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EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP

Co-Chairpersons:Bishop Gilbert Patterson Rev. Thomas Trask Church of God in Christ Assemblies of God

First Vice-Chairperson: Bishop Barbara AmosMt. Sinai Holy Church of America

Second Vice-Chairperson: Rev. Billy Joe DaughertyVictory Christian Center

Secretary: Rev. Oswill E. WilliamsChurch of God of Prophecy

Treasurer: Dr. Ron WilliamsInternational Church ofthe Foursquare Gospel

Co-Editors of the Reconciliation:Dr. Harold D. Hunter Dr. Cecil M. Robeck, Jr.Int’l. Pentecostal Holiness Church Assemblies of God

GENERAL MEMBERS:Bishop Ithiel Clemmons Bishop Roderick CaesarChurch of God in Christ Bethel Gospel Tabernacle

Fellowship Int’l.Bishop George McKinney Bishop James LeggettChurch of God in Christ Int’l. Pentecostal Holiness ChurchDr. Paul L. Walker Rev. Ann GimenezChurch of God Church on the Rock

ADVISORS:Bishop B.E. Underwood Dr. Vinson SynanInt’l. Pentecostal Holiness Church North American Renewal Service

Committee (NARSC)Dr. Ray H. Hughes Rev. Perry GillumPentecostal World Conference (PWC) Church of God of Prophecy

BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION MEMBER CHURCHESAssemblies of God • Bethel Gospel Tabernacle Fellowship International •Church of God • Church of God in Christ • Church of God of Prophecy •Church on the Way • Elim Fellowship • International Church of the Four-square Gospel • International Pentecostal Church of Christ • InternationalPentecostal Holiness Church • Mount Sinai Holy Church of America •Open Bible Standard Churches • Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada • Pen-tecostal Church of God • Soul-Saving Station • Victory Christian Center •World-Reaching Faith, Inc.

Number 1 Summer 1998

PCCNA

RECONCILIATION

The Official Journal of the Pentecostal/Charis-

matic Churches of North America (PCCNA)

Co-Editors

Dr. Harold D. Hunter and Dr. Cecil M. Robeck, Jr.

Layout and Design

International Church of the Foursquare Gospel

Los Angeles, California

Publication and Distribution

Assemblies of God

Springfield, Missouri

EDITORIAL BOARD

Bishop Barbara Amos • Reverend Sheri Benvenuti

Dr. Joseph Byrd • Bishop Ithiel Clemmons

Dr. David Daniels • Dr. Trevor Grizzle

Dr. Jack Hayford • Dr. Margaret Poloma

Dr. Samuel Solivan • Dr. Russell Spittler

Dr. Vinson Synan • Bishop B.E. Underwood

RECONCILIATION is published semi-

annually and sent to PCCNA member church-

es for distribution to all licensed ministers

within their organizations. Scripture quota-

tions are taken from the New Revised Stan-

dard Version.

Address editorial comments to Dr. Harold D.

Hunter, IPHC Archives and Research Center,

International Pentecostal Holiness Church,

P.O. Box 12609, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73157.

COVER DESIGN

Mrs. Sondra D. Hunter

RECONCILIATIONPCCNA

Pentecostal/CharismaticChurches of North America

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3 From the EditorThe journey of the righteous trumpeted in the Racial Rec-onciliation Manifesto is fraught with many diversions.

by Dr. Harold D. Hunter

4 A God of JusticeAs Christians, are we guilty of tolerating injustice and over-looking the cries for justice among our brothers and sistersof color? Bishop McKinney argues that we must repent ofthe sin of referral and recover our rightful role as change agents in a world of injustice.by Bishop George D. McKinney

6 An Interview with Bish-op Gilbert E. PattersonWilliam J. Seymour, a black man,was a prominent leader of theAzusa Street Revival where it was said “the color line was washed away in the blood.” Reconciliation co-editor, Dr. Harold Hunter, delves into theissues of what happened to theunity between black and whitePentecostals after the great revival.

8 History of Women in the Pentecostal Move-mentThe “stained-glass ceiling” is found even in those Holinessand Pentecostals churches that have a long tradition of ordaining women, according to Dr. Sanders.

by Reverend Dr. Cheryl J. Sanders

12 A Talk with HayfordChurch On The Way’s Pastor Jack Hayford defines racism and acknowledges that Chris-tians need to pray, “Holy Spirit,would you show me what I don’t see, and what I do see, would you help me to act on it . . . ” in this soul-searching interview with Reconciliationco-editor, Dr. Cecil M. Robeck.

14 Memphis 1994: Miracleand MandateDr. Synan recollects the fermentthat brought about the demisefrom the all-white PentecostalFellowship of North America(PFNA) to birth an organizationinclusive of all Pentecostals and Charismatics (PCCNA).

by Dr. Vinson Synan

17 Racial ReconciliationManifesto

18 Pastor’s WorkshopHow to Work Toward RacialReconciliation

IN THIS ISSUE

P C C N A R E C O N C I L I A T I O N • N u m b e r 1 , S u m m e r 1 9 9 8

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E D I T O R I A L Dr. Harold D. Hunter

W e stand on the verge of seeing dramatic changeeffected for the cause of justice and righteous-ness. The acclaim which surrounded the “Mem-phis Miracle” must come to life in the realization that ourjourney together will be fraught with many diversions.

Pastors routinely see their sanctuaries littered with theremains of those who thought a dramatic episode of repen-tance was sufficient to survive. This is no less true when it

comes to transformation ofthe Pentecostal communityinto a living organism thattreats all of God’s childrenequally.

Those who are peacemak-ers seldom know a tranquillife. A pentecostal approach toreconciliation should build onthe pentecostal insistence thatwe know personally thosewith whom we minister. Per-sonal relations may be ignitedat chance encounters, but thisis hardly the sum of a healthyrelationship.

The prophet Amos saw aplumb line that God used tomeasure Israel. Such a plumbline placed alongside NorthAmerican Classical Pente-costalism would draw atten-tion to personal sacrifice. CanPentecostals who do not whol-ly commit themselves thinkthey are faithful to the heaven-ly call?

How many pastors intro-duced their congregations to the Racial Reconciliation Mani-festo? This historic document adopted by the PCCNA in1994 has been reproduced here for the benefit of those whoare willing to be measured by a plumb line. Those who donot live by the Manifesto need to reconsider if they were real-ly part of the Miracle in Memphis.

European-American Pentecostals must needs educatethemselves regarding the lives of their African-American, His-panic, and Asian-American colleagues. We may know forwhom the bell tolls, but do we know why the bell tolls? Thecommunity must work together to facilitate this process andcope with questions and differences of opinion. Doubtless,the length of this journey will test the endurance of all.

Casual contact tends to let one easily escape to a familiar

comfort zone that avoids the realities of those who face a dif-ferent life. European Americans have a debt to repay. Pente-costals once preached about restitution, but now that thestakes are high this teaching has been conveniently relegatedto the annals of yellow-paged conference minutes. Thosewho think Bishop McKinney’s depiction of environmentaldiscrimination to be an anomaly are among those who needto expand their libraries.

Definitions of sin that do not move beyond individualmoral accountability are often found in social groups thatbenefit from the status quo. Ignorance is not a satisfactoryexcuse. The gospel demands that we truly know what webelieve and how we accomplish the Divine Mandate. One ishard pressed to complain of libertines who delete passagesof Scripture when we are not following the whole counsel ofGod.

Dire predictions of coming race wars in the United Statesare ignored to the peril of our entire country. Has PCCNAcome into existence for such a time as this? We pray that Rec-onciliation will serve as a table where equals exchange theirpain and triumphs. It will not be possible–or desirable–toavoid controversy. Such a momentous undertaking requiresnothing less than the triumph of righteousness overhypocrisy and indifference. The early church was hardly ableto avoid conflict when Peter wavered on the issue of sharingthe gospel with all peoples.

It is an unavoidable truism that our society divides usaccording to race, gender, class, age and the like. Thesedeeply-entrenched rivalries must be conquered by the heal-ing power known well to Pentecostals. The miraculousreversal of ravenous cancer is not passé even to the fortunatewho take modern medicine for granted. Neither should onethink that the scars on our country are beyond God’s healingpower. But, neither again must we think in terms of beingpassive observers. We are empowered to be agents of heal-ing.

W. J. Seymour’s comprehension of God’s marvelous workamong the chosen people was not satisfied with a static for-mula that failed to realize the unique empowerment of theHoly Spirit. Did God raise up the Azusa Street Revival or is itnow merely the stuff of legends generated by those satisfiedwith the status quo? Does the flame still burn brightly?

During Advent we experience a special presence of theChrist-child. The fourth Gospel explains the event as Godemptying Himself and taking on flesh. New creatures inChrist know the indwelling Spirit of Christ. Therefore, wemust incarnate Christ’s presence in our society. Persons fullof the Spirit must utilize the empowering of the Spirit in thefight to obliterate barriers erected by our society.

