Bishop C.H. Mason founder of the church of God in Christ

I will penis Oh hallelujah God's anointed giving you in united call Becky born to former slaves Charles Harrison Mason defied the customs and conventions of the time in place in which he lived to start one of the world's largest Christian Pentecostal denominations even at a young age CH Mason was seized with a religious fervor so intense that it would cause him to be bedridden as he pondered God's purpose and plan for him and this world although his younger days were more often filled with the labor of a sharecropper than with attending any formal school he was somehow able to teach himself to read and write at the age of 18 Mason attended Arkansas Baptist College it was there that Mason became concerned with what he perceived as an attempt by some African American Baptist church goers at assimilating the more staid worship style of their white counterparts the shouting movement and passion that was such an integral part of the black religious experience was fading fast and Mason felt strongly that this unique expression of faith must be preserved as a Baptist preacher in Mississippi Mason began conducting revivals with Charles Pryce Jones a fellow believer in the concept of holiness because of their teaching of this holiness doctrine Mason and Jones were expelled from the Baptist Church it was in 1897 that Mason and Jones established the Church of God in Christ in Lexington Mississippi this new church continued to grow but there would be one more fundamental change in CH Mason's belief system in 1907 a unique religious movement was taking place in the far west city of Los Angeles California William J Seymour a charismatic one-eyed African American preacher was leading a revival in a rundown old church in the downtown Los Angeles ghetto the address was 312 Azusa Street and Seymour's movement came to be known as the Azusa Street revival the revivals were known for extreme displays of religious devotion speaking in tongues and most shocking for the time integration of worshippers CH Mason was set by his church to investigate the elusive street revival it was at the Azusa Street revival that Mason's spoke in tongues and experienced what was called baptism in the Holy Spirit Mayson returned to mississippi and began to integrate into his own services aspects of Pentecostalism that he encountered while in Los Angeles Mason and CP Jones did not see eye-to-eye on this concept Mason subsequently went to Memphis Tennessee where he reorganized the Church of God in Christ Mason had a knack for organization and quickly established an elaborate system of government for his new church Mason also started the annual Church of God in Christ convocation a meeting that was held in late autumn when church members from around the country traveled to Memphis for worship and church business in the 1940s Mason built a 5,000 seat steel reinforced building that came to be known as Mason temple at the time of its completion it was the largest african-american church building in the country also amazing was that steel was made available to African Americans during wartime when steel was heavily rationed Mason temple hosted many luminaries one of its most famous being Martin Luther King jr. who delivered his I've been to the mountaintop speech there the night before his assassination Mason sent preachers all across the country and the world to spread the message of holiness on behalf of the Church of God in Christ he created departments and auxiliaries and not only fostered but also participated in foreign missions when Bishop CH mason passed in 1961 the Church of God in Christ existed in every state of the Union as well as in other countries while Mason's body is interred in Mason temple his vision and his church live on around the world not only as the largest Pentecostal church in the United dates but also with worldwide membership estimated to be between six to eight million members

Channel: James Crawley

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Length: 4min 52sec (292 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 20 2014