COGOP Alliance - Meeting of the MindsPosted by Administrator on 16/09/2009 14:24:15  Meeting of the minds
When two of Britain's largest and oldest black Pentecostal churches joined forces in a historic meeting.
GIANT
It is a move that will be welcomed by many who see Britain's black churches as a sleeping giant, full of under-utilised potential and power.
NTCG and COGOP were historically one organisation - Church of God (Cleveland), which is the world's oldest Pentecostal body. Founded in 1886, the COG experienced a split in 1923 when A J Tomlinson left the organisation and founded the COGOP.
The UK branches of the NTCG and COGOP are both 52 years old. Between them they run 203 congregations and provide pastoral care and spiritual leadership to over 50,000 people.
Bishop Eric Brown, head of NTCG and Bishop Wilton Powell, leader of the COGOP, co-chaired the meeting attended by the executive committee members of both churches.
In a bold opening address, Bishop Brown said: "The time has come for the black majority church leaders to arise and start working together for the welfare of all our people. We have spent enough time building our own images. We must now look at the bigger picture of the issues confronting our communities."
Bishop Brown also talked about issues specific to church life, such as falling membership, church hopping, the lack of unity, leadership training and the church's relationship with the media, saying churches "must respond to these and other issues if we are to regain and retain our credibility as God's people".
It is also actively involved in raising educational achievement through its Black Boys Can project and runs the Family Life Skills Counselling Centre in Luton.
NTCG community initiatives tend to be locally-based and a number of churches run senior citizens' clubs, computer training and provide prison ministry.
FOCUS
The culmination of the meeting, which was totally free of either jockeying or egotism, saw both churches agreeing to focus on introducing initiatives which galvanise the prayer ministries across the denomination, give support to the family, train up a new generation of leaders and encourage entrepreneurship.
Bishop Brown was more than happy with the outcome. He told Soul Stirrings: "This meeting has been an important one and recognises that the blood of Christ which unites us, is greater than the history that divides us."
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