Finally, a word of acknowledgment is in order to explainhow the publication of Reconciliation is possible. First, theeditors are not receiving an honorarium. The InternationalChurch of the Foursquare Gospel has not charged for layoutand design of the publication and we are indebted to theAssemblies of God for printing and distributing the maga-zine at no cost to PCCNA. This is a marvelous show of unityfor the good of the whole community.

Reconciliation–Pentecostal Style

Currently director of the Inter-national Pentecostal Holiness

Church Archives andResearch Center, Dr. Hunter

has served on the faculties ofthe Church of God Theologi-

cal Seminary and ORU Schoolof Theology. Thirty years of

ministry as evangelist andpastor also includes service asExecutive Director of the Sun-

day School Department forthe Church of God of Prophecy.

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The Sin of ReferralThe evangelical Christian has long ignored

many contemporary justice issues. We havefrequently committed the sin of referring jus-tice issues to some other institution. TheChurch has referred the justice issue ofhunger to government welfare programs. Wehave referred the justice issue of racism to thelegislatures and to the courts. We havereferred the justice issue of the education ofpoor and minority children in the inner citiesto a bankrupt and overburdened educationalinstitution. Yes, we have referred the issue ofeconomic justice to government and big busi-ness. We have referred the issue of environ-mental justice, the pollution of our air, thewater and the stockpiling of toxic waste mate-rials to insensitive government agencies.

We must repent of the sin of referral andrecover our rightful role as the salt of theearth, change agents and preservatives of theearth; as the light of the world, giving life andilluminating the dirty and scandalous behaviorof those who don’t know God.

A careful review of recent, and not so recent,church history reveals that the Church has toooften come down on the wrong side of justiceor has remained silent. Perhaps this is becauseto stand for justice may cost one’s life. It mayultimately lead to a crucifixion. Time and timeagain the Church has missed great opportuni-ties to make a clear witness for God and for jus-tice. Yet in those times the Church’s silenceand inaction have brought shame upon thefamily of God. Nevertheless, God has alwaysraised up faithful witnesses who are willing todie for the cause of justice and God’s glory.

When the State Church in Germany enteredinto complicity with the evil Nazi regime, the“Confessing Church” rose to the challenge.Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemoellerstood their ground on Scripture and opposedthe injustice that was inflicted upon the Jewsin the Holocaust. Many were martyred ratherthan compromise. Further, the Church wasnot only silent, but it participated and profitedfrom the global African slave trade. Yet thereare lonely voices crying out for justice duringthose centuries of trafficking in human flesh.The dehumanizing process violated every bib-lical principle related to God’s creation andredemptive plan through Jesus Christ.

The voices that cried out for justice wereisolated and frequently silenced. These voicesincluded the slaves who were converted to theChristian faith and identified with the God ofjustice; spiritual giants like William Wilber-

A key verse that surfaces in our discus-sion of the issue of justice is Micah 6:8,“He has told you, O mortal, what isgood; and what does the LORD require of you,

but to do justice, and to lovekindly, and to walk humblywith your God?” Consider alsothe wisdom and the justice lit-erature from the Psalms, par-ticularly Psalm 82:2-4, “Howlong will you judge unjustlyand show partiality to thewicked? Give justice to theweak and the orphan; main-tain the right of the lowly andthe destitute. Rescue the weakand the needy; deliver themfrom the hand of the wicked.”Please notice the demands forjustice. Both of these texts,along with others, show thatwe must take aggressive actionin the cause of justice.

Notice too, Ecclesiastes 5:8,“If you see in a province theoppression of the poor and theviolation of justice and right,do not be amazed at the mat-ter; for the high official iswatched by a higher, and thereare yet higher ones over them.”Isaiah 1:17 reads, “Learn to dogood; seek justice, rescue theoppressed, defend the orphan,plead for the widow.”

Justice is a theological con-cept like righteousness, faith-fulness and holiness; all wellknown attributes of God. Jus-tice loses its meaning when

separated from God. A cultural concept of jus-tice will change with public opinion and theprevailing political philosophy. To understandthe biblical concept of justice we must under-stand and answer the questions, “Who is theowner of everything,” and “Who owns what?”These questions are answered in Psalm 24:1.

A working definition of justice is that justiceis God’s demand that we be accountable stew-ards of whatever we have received from God.The preacher serves justice when preachingthe whole gospel to the whole person. Theteacher does justice when teaching the truthabout history, values and life. The judge per-forms justice when judging without regard tothe person or pocketbook of the one whostands before him or her.

A God ofJustice

A look at justice issuesmust be framed within

the context of HolyScripture. The whole of

Scripture and holy his-tory reveals that God isa God of justice who is

deeply concerned aboutthe fatherless, the wid-ows, the marginalized,

and the oppressed. Godis a God whose justice

demands that those whohave been entrusted

with His wisdom, Hispower, His knowledge,

His ability, must usesuch gifts to God’s glory,

in the cause of justice.

by Bishop George D. McKinney

R E C O N C I L I A T I O N

5

ing to be built and maintained on known toxicwaste sights must be dismantled. About a yearago, a group of us traveled to Washington,D.C., and met with Vice-President Al Goreregarding this injustice. We had with us ablack pastor from Dallas who testified that he,his wife and their seven children did not knowthat the low income housing in which theylived was built over a toxic waste site. Now it’stoo late. All of the children are affected withcancer or some other debilitating disease ordeformity. The husband and wife, only intheir late fifties, are dying from cancer. Intheir community, the cancer rate is twenty orthirty times higher than in the rest of the city.The tragedy of the situation was that the cityof Dallas was aware thatthe location was a toxicdump, but no appropri-ate action was taken.The church, when it isaware of these circum-stances, must bring pres-sure to bear upon those inpower, demanding thatjustice be served to thosewho are defenseless.

God is a God of justice.Scripture contains manypassages that speak to theissue of justice and howthe people of God areexpected to treat othersjustly. While it is the casethat the world around usfrequently acts in unjustways, and at times, evencodifies and legalizes suchthings, the Church iscalled by the gospel ofJesus Christ to stand apartfrom the world and offerlove, justice and reconcilia-tion. To be sure, some-times the Church hasfailed. Yet a survey ofChristian history also pro-vides us with exampleswhen the Church rose tothe occasion to guaranteejustice for those around it.When it is aware of these circumstances, theChurch must be ready to bring pressure to bearupon those in power. It must demand that jus-tice be served to those who are defenseless.Unless it does, it falls short of the expectationsthat God has for God’s people.

force of England, John Brown, Nat Turner andthe Quaker movement.

During the more-than-one-hundred years ofsegregation, lynching and discrimination inthe United States, the evangelical Church hasnot used its moral and spiritual influence tobring about change. Rather the Church resist-ed change, was married to the status quo andattempted to justify injustice by pervertingScripture. As I reflect on my involvement inthe Civil Rights Movement, I think the mostpainful criticisms were those received fromfellow Christians who did not understand thatwe were being beaten, jailed and enduring allof the suffering for the cause of biblical jus-tice.

Justice does not merely make suggestions.Justice demands aggressive action. To refuseto obey justice is rebellion, a sin against Godwho established justice.

The Christian Responseto Unjust Policies

When a believing community becomesaware of unjust public policies based uponunjust laws, justice demands that we work tochange the law and the public policy. A Cali-fornia law known as Proposition 209 wentinto effect in 1997. It had the net effect of clos-ing the door of opportunity to black citizenswho need tax-supported higher education. Inthe fall of 1997, 196 black students applied foradmission to the medical school of the Univer-sity of California at San Diego. Because ofProposition 209, which said that no longerwould any consideration be given to anyoneon the basis of race or past discriminatoryactions, not one of these 196 applicants wasadmitted. Not one! What they were sayingwas, “Blacks need not apply. They do not qual-ify.” At Irving Medical School and the medicalschools of the University of California atBerkeley and at San Diego, not one black wasadmitted. It’s a justice issue.

The same is true with the law schools. Onlyone black was admitted to a state-supportedlaw school in the whole of California. It’s a jus-tice issue.

Twenty-six states are now preparing toadopt the same kind of law in an attempt toturn back the gains of the Civil Rights Move-ment – gains that were made at tremendouscost, including death. Justice demands that weprotest and act to change this unjust law thatdenies tax payers access to tax-supportedhigher education.

Public policies that allow low income hous-

Bishop George D. McKinney, Ph.D.,

is pastor of St. Stephen’s Church of

God in Christ in San Diego, Califor-

nia. He is prelate of the Southern

California Second Ecclesiastical

Jurisdiction. A member of the

PCCNA Executive Committee, Bish-

op McKinney gave this presenta-

tion to PCCNA on October 2, 1997,

in Washington, D.C., at the Nation-

al Church of God.

