that church. This manual says that every deed ought to contain paragraph nine. Whether they do it or not I think that you will find that the case law substantiates that position. Whether it's included or not, it's still a part of the deed if it's in the national church bylaws, constitution and it's here."(pg. 56)

This is a sharp contrast of opinion from the same person separated by approximately 3 years. What constituted this tight relationship in 2005 regarding the property of Emmanuel COGIC to capitulate to a "voluntary" relationship regarding pastor Sherman Allen and his sexual abuse of members of his church that was part of the COGIC for over a 20 year period of time?

Could it be convenience? Could it simply be a way for the national church to save face? Or could it possibly be a way to preserve assets?

What Does This Mean?

If Elder Perry's testimony is true regarding Emmanuel, then all churches which are a part of the Church Of God In Christ are potentially assets available to settle the claims of the church's creditors or lawsuits if necessary. If this preacher's testimony was false then he either does not know the constitution  of the church (interpreting it erroneously) or has possibly committed perjury which is a criminal offense. Now, before anyone claims that I've slandered the bishop, these are legal proceedings of which I have personally read the testimony and so if there is slander the one testifying has slandered himself. Also before anyone further claims mutual exclusivity, similar testimony regarding the church was rendered in 1999 to rend control of New Jerusalem COGIC away from it's membership and into the hands of the jurisdictional Bishop and ultimately the National church. The national church claimed an "implied trust clause" upon all member churches real property and assets.

This is a legal review summary from a case involving New Jerusalem COGIC who tried to remove their church from the Church Of God In Christ upon the death of their Pastor:

"A local church, if it desires to remain independent of the influence of a parent church body, must maintain this independence in the important aspects of its operation, e.g., polity, name, finances. It cannot, as here, enter a binding relationship with a parent church which has provisions of implied trust in its constitution, bylaws, rules, and other documents pertaining to the control of property, yet deny the existence of such relationship. A local church cannot prosper from and enjoy the benefits afforded by a parent hierarchical church, participate in the functioning of that body, and then disclaim affiliation when the parent church acts contrary to the desires of the local church, so as to shield from equitable or contractual obligations the

property acquired by the local church either before or during such affiliation."

Section III: The Bishop & Emmanuel COGIC A Closer Look:

In this ongoing case regarding Emmannuel COGIC of Wichita, KS, which has been thoroughly documented at COGICJUSTICE. The church had a desire to be transferred from under the leadership of Bishop Joseph C. Gilkey of Kansas Southwest to Kansas Central jurisdiction within the Church Of God In Christ (Yes the same organization). In fact the founding pastor, Elder Joshua Stidham, died on Oct. 24th 2004, was buried Oct. 26th, 2004 and against the wishes of the people a supposed new pastor was appointed by Bishop Gilkey Oct. 31st 2004. What's equally as bad is that Bishop Gilkey would not allow or facilitate the wishes of 100% of the membership of the church in a legal vote on the issue, but instead refused to hear the church's request to transfer and escalated the situation through multiple legal proceedings and court battles. As a result it's been a long hard struggle for this church and they recently received a restraining order from their Bishop...YES you read it right...a RESTRAINING ORDER from their Bishop on a case that was originally mediated and settled WITH PREDUJICE. Not only did the Bishop in this case serve a restraining order on the church, he renewed a case that was settled with the agreement that the issue would never rise again.

For Emmanuel's trouble, the only ones who have seemingly acted with any godliness and clarity of thought has been the Bishop Samuel Nesbitt who is also the Chief Justice of the COGIC Judiciary Board, and the others such as Associate Chief Justice Thomas Jackson Jr. and Associate Justice Talbert Swann. Under the direction of Bishop Nesbitt they have clearly said:

"The constitution gives the Jurisdictional Bishop authority to fill vacancies that occur in the pastorate in the jurisdiction over which he presides. He is not to fill the vacancy by placing himself or his designee inn the vacancy, under the title of Pastor but under the authority of his Episcopal office he or his designee is to supervise or manage the said church until such time as the pastor is appointed to fill the vacancy. The Bishop is to set in order the things that are needed, as instructed in Titus 1:5 (Biblical Authority)" [Dissenting Opinion Constitutional Violations At Emmanuel Pg. 4]

Bishop Nesbitt also said this:

"The power to appoint and ordain elders within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction over which he presides, is vested in the Bishop only, but the screening of the Elders to be appointed or ordained is a shared responsibility. When the selection of the Elder has been made by the "Trinity", Jurisdictional Bishop, District Supt. and Congregation, the Bishop then appoints the chosen Elder as Pastor to fill the vacancy in the Pastorate." [Dissenting Opinion Constitutional Violations At Emmanuel Pg. 5]

They conclude by saying in the dissent:

"The majority decision of the court represents poor constitutional law and entails harmful consequences for the church at large" [Dissenting Opinion Constitutional Violations At Emmanuel Pg. 9]

I wonder why more men of the character and resolve of Bishop Nesbitt do not serve in greater and more numerous capacities within our church. It would certainly be a help in all aspects of church growth and development, as right now we can see that flesh has a high potential to not only get in the way, but to also oppress the people of God, claiming privilege where it has not planted and reaping what it has not sown. There ought to be shame for what has been allowed as these events have not gone without the input of the Presiding Bishop and the General Board. What can we expect as a result of the 102nd Convocation? The answer to that question  remains to be seen.

 

Blessed!

Special Update 11/25/2009: Since the COGIC Web Site; Bishop Blake meets,  will not allow my comment to be published, I thought I would let you, the reader know what I said so that you can contrast it to the comments they allowed to go through. There are less than a handfull of comments similar to mine so I really don't know why this one was restricted for some reason...You tell me:

Comment Dated:
November 9, 2009 at 10:56 pm


Thank God Presiding Bishop Blake & General Board. I was encouraged and inspired by the Holy Convocation.

So far as the sexual abuse policies. I have set forth that we should yet incorporate a method to address and minister to the victims of this type of abuse. They are the ones suffering.

You are doing well by revising and implementing policies aimed at prevention, however the victims need repair and handling from the church once abuse has been established. I’m not talking about consensual relationships exposed or gone bad, I’m talking healing the victims of abuse.

I don’t believe that we will be successful or blessed by God in these type of efforts unless we make a solid and open commitment to addressing the victims and ministering to their needs. I sent you the advocacy plan located here: http://www.reportcogicabuse.com/nvap.html .

Can we meet to discuss it or at least discuss modifying it to make it better and more effective in meeting the needs of the church and people of God? I believe that we must implement a new strategy to address the needs of victims and I believe the heart of our leadership is interested in doing that too, but will we act?

In All Humility~ Supt. H. Burnett