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An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

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year to year.4.8 History <strong>of</strong> COGIC in <strong>the</strong> UKLike o<strong>the</strong>r black Pentecostal churches such as <strong>the</strong> New Testament Church <strong>of</strong> God, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>Church <strong>of</strong> God <strong>of</strong> Prophecy, that originated in <strong>the</strong> USA , COGIC was transported to Africa<strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> West Indies <strong>and</strong> in 1956 to Britain (Hollenweger 1972).COGIC owns a Theological Seminary, (<strong>the</strong> name <strong>of</strong> its Bible School,) whose librarycontains many dissertations that explore <strong>the</strong> history <strong>of</strong> COGIC, <strong>and</strong> also The Story <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>Calvary Church <strong>of</strong> God in Christ in Engl<strong>and</strong> by Thomas-Juggan (2000) a former studentwho gained a Bachelor <strong>of</strong> Divinity degree. This examines <strong>the</strong> history, organizationalstructure <strong>and</strong> doctrine <strong>of</strong> COGIC. The churches are located in contemporary British society<strong>and</strong> comparison from a historical perspective is presented. There were 26 COGIC churchesin Engl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> some developing churches in Nigeria, Spain, Germany <strong>and</strong> France. Theyhave a good relationship with o<strong>the</strong>r churches such as <strong>the</strong> „New Testament Church <strong>of</strong> God,‟<strong>An</strong>glican, Methodist <strong>and</strong> Baptist churches whose church halls are rented by many <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>assemblies. Development <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Black <strong>and</strong> White Partnership Initiative in <strong>the</strong> 1980s hasmade tremendous strides in fostering good relationships <strong>and</strong> inter-racial worship in many<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> communities.Thomas-Juggan (2000) includes photographs <strong>of</strong> three churches, Tottenham, (that houses<strong>the</strong> Bible School), Fentiman Road in Kennington, <strong>and</strong> Moseley in Birmingham <strong>and</strong>includes photographs <strong>of</strong> some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> outst<strong>and</strong>ing personnel in <strong>the</strong> Church; namely BishopCharles Harrison Mason, <strong>the</strong> founder <strong>of</strong> COGIC at Memphis Tennessee Headquarters,Bishop Bell, UK Headquarters, Mo<strong>the</strong>r Mary McLachlan, Mo<strong>the</strong>r Mavis Bell <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>Reverend Alvin Blake. These photographs are not accompanied by explanatory literature119

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