6

Hunter: Bishop Charles H. Mason, an“apostle” for the whole of Pentecostalism,actively sought racial reconciliation prior tothe Azusa Street Revival. What he witnessed atAzusa Street under the leadership of William J.Seymour empowered him to pursue thisvision with even greater vigor. Days of racialharmony were numbered, however, and ourgeneration is living to see a worsening of racerelations. How can Pentecostalism take a

more active role in healingthe wounded soul of America?

Patterson: I have saidthat the Holy Ghost is theanswer, because throughoutthe New Testament ScriptureGod used the Holy Ghost asthe great unifier –– from thedescent of the Holy Ghost onthe day of Pentecost whenthey began to speak withother tongues onward. Theywere all Galileans, but theyspoke in all of the languagesof earth. That demonstratesthat God was using the HolyGhost to cover all nationalities.

You get the same picturewhen Philip goes down toSamaria. Philip preaches Christin Samaria and the Spirit pickshim up and takes him out ofthe gates. There he meets theEthiopian who was the secre-tary or treasurer to the queen.Here the same message ofPentecost goes back toEthiopia. Every time you look

at the work of the Holy Spirit in the earlychurch, there was something about crossinglines of ethnicity and bringing people together.

The Azusa Revival was multi-racial andmulti-ethnic. It made people seemingly unawareof color. Under Bishop Mason, the Church ofGod in Christ achieved a mix of 50 percent

Bishop Gilbert E. Patterson, co-chairperson of PCCNA, serves

on the Church of God in ChristPresidium. He is bishop of the

Tennessee Fourth EcclesiasticalJurisdiction, pastors Temple ofDeliverance Church of God inChrist and his television pro-

gram is carried nationally. Theinterview was conducted by Dr.

Harold D. Hunter on January10, 1988, at the Temple of Deliv-

erance in Memphis, Tennessee.

black and 50 percent white from1907 to 1914. It makes one won-der what might have happenedto race relations in Americahad those early-Pentecostal

whites been willing to buck the tide of racismin society and stay together. I believe wewould have avoided the kind of racial problemthat we now face.

Here we come full circle, almost 100 yearslater, and the racial tensions are heating upalmost as never before. Notice how this is thecase even among our own Pentecostal ranks.We were great in 1994. But the “Memphis Mira-cle,” as it was called, was two years before thepresidential election. We didn’t have a meetingin 1995 and by 1996 there was a great “fallingaway.” The intensity of the spirit of fellowshipwas not there because we had taken our politi-cal positions. This means basically that thewhites were allied with Republican conser-vatism and the blacks were allied with what isusually called the Democratic liberals. It’s up tous as Pentecostals to find a way to place fellow-ship ahead of politics. If we don’t, I hope I won’tbe around when whatever happens, happens.

Hunter: Thirty years ago, a hero of thiscountry, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assas-sinated here in Memphis. Many articles andmajor television stories continue to say thathis last speech was given in a “Masonic” tem-ple. Of course, it was Mason Temple, the siteof annual Church of God in Christ convoca-tions that attracts more than 40,000 saints toMemphis. Why should America rememberthis tragedy?

Patterson: When the garbage workers’strike erupted in 1968, I quickly aligned withthem. I took a tremendous brunt of criticismfor being aligned with them because ourchurch, for the most part, did not get involveduntil the strike heated up and brought in theentire black community.

Mason Temple, the headquarters of theChurch of God in Christ, has through the yearsbeen used as a meeting place whenever a largefacility was needed by the black community inMemphis. I served on a nine-person strategycommittee of the community that invited Dr.

An Interviewwith Bishop Gilbert E. PattersonR E C O N C I L I A T I O N

7

Martin Luther King. Some wanted to bring inStokley Carmichael and H. Rap Brown becausethat “Burn, Baby, Burn” thing was in the air.

Dr. King told us about the threats on his lifefrom what he called “our sick white brothers.”He went on to say that it really doesn’t matternow and he delivered his “I’ve Been to theMountain Top” speech. I think that everybodythere that night knew we were hearing himfor the last time. Around six o’clock the nextday, a Thursday, Dr. King was killed.

Hunter: While in Memphis for thePCCNA conference in 1995, I purchased vari-ous items from the Church of God in Christbookstore. I remember picking up the Churchof God in Christ magazine, The Whole Truth,and noticed the current issue had a picture ofPresident Bill Clinton with the Church of Godin Christ Presidium on the cover.

I also know that Vice-President Al Gore vis-ited your church last year. Apparently someEuropean-American Pentecostals had a diffi-cult time understanding what this meant. Itreminded me of Bishop McKinney’s paper atthe 1997 PCCNA conference in Washington,D.C., when a European-American questionerthought McKinney missed an important moralpoint that he actually assumed (e.g. abortion).

Patterson: When I observe various orga-nizations that are supposedly putting biblicalprinciples back into government–the MoralMajority is one and the Christian Coalition–Iwonder why they do not understand that wehave some problems to discuss when they seetheir particular constituency is about 99.9 per-cent white and there is a complete absence ofblacks. I feel the only way we will ever bringabout reconciliation will be to recognize thatit cannot be done on political grounds. It mustbe done through our faith, our belief.

Basically, black people vote for the Democ-ratic party. That is because the so-called liber-al politicians have been more attuned to ourproblems. Vice-President Gore came to ourchurch not to speak, but to sit in the audienceas a worshiper. The call I received from hisoffice was that he was going to be in our cityand he wanted to worship with us. Of course,

anyone would be proud to have the Vice-Pres-ident of the United States come to their wor-ship, especially when he says that he wants tohear the pastor preach.

After I finished my sermon, I asked the Vice-President to come to the platform and to makesome remarks. I said (before presenting him)that most black peopleusually vote for theDemocratic Party, butthat is not an endorse-ment because it doesn’tmean that we believein same-sex marriagesand abortion. For themost part, blacks see theDemocrats more like theGood Samaritan. Now,in the parable Jesus told,He mentioned the priest.He saw the man whohad fallen among thieves,but he crossed over tothe other side. The Levitecame and looked at him,but he still refused tohelp him. But the Samar-itan–and we don’t knowwhat he believed, hecould have been anabortionist–stopped tohelp the man who hadfallen among thieves.

We cannot ignore the history of the black manin America. When you spurn affirmative action,you are saying that 200 years of injustice canbe cured in 20 to 25 years. That is impossible!All over this country, efforts are under way toget rid of anything that seems aimed at givingsome kind of an edge to those who have beenkept behind for many years.

We have a real mess on our hands and poli-tics will not solve this for us. Somehow thespiritual leaders across color lines are going tohave to come from behind their politically-conservative positions and others frombehind their politically-liberal positions andthey must sit around a table, or –– we aredoomed to worse days ahead.

We cannot ignore the history

of the black man in America.

When you spurn affirmative

action, you are saying that

200 years of injustice can be

cured in 20 to 25 years. That

is impossible! All over this

country, efforts are under

way to get rid of anything

that seems aimed at giving

some kind of an edge to those

who have been kept behind

for many years.

8

churches have adopted the sexist andracist norms of white mainline Protes-tantism, others have produced com-pelling models of cooperationbetween male and female leaders.

Church historian Susie Stanley usesthe term “stained-glass ceiling” todescribe barriers to women’s leader-ship and advancement in Christiandenominations with a long history ofordaining them. At the beginning ofthe present century, the ordination ofwomen was accepted virtuallythroughout the Holiness movement.And when Pentecostalism emergedshortly thereafter, “it carried throughthis theme and was perhaps even moreconsistent in the practice of the min-istry and ordination of women” (Day-ton 1998: 106). Compared to mainlinedenominations which began ordainingwomen only in recent years, the Holi-ness movement has a “usable past”(Stanley 1994: 52). Women in five Wes-leyan-Holiness denominations—Churchof God (Anderson, Indiana), Church ofNazarene, Free Methodist Church, Sal-vation Army, and the WesleyanChurch—currently constitute twenty-five percent of the clergy in theirdenominations, whereas women com-prise seven percent of the clergy inthirty-nine other denominations thatnow ordain women (Stanley 1993: 2).

