A sea of black and white poured into America’s Center earlier this week. Yes, there were smatterings of colorful clothing, but women in black-and-white headdresses with ankle-length black dresses over black stockings and men in black suits, ties or pastoral collars dominated the clothing choices at the opening services of the Church of God in Christ’s (COGIC) 118th Holy Convocation.
Of course, some COGIC members from across the country descended on St. Louis earlier for a Monday night prayer service, a “Christmas in November” giveaway at the Urban League’s Kingshighway location and a “Prayer Walk around the Dome” on Saturday.
But Tuesday morning kicked off the official start of the convention. Inside Hall 1 at America’s Center, they congregated with pregnant anticipation. The opening prayer, backed by drummers, an organist and a choir, lasted at least 15 minutes, with congregants standing, heads bowed, shouting, touching their chests, waving their hands and enthusiastically repeating “Amen” throughout the elongated entreaty.
“How good and well for brethren to dwell in unity,” the pastor shouted over the collective commotion.
COGIC members raucously repeated the pastor’s call to affirm their faith in the Bible, in God, their “blessed hope,” repentance, salvation and “Jesus Christ in the holy spirit of sanctification.”
They ended the call-and-response affirmations with loud, heartfelt “Amens!”
Photo by Lawrence Bryant | The St. Louis American
Speakers included Bishop Emmitt Nevels from Ohio, motivational speaker and evangelist Danarah N. Sheppard, Bishop Marcus Ways from Michigan, Pastor Steven Tipton from St. Louis and Bishop Don Nobles from Texas.
They also alluded to the week’s upcoming events, including Wednesday’s “Speaker Panel Series” and “Global Wellness Fair,” the “We Care” banquet that afternoon featuring Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Thursday morning’s “Sneakers & Pearls” event featuring Lady Karen Clark Sheard, wife of Presiding Bishop J. Drew Sheard, and Friday morning’s Scholarship Breakfast. A host of other events and activities were scheduled through Nov. 10.
There was a palpable old-time Southern gospel influence on the opening ceremony. Perhaps that’s because COGIC traces its origins to 1897 in Lexington, Mississippi, where Bishop Charles Harrison Mason helped establish an early congregation. In 1907, Mason organized the denomination’s first Pentecostal General Assembly in Memphis, Tennessee.
COGIC has an extensive international footprint, with congregations established in more than 100 countries. But Tuesday’s event echoed the traditions of the Black church during and after slavery. Addressing the crowd as “the church,” speakers spoke to the challenging spiritual, social and political realities of Black life.
“We are now living in economic uncertainty,” Bishop Sheard said during his address. “Political and social conditions are erratic, unpredictable governments and wars and international instability … cyber instability and competing definitions of truth.”
Warning COGIC members about overwhelming technological advances and social media, Sheard said, “We must discern between what is trending and what is truth; we must discern between what demands our attention and what deserves our obedience; between the noise of the world and the voice of God.”
Sheard reminded the crowd that the 118th Holy Convocation provided an opportunity for members to “lift up the word of Jesus and make an impact, a difference in the world everywhere.”
“We are the Church of God in Christ and what a blessing it is to be with the saints today,” Sheard preached.
Another speaker referred to Leviticus 23, where a holy convocation, or sacred assembly, was designated by God as a time when everyday work is prohibited, special offerings are presented and the faithful are called together for sacred rest and worship. The speaker advised the audience that they were gathered this week for “the goodness of God.”
Another speaker asked the crowd to remember his interpretation of the “five lessons” taught in the Book of Leviticus:
- “Don’t get so busy with your time that you miss God’s appointed time.”
- “If you remember where God brought you from, you’ll have a reason to praise Him for where you are.”
- “When God is first in your priorities, He is honored in your prosperity.”
- “God doesn’t want a church that knows how to shout; He wants a church that knows how to live for Him.”
- “The wilderness didn’t destroy you because God sustained you.”
As a few conventioneers praise-danced in the aisles, others were asked to take the hands of the person seated next to them and say, “I praise you!”
The combination of music, prayers and praise that rippled through the huge room created an intoxicating ambiance of collective worship. Like soldiers preparing for battle, speakers reminded conventioneers that they had the courage, consciousness, faith and fortitude to save the fallen and carry out God’s task on earth.
The audience left the convention center fired up and ready for spiritual action. If the first official day of COGIC’s 118th Holy Convocation is any indication, the next seven days will no doubt be even more motivational, spiritually enlightening and morally sustaining for the thousands of conventioneers gathered in St. Louis.
Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.