COGIC Holy Convocation returns next week to its 'Jerusalem' of Memphis

This year, the Church of God in Christ is coming home.

“It is a dream come true to come back home to our Jerusalem,” said Bishop David Hall Sr., pastor of the historic Temple Church of God in Christ in Memphis and a member of the denomination’s general board. “It is my hope that things will work out so well that the church will never leave Memphis again.”

For more than 100 years, the denomination’s annual Holy Convocation met in Memphis, the same city that holds Mason Temple, sometimes called the Church of God in Christ’s Holy Sepulchre.

It was in Shelby County where Charles Harrison Mason, the denomination’s founder and first senior bishop, was born in 1864 to former slaves. And, in 1907, Mason established his work with the Church of God in Christ in Memphis, later dedicating Mason Temple as the church’s national meeting site and international headquarters in 1945.

Today, COGIC is the largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States.

But in 2010, the denomination began to hold its annual meeting in St. Louis, with leaders in the denomination citing high hotel rates and a lack of meeting space in Memphis as reasons for the move.

“Ever since there was a Church of God in Christ until we left for St. Louis, it had been continuous, no disruptions, no other place to host our annual convocation but Memphis,” Hall said. “It was a shock, a blow to us to leave.”

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In 2018, COGIC announced plans to bring its 10-day Holy Convocation back to Memphis in 2021 after years holding the meeting in St. Louis.

That return to Memphis was stalled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Holy Convocation going online.

That means this year will be the Convocation’s return to Memphis, with an excess of 25,000 estimated attendees meeting from Nov. 8-15.

Attendees will come from all 50 states. There will also be delegates from Israel, France, the United Kingdom, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Bahamas and more.

Events will be held at the organization’s world headquarters, the historic Mason Temple, and downtown at the Renasant Convention Center.

The Church of God in Christ has also played a major role in the history of Memphis. In 1968, Mason Temple was a meeting place for striking sanitation workers.

It was also at Mason Temple where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his historic “Mountaintop” speech the night before he was assassinated.

“Memphis is cherished as not only the location of our historic headquarters, but the place that our founder, Bishop Charles Harrison Mason, began the very essence of our longstanding denomination,” said Bishop J. Drew Sheard, COGIC’s presiding bishop, in a news release. “The return of our largest annual convention to the city we call home after 10 years away is incredibly meaningful to convention attendees.”

The weeklong event will include worship services, a “Welcome Back to Memphis” event with greetings from local officials, highlights on world missions, the consecration and installation of new leadership and closed-door business sessions for pastors and elders.

There also will be the dedication of a statue of Mason in front of the Historic Mason Temple and a ribbon cutting for a new apartment complex at The Pontotoc Townhomes development

The week will kick off with a “Christmas in November” Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Greater Community Temple COGIC (5151 Winchester Road). The community fair will assist the public with groceries, healthcare awareness for seniors, free COVID testing and vaccinations, school supplies, toys and gas cards. Everything will be free to the public. The convocation itself officially begins Nov. 8 and lasts through Nov. 15.

Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Church of God in Christ Holy Convocation to return to Memphis