In 1978 Pearl Williams-Jones sur-veyed five major Pentecostal bodies

O n the whole, the Holiness-Pentecostal movement inthe United States has made adistinctive contribution to the histori-cal evolution of religion in America byinvolving blacks, women and the poorat all levels of ministry. There are wellover 100 church bodies listed in theDirectory of African American Reli-gious Bodies which can be identifiedas Holiness or Pentecostal. Thesechurches were led by black Christiansaround the turn of the century who“came out” of the Black Baptist andMethodist churches, seeking “thedeeper life of entire sanctification” andSpirit baptism; “Their initial concernwas not so much to start a new denom-ination as to call the existing ones backto the wells of their spirituality” (Turn-er 1991: 248). What the Holiness andPentecostal churches have in commonis an emphasis upon the experience ofSpirit baptism. Although some of these

and categorized them with respect totheir treatment of women’s ministryand leadership. (Williams-Jones 1977:31-34) The first category, consisting ofchurches who insist upon the subordi-nation of women in ministry roles,actually comprises the overwhelmingmajority of black Pentecostals: theChurch of God in Christ, the Church ofOur Lord Jesus Christ of the ApostolicFaith, and the Bible Way Church of OurLord Jesus Christ, World Wide. Thesecond category, churches whichgrant women positions of authorityequal to men, includes the PentecostalAssemblies of the World and theMount Sinai Holy Church of America(which was founded by a woman, Bish-op Ida Robinson).

In general, over the course of thetwentieth century there has been a dra-matic and substantial decline inwomen’s ecclesial leadership in theHoliness and Pentecostal churches.Stanley cites statistics showing that theproportion of women clergy in theChurch of the Nazarene fell precipi-tously from twenty percent in 1908 toone percent more recently and, in theChurch of God (Anderson, Indiana),from thirty-two percent in 1925 to fif-teen percent. As early as 1939, aChurch of God publication set forth aradical theological and ethical com-mentary upon the decline of womenpreachers.

1 9 9 6 P C C N A N a t i o n a l C o n f e r e n c e • M e m p h i s , T e n n e s s e e , O c t o b e r 1 , 1 9 9 6

“History of Womenin the

PentecostalMovement”by Rev. Dr. Cheryl J. Sanders,Howard University School of Divinity

Dr. Cheryl J. Sanders is senior pas-tor of the Third Street Church of

God (Anderson, IN) in Washington,D.C., and professor of ChristianEthics at the Howard University

School of Divinity. Author of Saintsin Exile: The Holiness-PentecostalExperience in African American

Religion and Culture, Dr. Sanderspresented this paper to PCCNA in

Memphis on October 1, 1996.

9

The prevalence of women preach-ers is a fair measure of the spiritualityof a church, a country or an age. As thechurch grows more apostolic andmore deeply spiritual, women preach-ers and workers abound in that church;as it grows more worldly and cold, theministry of women is despised andgradually ceases altogether. It is of thenature of paganism to hate foreign peo-ple and to despise women, but the spir-it of the gospel is exactly opposite.(Brown 1939: 5)

In this view, the rejection ofwomen’s ministerial leadership repre-sents a worldly loss of focus upon theegalitarian spirit of the Christiangospel. Not surprisingly, the re-estab-lishment of barriers to church leader-ship by most of the Holiness-Pente-costal groups on the basis of sex in theearly decades of this century coincidewith their increased complicity withprevailing mainstream practices ofracial separation and segregation.

The story of the 1906 Azusa StreetRevival, which marks the beginning ofPentecostalism as an internationalmovement, offers a model of coopera-tive ministry and empowermentamong the sexes, where authority andrecognition are granted to either sexbased upon the exercise of spiritualgifts. The early Pentecostal movementwas led by William J. Seymour, a manwhose own life’s story reflects practi-cally all major facets of the denomina-tional racism experienced by blackChristians in the United States. Born inLouisiana in 1878, Seymour was raisedas a Baptist, as a young man joined alocal black congregation of theMethodist Episcopal Church in Indi-anapolis, Indiana, and next was drawnto the Evening Light Saints, a namewidely used at the time for the Churchof God (Anderson, Indiana).

After joining the Holiness move-ment, Seymour came under the influ-ence of a black woman pastor, LucyFarrow, in Houston, Texas. He attend-ed her church in 1903. Significantly,she was the first to expose Seymour tothe practice of speaking in tongues.

He heard a woman pray aloud in alanguage, or what seemed to be a lan-guage, that no one there could under-stand. Seymour was touched to thecore. As a man of prayer himself, he

could sense that this woman hadsomehow attained a depth of spiritualintensity he had long sought but neverfound . . . These experiences changedSeymour’s life. After the meeting heasked Lucy Farrow, the woman whohad spoken in the strange tongue,more about her remarkable gift (Cox1995: 49).Farrow introduced Seymour to thewhite Pentecostal pioneer, Charles FoxParham, who ran a Bible school inTopeka for missionaries where she hadworked as a “governess.” When Sey-mour enrolled in Parham’s classes inHouston, he was subjected to the indig-nity of having to sit in a hall where hecould hear the classes through thedoorway, in keeping with the Southern“etiquette.” Seymour acceptedParham’s advocacy of tongue-speaking,but rejected his racist prejudices andpolemics.

Seymour’s work with women minis-ters continued. He was invited byNeely Terry, a Holiness woman fromLos Angeles, to pastor a Holiness con-gregation in California which had beenfounded by Julia W. Hutchins. Sey-mour traveled to Los Angeles bearingthe message that speaking in tongueswas the necessary evidence of the Pen-tecostal experience, but Hutchinsrejected his preaching and locked himout. He found refuge in the home ofRichard and Ruth Asberry on BonnieBrae Street, where he conducted sever-al weeks of prayer meetings. When onApril 9, 1906, Seymour finally manifest-ed the tongue-speaking experience hehad promoted in his preaching, arevival broke out and crowds began togather at the Bonnie Brae Street resi-dence and in the streets. He leased avacant building at 312 Azusa Street inLos Angeles from the Stevens AfricanMethodist Episcopal Church (whereseveral persons worshiping with himhad formerly been members), a two-story wooden structure located in apoor black neighborhood in Los Ange-les near some stables and a lumber-yard. Within a few days more than athousand persons were trying to enterthe small mission building and theAzusa Street revival was underway.The core group consisted primarily ofblack female domestic workers, butover a period of three years, from 1906

to 1908, the Revival drew persons ofevery race, nationality and culture. InSeymour’s own words, “the workbegan among the colored people. Godbaptized several sanctified wash womenwith the Holy Ghost, who have beenmuch used of Him” (MacRobert 1988: 4).

On the surface, this account of theAzusa Street Revival presents an all-too-familiar image of a black man leading acongregation of black women thatseems less than empowering from thevantage point of gender. The revivalresulted from the partnership ofwomen and men unified by theirdesire to experience the spiritualempowerment of speaking in tongues.Seymour was largely mentored, guidedand offered acontext for min-istry by women.Women were in-volved in everyaspect of hisspiritual devel-opment; more-over, womenwere willing tofollow his ton-gues doctrineand experienceits full effects asa public witness.In this light, thefocus of empowerment was not thecooperation of men and women witheach other as an end in itself. Rather,the people were spiritually empoweredby their ability to respond to charismat-ic leadership, a process facilitated bythe willingness of one man to welcomethe participation and preaching ofwomen. And when the desired spiri-tual manifestations came forth amongthis humble gathering, the experienceof corporate charismatic empower-ment drew attention from all parts ofthe world.

Seymour eventually encounteredsome negative experiences with whitewomen in the revival who did notshare his perspective on racial unity.When Parham visited Azusa Street atSeymour’s invitation in October of1906, he denounced the revival as a“darky camp meeting” (Turner 251).The two white women who helpedhim publish the periodical ApostolicFaith, with an international circulation

Church historianSusie Stanley usesthe term “stained-glass ceiling” todes-cribe barriersto women’s leader-ship and advance-ment in Christiandenominationswith a long historyof ordaining them.

tion of his Apostolic Faith movementto recognize himself as “bishop” andguaranteed that a successor wouldalways be “a man of color” (Synan1988: 781). However, after Seymour’sdeath in 1922, it was a woman of colorwho assumed the leadership of theMission—his widow, Jennie Seymour.As is often the case after the death ofcharismatic leaders, the mission locat-ed at Azusa Street did not last very long.The building was demolished in 1931,and the land was lost in foreclosure in1938, two years after Jennie Seymour’sdeath.

That a man led this movement isperhaps unremarkable; that he was soheavily influenced by women’s spiritu-al leadership is hardly unprecedented.What is highly unusual here, however,is the immediate interracial and inter-national impact produced by this tinycore group of black women and men.Together they exercised charismaticgifts in a manner which would alter thecourse of church history throughoutthe twentieth century. Today Pente-costalism has become the dominantexpression of Christian worship inmany major urban centers, claimingsome 410 million adherents world-wide.

