Covid-19 has killed multiple bishops and pastors within the Church of God in Christ, the nation's la

[riversedge]

Source: wash post





Covid-19 has killed multiple bishops and pastors within the Church of God in Christ, the nation’s largest black Pentecostal denomination


April 19, 2020 at 12:23 p.m. CDT

The Church of God in Christ, the country’s biggest African American Pentecostal denomination, has taken a deep and painful leadership hit with reports of at least a dozen to up to 30 bishops and prominent clergy dying of covid-19.

Officials from the denomination did not return requests for comment, but media reports and interviews with experts who study the denomination show the deaths of leaders in states including Michigan, New York and Mississippi. Those are regions where the Church of God in Christ is prominent, and the coronavirus has hit hard.

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News reports across the country cite local health officials saying specific outbreaks that led to the deaths appeared to stem from conferences and funerals held within the denomination, which is also known by its acronym, COGIC. The denomination, which was founded in the late 1800s and has more than 6 million members, holds large meetings with representatives from its 200 jurisdictions — or regions — each year around February or March. The gatherings of clergy, lay leaders and church staff are called Worker’s Meetings.

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Among the meetings connected with covid-19 breakouts were the Historic Louisiana First Jurisdiction meeting in Shreveport, La., and the Kansas East Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Ministers and Workers Conference in Kansas City, Kansas, both held in mid-March.



“This will change the ecosystem of black church life,” Butler said. “It’s showing the inequities of health disparities and economic disparities in the black community.”............

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/04/19/church-of-god-in-christ-pentecostal-coronavirus-kills-bishops/

[3Hotdogs]

1. Tots and pears to the max.

[qwlauren35]

2. I'm not sure it shows health disparities.

It shows that these congregations are large and at risk.

[iluvtennis]

3. These deaths could have been avoided had they just me via video conferencing with Zoom,

WebEx, Skype, FaceTime, etc.

I hope the church learns from this and changes it processes until this CV-19 is under control.

[The Mouth]

4. All out of snakes?

[TexasBushwhacker]

5. CDC's recommendation to limit groups to 50 or less came out March 15th

The first death in the US was February 28th. The CDC's first warning against groups over 50 came out March 15th. They just didn't get the warning out early enough.

[Hekate]

6. Looks like they did not get the word in time & were not in defiance of anything...

I am so very sorry for their severe losses.