Church of God in Christ, The, is one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in the world and one of the largest African American denominations. The base for the denomination’s faith is the Bible, with emphasis on the experiences of the apostles on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:4). The church follows an episcopal form of government, with bishops at its head.
Bishop Charles Harrison Mason and others founded the church in 1895 in Lexington, Mississippi, as a Holiness church. Holiness churches are American Protestant churches that stress personal experience, morality, and usually a fundamentalist approach to the Bible. In 1907, influenced by the Pentecostal movement, Bishop Mason declared the church to be Pentecostal (see Pentecostal churches ). The church’s international headquarters are in Memphis, Tennessee.