The largest denomination of theHoliness-Pentecostal tradition, theChurch of God in Christ (COGIC),does not permit the ordination ofwomen, but has the most powerfulwomen’s department of any blackdenomination (Gilkes 1990: 229).Despite this restriction, women haveexercised ministerial leadership innumerous ways; serving as evangelists,worship leaders and religious activists;sometimes having charge of churchesin the absence of a male pastor. Thedistinctive leadership orientation ofthe COGIC women led to levels offemale empowerment and male-femalecooperation that would prove vital tothe success of the denominationthroughout the twentieth century, incontrast to the Azusa Street Missionwhich failed after the death of Sey-mour. Cheryl Townsend Gilkes hasoffered this general observationregarding the importance of the estab-lishment of structures of female “influ-ence” as a determining factor in thesurvival of black religious movements.

of 50,000 subscribers, effectivelydestroyed Seymour’s publication-out-reach ministry by taking both the peri-odical and the mailing list to Portland,Oregon. There one of them foundedanother evangelistic organization. Inhis book Fire from Heaven, Harvey Coxnotes how Seymour’s disillusionmentwith white Pentecostals affected hisunderstanding of the gift of tongues.

Finding that some people couldspeak in tonguesand continue to ab-hor their black fel-low Christians con-vinced him that itwas not tonguespeaking but dis-solution of racialbarriers that wasthe surest sign ofthe Spirit’s pente-costal presence andthe approachingNew Jerusalem(Cox 63).

Seymour sawthe breaking ofthe color line as amuch surer sign,than tongue-speak-ing, of God’s bless-ing and of the Spir-it’s healing pres-ence, signifyingthat the charis-matic ideal of

cooperation with the Spirit hadbecome compromised in practice bythe forces of racism. Once the whitesdefected, the Azusa Street Missionbecame almost entirely black. Thedenom-inations which took the leadthereafter to spread the pentecostaldoctrine and practices, e.g., the Churchof God in Christ and the Assemblies ofGod, were organized along racial linesand generally assigned subordinateroles to women.

White racism ultimately under-mined and destroyed the vision ofracial equality promoted by the earlyPentecostals. Interracial cooperationcould not be sustained within thecharismatic leadership structureswhere cooperation between the sexeshad been so conspicuous (at least tem-porarily). As a result, Seymour revisedthe doctrines, discipline and constitu-

10

Although many denominationswere formed between 1895 and 1950,those that survived and flourishedwere those with strong women’sdepartments. Structures or femaleinfluence enable denominations withcharismatic male founders to growafter those founders died; other denom-inational movements with high visibili-ty but no structures of female influencealmost disappeared (Gilkes 237).

The Women’s Department of theCOGIC was formed shortly after thebeginning of the Azusa Street Revival.Bishop Charles H. Mason, a formerBaptist minister who, with C.P. Jones,founded the COGIC as a holinessdenomination, participated in therevival and received the gift of speak-ing in tongues. As a result, a splitoccurred with Jones and in 1907 theCOGIC became Pentecostal underMason’s leadership. Around the sametime, Mason recruited Lizzie WoodsRoberson from a Baptist academy toorganize the Women’s Department asits “overseer.” What is unusual aboutthis development is that Mason wasdivorced and thus did not have a wifeto appoint to this position, as normallyoccurred in other black denomina-tions where the women’s organiza-tions are led by the wives of the eccle-sial leaders.

This historical “accident” generatedthe model of a nearly autonomouswomen’s organization. Mason not onlyrecruited Mother Roberson to headthe women’s work, but also, on heradvice, appointed women’s overseersalong the same jurisdictional and dis-trict lines as the male overseers wholater became bishops. The title “over-seer,” a literal translation of the Greekword usually translated as “bishop,”was used in the early days of thechurch for both men and women lead-ers in the church. Such usage impliedthat the founders of the COGIC andother denominations initially envi-sioned a church organized in parallelstructures of both male and femaleoverseers (Gilkes 237).

The adoption of the terminologyassociated with episcopally governedchurches reflected both the Baptistroots of their leadership and a Presby-terian tendency toward “more or lesssharing power between the laity and

Finding thatsome people

could speak intongues and con-

tinue to abhortheir black fel-

low Christiansconvinced himthat it was not

tongue speakingbut dissolutionof racial barri-

ers that was thesurest sign of the

Spirit’s pente-costal presence

and theapproaching

New Jerusalem.(Cox 63)

T h e H i s t o r y o f W o m e n i n t h e P e n t e c o s t a l M o v e m e n t

11

mobility for black women and theywere encouraged to achieve economicempowerment through white-collaremployment” (Gilkes 225). An impor-tant consequence of this emphasisupon higher education and profession-al employment was the financialempowerment of women, whosenumerical dominance in the churchesin turn created a situation that clearlycontradicted the ethic of male domina-tion and control.

As a general rule, these churchesrejected cultural norms and organiza-tional models that imitated white patri-archy. For both the Holiness and thePentecostal churches, holiness was thepremier ethic and guide for liturgy,preaching and polity.

Church members could notadvance ideologies of patriarchy thatcontradicted standards of holinesssince “holiness” was the most impor-tant achieved status in these church-es—and a status not humanly con-ferred. Biblical debate concerningwomen was confined to structuralnorms, not the nature, quality, or char-acter of women per se (Gilkes 231).

The positive affirmation of women’snature, quality and character sets thesechurches apart from other Protestantand Catholic traditions whose exclu-sion of women from leadership isgrounded in the rejection of the fullhumanity of women. As a result, evenwhere structural prohibitions havebeen in effect, women neverthelessfound ways to exercise their gifts ofministry and leadership to the benefitof the entire church body. For exam-ple, women evangelists and revivalistsfounded churches, so they wereincluded in church histories. In addi-tion, male church leaders often report-ed in their spiritual biographies thatthey became converted in response tothe ministry of female preachers andrevivalists. Thus, it was not gender butspiritual gift which qualified individu-als to be acknowledged and honored inHoliness and Pentecostal circles; “thepersonal and congregational accountspassed down in written records andoral tradition placed a high value on thecontribution of women and men to themost important goal of the church—sal-vation and holiness” (Gilkes 231).Following Gilke’s analysis, the model of

leadership developed by the COGICWomen’s Department is a dialecticalone, based on a tradition of protest andcooperation. On the one hand, thisdialectics is driven by the women’sstruggle against structures and pat-terns of subordination based on sex.On the other hand it is driven by theirdetermination to maintain unity withblack men in the face of racism and dis-crimination in the larger society and inresponse to internal power strugglesamong male leaders within the denom-ination. Because cooperative and egal-itarian norms govern this dialecticalmodel, the structural exclusion ofwomen from cer-tain positions in thechurch is partiallyoffset by the main-tenance of variousspaces and spheresfor women to exer-cise their spiritualgifts and leader-ship.

Although the pre-vailing norms ofracial and sexualexclusion eventual-ly were brought tobear upon variousPentecostal denom-inational structures,these churches nev-ertheless providedimportant opportu-nities and role mod-els for women’sspiritual and sociale m p o w e r m e n t .The shifting pat-terns of inclusionand exclusion inthese churches havebeen governed bytwo primary factors:namely, the egali-tarian doctrine ofthe Holy Spirit onthe one hand andthe impact of racist, sexist and elitistsocietal norms on the other. Pente-costal leaders of today, both male andfemale, can recover and reclaim theinclusive impetus of the early twenti-eth century, as the Spirit guides thechurch into the twenty-first century.

the clergy” (Gilkes 229). Gilkes hasdetermined that these black church-women transformed their autonomyinto a form of power best described as“influence” and “created a pluralistpolitical structure in an episcopallygoverned church where pluralism wasnever intended”(Gilkes 240). Thisautonomous--parallel structure moreclosely resembled the dual sex politicalsystems characteristic of some WestAfrican societies than the patriarchalepiscopal polities of European origin.The women employed distinctive lead-ership styles and methods that promot-ed broader-based participation.

The women’s methods of leadershiphave evolved in direct contrast to theauthoritarian style demanded by thenature of episcopal polity: hierarchical,individualistic and dominating. Incomparison, women’s leadershiptends to be consensus oriented, collec-tive and more inclusive, involving larg-er numbers of people in decision mak-ing (Gilkes 240).

The emergence of the COGICWomen’s Department was timely inview of the plight of black women inchurch and society during the firstdecade of the twentieth century. First,the spiritual and professional focus ofthis organization of black women pro-duced significant affirmations of blackfemale personhood.

In the face of culture assaults thatused the economic and sexualexploitation of black women as arationale for their denigration, theSanctified Church elevated blackwomen to the status of visible hero-ines—spiritual and professional rolemodels for their churches (Gilkes 225).

A second factor is the professional-ization of Christian education (in con-trast to the concurrent marginalizationof Christian education by Baptist andMethodist denominations), whichenabled women to use their roles aseducators and the “educated” as asource of power and career opportuni-ty. Thirdly, the Women’s Departmentpresented “professional” role modelsfor black working women, at a timewhen employment opportunities forblack women were primarily restrictedto domestic service at low wages. Thus“higher education and work were iden-tified as legitimate means of upward

It was not gen-der but spiritu-al gift whichqualified indi-viduals to beacknowledgedand honoredin Holinessand Pentecostalcircles; “thepersonal andcongregationalaccountspassed downin writtenrecords andoral traditionplaced a highvalue on thecontributionof women andmen to the mostimportant goalof the church—salvation andholiness.” (Gilkes 231)

12

we do together?” And we realized that we neededto have black leadership in primary leadership atthe outset.

Robeck: How do you understand the structureof leadership for the Pentecostal/Charismatic Church-es of North America?

Hayford: The objective was to precipitate a trans-ethnic fellowship of people of acknowledged Pente-costal tradition. The inclusion of “Charismatic” was apoint of bridging that many people would not recog-nize unless they understood some of the history of Pen-tecostalism. Another part of the reconciliation agendathat was dramatically introduced to us was the place ofwomen. It is very biblical that women have a place inpublic ministry. And who should do that more aggres-sively than Pentecostals when we take as our foundingtext the birthday of the Church at Pentecost (Acts 2) andthe announcement of the power poured out from onhigh upon “your sons and your daughters” and “yourservants and your handmaidens” (Joel 2:28-30).

Robeck: On several occasions since Memphis, Ihave been asked to preach in different Pentecostalchurches on the subject of racism and racial reconcili-ation. I have found it difficult for white Pentecostals tounderstand the concept of racism. How do you talkabout it with your own people?

Hayford: I have preached some messages to ourcongregation called “Outracing the World.” I haveunderscored the community of failure. It is essentially afailure of white American Christians, by virtue of our per-ception that because we are neither hateful nor antago-nistic, we are not burning crosses on people’s lawns, weare not saying hateful, aggressive things or in anywiseseeking strife, that we are not racists. I have tried to dis-abuse them of the idea that the definition of racism is vio-lence and since I am not violent, I am not racist.

Robeck: What do you understand racism to be?

Hayford: It is very difficult to use the term“racist” or “racism” with people that love the Lord andwho tend to be agreeable to all peoples, without mak-ing them feel as though you have just slapped them inthe face. We feel first and think second. What I have

Robeck: How did leaders of the PentecostalMovement come to the place where they were willingto talk about the issue of racial reconciliation?

Hayford: It is difficult to know how to discussthat part of our history. We wanted to say, responsibly,that we had sinned and failed God. They weren’t con-scious sins of antagonistic opposition to other people.They were reflections of our being blinded by our ownflesh, our own historic traditions and our culture, ratherthan being different from the culture. We had becomemirrors of the culture and we did not recognize howunrepresentative of Jesus and His Church we were.

Robeck: Why did Pentecostal leaders choose tofocus on reconciliation between black and white Pen-tecostals instead of casting a broader net on the sub-ject of racism?

Hayford: We did not attempt to deal with otheraspects of needed racial reconciliation because themost historic and entrenched problem in North Amer-ica was the black/white separation. I want to empha-size that we recognized our insensitivity to the mis-treatment historically of Native Americans by thechurch and by society. We were fully aware of theobvious insensitivities to the growing Latino and His-panic cultures in North America, not to mention ourpost-World War II era attitudes toward the Asian Amer-ican and especially the Japanese populations. Theseare things that we didn’t attempt to deal with at Mem-phis, but I don’t want to suggest that we were eitherinsensitive to them or that we supposed that they hadbeen previously resolved.

Robeck: Why did the Pentecostal Fellowship ofNorth America choose to dissolve itself rather thansimply invite the African American Pentecostal lead-ers to join it?

Hayford: We didn’t want to say to our blackbrothers and sisters, “Come and join our outfit.”We realize that the white person seldom recog-nizes the response that is required of a black per-son even if the invitation is accepted. Insensitivitymay generate a low-grade bitterness. We didn’twant to plan anything with that history, so weasked our black brothers and sisters, “What might

An Interviewwith Jack Hayford

13

Robeck: How would you describe the racialmakeup of your own congregation, the Church on theWay, in Van Nuys, California?

Hayford: I am very grateful to say that today wemirror closely our immediate area. We did not do thatfive years ago. We had a considerable racial mix priorto the riots, but our mix today is probably about 15%Black, 5-7% Asian, 20% Hispanic or Latino, 5-7% MiddleEastern and the balance would be largely EuropeanAmericans. We also have a number of Native Ameri-cans in our congregation.

Robeck: What specifically would you say toour readers that they might do during day-to-daylife that would help to break down walls betweenthe races?

Hayford: Take the initiative. Go to people andsay, “Look, I realize that I don’t know how to relate topeople very well who are outside my own ethnic orracial tradition. Would you help me?” I would startwith brothers and sisters in Christ. Make it an openmatter that you acknowledge, maybe with laughter. Idon’t know any neat way to do this. I think we justneed to say “Hey, I’ve been blowing it.” Don’t indictthe other person with having blown it.

Just say, “I don’t know how to do this. Will youhelp me?” Usually they will say “I don’t either. Let’shave lunch and talk about it.” Then a relationshipforms.

Robeck: Is there any last word you would like toleave with our readers?

Hayford: Let me simply say that there is a livingSavior who stopped by a well in Samaria. When awoman said, “I don’t understand why you are eventalking to me because you are of another ethnicgroup,” remember that it was Jesus’ need to gothrough Samaria. It was his intentional show of thelove of God that brought about not only her change,but the response of the whole community. What weare dealing with is that which will break down wallsthat obstruct the spread of the message of the recon-ciling love of God. Jesus modeled it. The First-CenturyChurch pointed the way. And we are answering thatsame Spirit. God bless you as you seek to do that.

tried to do is establish a climate in which people can,with perception, say, “Oh, I do need to repent.” Inten-tionality is the key word for the living Church today,and that goes for all points on the color spectrum.That is not just a white responsibility. All of us have aresponsibility to exercise intentionality and it beginswith recognizing that there is more than I can imaginethat I don’t recognize. I need to say first, “Holy Spirit,would you show me what I don’t see, and what I dosee, would you help me to act on it when I see it?”

Robeck: Living as I do in Pasadena, I think a greatdeal of the riots that took place in Los Angeles in 1992.They had great implications not only for our area, butalso for all of our cities. What did you say that helpedyour own congregation deal with some of the issuesraised by these riots?

Hayford: The riots are a watershed moment inour city’s life. It became one in our church’s life. It isone in my own life. Even before the riots took place,there had already emerged an integration of pastorsacross the city at every dimension denominationallyand ethnically. God had sovereignly prepared us forinterfacing and mutually supporting one another. Wehad a network of churches that immediately swunginto action. When I stood before the congregationthat Sunday and bared my heart, we did not realize thedepth of the strain and hurt that was present in theblack community, not to mention the stresses thatwere manifest between the Asian [especially in theKorean community] and the Black community in theenvironment of this tragic cataclysm.

Robeck: Did you have any concrete advice foryour people?

Hayford: I asked them to go home that after-noon and, if they would, to bring groceries to thechurch because we were going to take things to theinner city. People who lived where the riots were didnot have the ability to buy food near their homes. Thestores had been burned. Our congregation gave$250,000 on the spot. That is a lot of money for us. Butwe gave it away over the ensuing weeks in variousaspects of ministry. Another $250,000 came to ourchurch from across the nation. And it was a joy to useit this way!

This interview was originally

conducted on behalf of the Dupree

Center for Christian Leadership,

Fuller Theological Seminary,

Pasadena, California. It has been

edited and used by permission.

Jack Hayford Cecil Robeck

14

In the beginning, practically all the Pente-costal movements and churches in Americawere inter-racial with many having thrivingblack leaders and churches. But from 1908 to1924, one by one, most churches bowed to theAmerican system of segregation by separatinginto racially-segregated fellowships. In “JimCrow” America, segregation in all areas of liferuled the day. Gradually Seymour’s AzusaStreet dream of openness and equality fadedinto historical memory.

The PFNAThe separation of black and white Pente-

costals was formalized in 1948 in Des Moines,Iowa, with the creation of the all-white Pente-costal Fellowship of North America (PFNA).As incredible as it seems today, no blackchurches were invited. The races continuedto drift further and further apart.

But by the 1990s the climate had changeddrastically in the United States. The civil rightsmovements and legislation of the 1950s and‘60s swept away the last vestiges of legal “JimCrow” segregation in American life. Schoolswere integrated. Many doors were opened forall to enter into American public life. Mostchurches, however, remained segregated andout of touch with these currents. The year

I t was called a miracle because it endeddecades of formal separation betweenthe predominantly black and white Pen-tecostal churches in America. In its begin-nings, the Pentecostal movement inheritedthe interracial ethos of the Holiness Move-ment at the turn of the century. One of the

miracles of the Azusa Streetrevival was the testimonythat “the color line waswashed away in the blood.”Here in the worldwidecradle of the movement ablack man, William J. Sey-mour, served as pastor of asmall black church in LosAngeles, where from 1906to 1909, thousands of peo-ple of all races gathered toreceive the baptism in theHoly Spirit with the accom-panying evidence of speak-ing in tongues. Often blackhands were laid upon whiteheads to pray down thepower of Pentecost. FromAzusa Street the movementspread to the nations andcontinents of the world.

Memphis1994:

Miracleand

Mandate

R E C O N C I L I A T I O N

Dr. Vinson Synan

It was a day never to be for-gotten in the annals of Ameri-

can Pentecostalism–October 18, 1994–when theSpirit moved in Memphis to

end decades of racial separa-tion and open doors to a new

era of cooperation and fel-lowship between African-

American and white Pente-costals. At the time, it was

called the “Memphis Miracle”by those gathered in Mem-

phis as well as in the nationalpress which hailed the his-

toric importance of the event.

Footwashing at Memphis ‘94; Co-chaired by Bishop I. Clemmons and Bishop B

15

the PFNA leaders with his wit and wisdom.The second meeting was held in Phoenix, Ari-zona, on January 4-5, 1993, where COGIC pas-tor Reuben Anderson from Compton, Califor-nia (representing Bishop Charles Blake)played a key role in bringing understanding ofthe challenges of urban ministries in America.The third session convened at the PFNA annu-al meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 25-27, 1993. Here, Jack Hayford of the Interna-tional Church of the Foursquare Gospel andBishop Gilbert Patterson, of theChurch of God in Christ, strong-ly affirmed the plans for recon-ciliation. A fourth meeting inMemphis in January 1994became known as the “20/20Meeting” because 20 whites and20 blacks joined to plan the cli-mactic conference that wasplanned for October 1994 inMemphis. There, it was hoped,the old PFNA could be laid to restin order to birth a new fellow-ship without racial or ethnicboundaries.

The Memphis MiracleWhen the delegates arrived in

Memphis on October 17, 1994,there was an electric air ofexpectation that something won-derful was about to happen. Theconference theme was “Pente-costal Partners: A ReconciliationStrategy for 21st Century Min-istry.” Over 3,000 persons attend-ed the evening sessions in theDixon-Meyers Hall of the CookConvention Center in down-town Memphis. Everyone wasaware of the racial strife in Mem-phis where Martin Luther King,Jr. was assassinated in 1968.Here, it was hoped, a great racial healingwould take place. The night services reflectedthe tremendous work done by the local com-mittee in the months before the gathering.Bishop Gilbert Patterson of the Temple ofDeliverance Church of God in Christ, andSamuel Middlebrook, Pastor of the RaleighAssembly of God in Memphis, co-chaired thecommittee. Although both men had pastored inthe same city for 29 years, they had never met.The Memphis project brought them together.

1948 also saw the beginnings ofthe salvation-healing crusades ofOral Roberts and other Pente-costal evangelists. Both blacksand whites flocked together tothe big tent services. Along withBilly Graham, Oral Roberts andother Pentecostal evangelistsrefused to seat the races in sepa-rate areas. Although the church-es remained separate, there wasmore interracial worship amongblacks and whites who flockedtogether to the big tent services.

The advent of the charismaticmovement in 1960 and the cre-ation of the Society for Pente-costal Studies (SPS) in 1970brought more contacts betweenblack and white Pentecostals.The congresses sponsored by theNorth American Renewal ServiceCommittee (NARSC) in the1980s and 1990s also broughtmany black and white Pente-

costal leaders together for thefirst time while serving on the steering com-mittee to plan the massive charismatic ralliesin New Orleans, Indianapolis and Orlando.

The Architects of UnityThe leaders, who above all, brought the

races together in Memphis in 1994 were Bish-op Ithiel Clemmons of the Church of God inChrist (COGIC), and Bishop Bernard E. Under-wood of the International Pentecostal Holi-ness Church. These men had met while serv-ing on the NARSC board planning the NewOrleans Congress of 1987. With great trustand mutual dedication, these two men wereable to lay the groundwork for the 1994 meet-ing in Memphis.

The process began when Underwood waselected to head the PFNA in 1991. At that timehe purposed in his heart to use his term to endthe racial divide between the Pentecostalchurches. On March 6, 1992, the Board ofAdministration voted unanimously to “pursuethe possibility of reconciliation with ourAfrican-American brethren.” After this, therewere four important meetings on the road toMemphis.

The first meeting was on July 31, 1992, inDallas, Texas, in the DFW Hyatt Regency Hotelwhere COGIC Bishop O. T. Jones captivated

Dr. Vinson Synan, Dean of

Regent University School of

Divinity, is an advisor to the

PCCNA Executive. Author of

the widely-read Holiness-Pen-

tecostal Tradition, Dr. Synan

is chair of the North Ameri-

can Renewal Service Com-

mittee (NARSC) and an

ordained minister with the

International Pentecostal

Holiness Church.

B.E. Underwood

16

from the heavenward side of things andsee where you have been – two, separatestreams, that is, streams as at flood tide.For I have poured out of my Spirit uponyou and flooded you with grace inboth your circles of gathering and fel-lowship. But as streams at flood tide,nonetheless, the waters have beenmuddied to some degree. Those of des-perate thirst have come, nonetheless, formuddy water is better than none at all.

“‘My sons and my daughters, if youwill look and see that some havenot come to drink becauseof what they have seen.You have not been awareof it, for only heaven hasseen those who woulddoubt what flowed in yourmidst, because of the watersmuddied, having been soiled bythe clay of your humanness, notby your crudity, lucidity, or inten-tionality, but by the clay of yourhumanness the river has beenmade impure.

“‘But look. Look, for I, by mySpirit, am flowing the two streamsinto one. And the two becomingone, if you can see from the heavenside of things, are being purified.And not only is there a new puritycoming in your midst, but there willbe multitudes more who will gatherat this one mighty river becausethey will see the purity of the realityof my love manifest in you. And so,know that as heaven observes andtells us what is taking place, there isreason for you to rejoice and prepareyourself, for there shall be multitudesmore than ever before coming to thisjoint surging of my grace among you,says the Lord.’”

Immediately, a white pastor appearedin the wings of the backstage with atowel and basin of water. His name wasDonald Evans, an Assemblies of God pas-tor from Tampa, Florida. When heexplained that the Lord had called him towash the feet of a black leader as a sign ofrepentance, he was given access to theplatform. In a moment of tearful contri-tion, he washed the feet of Bishop Clem-mons while begging forgiveness for thesins of the whites against their black broth-ers and sisters. A wave of weeping sweptover the auditorium. Then, Bishop Blake

The morning sessions were remarkable forthe honesty and candor of the papers thatwere presented by a team of leading Pente-costal scholars. These included Dr. Cecil M.Robeck, Jr. of Fuller Theological Seminary andthe Assemblies of God; Dr. Leonard Lovett ofthe Church of God in Christ; Dr. William Turn-er of Duke University and the United HolyChurch; and Dr. Vinson Synan of Regent Uni-versity and the Pentecostal Holiness Church.In these sessions, the sad history of separation,racism and neglect was laid bare before the 1,000

or more leadersassembled. Thesesometimes chillingconfessions broughta stark sense of pastinjustice and theabsolute need ofrepentance and rec-onciliation. Theevening worship ses-sions were full ofPentecostal fire andfervor as Bishop Pat-terson, Billy JoeDaugherty and JackHayford preachedrousing sermonsto the receptivecrowds.

The climactic mo-ment, however, camein the scholar’s ses-sion on the after-noon of October 18,after Bishop Blaketearfully told thedelegates, “Broth-ers and Sisters, Icommit my love toyou. There areproblems down theroad, but a strongcommitment to lovewill overcome themall.” Suddenly therewas a sweepingmove of the HolySpirit over the entire

assembly. A young black brother uttered a spir-ited message in tongues after which Jack Hay-ford hurried to the microphone to give theinterpretation. He began by saying, “For theLord would speak to you this day, by thetongue, by the quickening of the Spirit, and hewould say:

“‘My sons and my daughters, look if you will

In a moment of tearfulcontrition, he washed

the feet of Bishop Clem-mons while begging

forgiveness for the sinsof the whites againsttheir black brothers

and sisters. A wave ofweeping swept over the

auditorium. Then,Bishop Blake

approached ThomasTrask, General Superin-

tendent of the Assem-blies of God, and tear-

fully washed his feet asa sign of repentance

for any animosityblacks had harbored

against their whitebrothers and sisters.

This was the climacticmoment of the confer-

ence. Everyone sensedthat this was the final

seal of Holy Spiritapproval from the

heart of God over theproceedings.

(continued on page 18)

17

Challenged by the reality of our racial division,we have been drawn by the Holy Spirit to Memphis,Ten-nessee, October 17-19, 1994, in order to become true “Pentecostal Partners”and to develop together“ AReconciliation Strategy for 21st Century Ministry”. We desire to covenant together in the ongoingtask of racial reconciliation by committing ourselves to the following agenda.

Racial ReconciliationManifesto

I. I pledge in concert with my

brothers and sisters of

many hues to oppose racism pr

ophetically in all its vari-

ous manifestations within an

d without the Body of

Christ and to be vigilant in

the struggle with all my

God-given might.

II. I am committed personally

to treat those in the

Fellowship who are not of my r

ace or ethnicity,regardless

of color,with love and respect a

s my sisters and brothers

in Christ. I am further comm

itted to work against all

forms of personal and institu

tional racism,including

those which are revealed within

the very structures of our

environment.

III. With complete bold and

courageous honesty,

we mutually confess that racism

is sin and as a blight in

the Fellowship must be condem

ned for having hindered

the maturation of spiritual d

evelopment and mutual

sharing among Pentecostal-C

harismatic believers for

decades.

IV. We openly confess our s

hortcomings and our

participation in the sin of raci

sm by our silence, denial

and blindness. We admit the har

m it has brought to gen-

erations born and unborn. W

e strongly contend that the

past does not always complete

ly determine the future.

New horizons are emerging.

God wants to do a new

thing through His people.

V. We admit that there is

no single solution to

racism in the Fellowship. We p

ray and are open to tough

love and radical repentance w

ith deep sensitivity to the

Holy Spirit as Liberator.

VI. Together we will work to a

ffirm one another’s

strengths and acknowledge o

ur own weaknesses and

inadequacies, recognizing tha

t all of us only “see in a

mirror dimly”what God des

ires to do in this world.

Together,we affirm the whole

ness of the Body of Christ

as fully inclusive of Christians

regardless of color. We,

therefore, commit ourselves “to

love one another with

mutual affection, outdoing o

ne another in showing

honor”(Romans 12:10).

VII. We commit ourselves not

only to pray but also

to work for genuine and visible

manifestations of Chris-

tian unity.

VIII. We hereby commit ou

rselves not only to the

task of making prophetic de

nouncement of racism in

word and creed, but to live by

acting in deed.We will

fully support and encourage

those among us who are

attempting change.

IX. We pledge that we will r

eturn to our various

constituencies and appeal to th

em for logistical support

and intervention as necessary

in opposing racism. We

will seek partnerships and exch

ange pulpits with persons

of a different hue,not in a pat

ernalistic sense,but in the

Spirit of our Blessed Lord who

prayed that we might be

one (John 17:21).

X. We commit ourselves to

leaving our comfort

zones,lay aside our warring,ra

cial allegiances,respecting

the full humanity of all,live wi

th an openness to authen-

tic liberation which is a produc

t of Divine Creation,until

the shackles fall and all bondag

e ceases.

XI. At the beginning of the

twentieth century,the

Azusa Street Mission was a mo

del of preaching and liv-

ing the Gospel message in the

world. We desire to drink

deeply from the well of Pentec

ost as it was embodied in

that mission. We, therefore, ple

dge our commitment to

embrace the essential commit

ments of that mission in

evangelism and mission,in just

ice and holiness,in spiri-

tual renewal and empowermen

t, and in the reconcilia-

tion of all Christians regardle

ss of race or gender as we

move into the new millennium

.

Manifesto Committee

Bishop Ithiel Clemmons

Leonard Lovett

Cecil M. Robeck, Jr.

Harold D. Hunter

18

tory Christian Center asked the delegates toinclude the word “Charismatic” in the newname. Over a hastily-called luncheon meet-ing of the “Restructuring Committee,” it wasagreed that those Christians who thought ofthemselves as “Charismatics” would also beinvited to join. When the vote was taken, thebody unanimously voted to call the new orga-nization the Pentecostal and CharismaticChurches of North America (PCCNA). Thusthe Memphis Miracle included the beginningof healing between Pentecostals and Charis-matics as well as between blacks and whites.

Another milestone of the day was theunanimous adoption of a “Racial Reconcilia-tion Manifesto” that was drafted by BishopIthiel Clemmons, Dr. Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., Dr.Leonard Lovett, and Dr. Harold D. Hunter. Inthis historic document, the new PCCNApledged to “oppose racism prophetically inall its various manifestations” and to be “vigi-lant in the struggle.” They further agreed to“confess that racism is a sin and as a blightmust be condemned . . .” while promising to“seek partnerships and exchange pulpitswith persons of a different hue . . . in the spir-it of our Blessed Lord who prayed that wemight be one.”

After this, the election of officers tookplace with Bishop Clemmons chosen asChairman and Bishop Underwood as Vice-Chairman. Also elected to the Board wasBishop Barbara Amos, whose electiondemonstrated the resolve of the new organi-zation to bridge the gender gap as well. Theother officers represented a balance of blacksand whites from the constituent member-ship.

The Memphis MandateThe subsequent meetings of the PCCNA in

Memphis in 1996 and Washington, D.C. in1997, have shown that the road to racial rec-onciliation in America will not be short oreasy. Everyone agrees that there is muchmore to be done and much to overcome. Theincredible “Memphis Miracle” has nowbecome the “Memphis Mandate.” All Spirit-filled believers must join in a crusade of loveand good will to show the world that whenthe Spirit moves, those who have been bap-tized in the Holy Spirit will move forward tobring the lost to Christ and to full ministryand fellowship in churches that have noracial, ethnic or gender barriers.

approached ThomasTrask, General Super-intendent of theAssemblies of God, andtearfully washed hisfeet as a sign of repen-tance for any animosi-ty blacks had har-bored against theirwhite brothers andsisters. This was theclimactic moment ofthe conference. Every-one sensed that thiswas the final seal ofHoly Spirit approvalfrom the heart of Godover the proceedings.In an emotionalspeech the next day,Dr. Paul Walker of theChurch of God (Cleve-land, TN) called thisevent, “the Miracle inMemphis,” a name thatstruck and made head-lines around theworld.

That afternoon, themembers of the oldPFNA gathered for thefinal session of its his-tory. In a very shortsession, a motion wascarried to dissolve theold, all-white organiza-tion in favor of a newentity that would bebirthed the next day.But more reconcilia-tion was yet to come!

When the new con-stitution was read tothe delegates on Octo-ber 19, a new namewas proposed for thegroup -- PentecostalChurches of NorthAmerica (PCNA). Itwas suggested that the

governing board of the new group have equalnumbers of blacks and whites and thatdenominational charter memberships wouldbe welcomed that very day. But before theconstitution came before the assembly for avote, Pastor Billy Joe Daugherty of Tulsa’s Vic-

The incredible “Memphis

Miracle” has now become

the “Memphis Mandate.”

All Spirit-filled believers

must join in a crusade of

love and good will to show

the world that when the

Spirit moves, those who

have been baptized in the

Holy Spirit will move for-

ward to bring the lost to

Christ and to full ministry

and fellowship in church-

es that have no racial, eth-

nic or gender barriers.

19

the real issue. Move past the level of rhetoric and hear the heart.

7. Begin to share with your congrega-tion those things you are learning in your new relationships.

8. Be willing to enter into a pulpit exchange across racial and/or eth-nic lines. Exchanges may be extend-ed to include a food festival, music, youth activities and cooperative efforts in the community. Together Celebrate their significant cultural events (e.g. Cinco de Mayo, Martin Luther King Day, Chinese New Year).

9. Adopt another congregation as a sister congregation. Ask them whatcontributions you can make to their lives. Ask them what they would like to do for your congregation. Act on those things that are possible to do. Do not over-commit yourself or your resources. It can lead to disappoint-ment. Prioritize.

10. Share with other pastors what you are learning and how it has blessed your church.

1. Acknowledge that there is a problemof how we relate to one another acrossracial and ethnic lines.

2. Personalize the problem. Ask yourself what role you play, implicitly or explicitly, that contributes to the pre--sent situation, then offer it to the Lord.

3. Seek God for wisdom in addressing the problem in your own life.

4. Begin to pray regularly for a spe-cific pastor or a local congregationthat is of another color or race. As they become part of your regular prayer life, your attitudes toward themshould begin to change.

5. Seek out one or more individualsof another race and build a rela-tionship. Do not assume that this is arelationship that will only benefit the other person. Open yourself to receive as much as you give.

6. Listen to the other person as a peer.Be willing to learn from him or her. This is critical. Do not assume that youhave all the answers or that money is

The “Memphis Miracle” was a triumphant moment in the history of Pentecostal race rela-

tions in North America. But it was only a moment. Pastors and other church leaders

returned to their places of ministry with a

great deal of good will. They wanted to do

the right thing, but they have not always

known how to translate their mountain-top

experience into action.

This is understandable. Our histories and

experiences are all different. They require

different approaches as we move along the

process of racial reconciliation. Some pastors and congregations have extensive experi-

ence promoting racial reconciliation. Others do not. The following suggestions may be

helpful as you consider your next step in this healing process.

How to Worktoward RacialReconciliation

by Dr. Cecil M. Robeck, Jr