The Bible Way Split: Young Bishops

The earliest Pentecostals were not at all anticipating creating a new denomination. However, when many of their churches refused to retain them as members, missionaries, or ministers, they were compelled to leave and find (or create) a group that would accept them. Unevenly, fellowships and associations took form. Some former Holiness groups, like the Fire Baptized churches and the Churches of God in Christ, espoused Seymour's doctrine and became Pentecostal organizations; these churches were representative of the Holiness movement of the South, where the term "Holiness Church" became the common way of referring to Pentecostal churches. This was not the case everywhere.

As Pentecostal groups became more organized, another important issue surfaced: church polity. While a good number of preachers had come into Pentecost voluntarily, some had been kicked out of their old groups. The preachers who composed the early core of Pentecostal clergy represented almost every stripe of Protestantism there was. So from the beginning, there were those who were accustomed to congregational government; others who preferred government by synod; and still others expecting a hierarchy to emerge. 

Generally, after racial divisions reemerged in the movement, predominantly European groups tended toward looser associative organizations, led by a voting presbytery; on the other hand, organizations mainly populated by those of African descent began, by and large, to choose episcopal forms of government. Pervading the whole movement was a tinge of congregationalism: members carried out church discipline among themselves and called pastors to their vacant pulpits. Whatever national oversight churches had, was not usually in a position to carry kind of decision-making power that one would have encountered in Methodism or other mainline churches.

Bishop R. C. Lawson, interestingly, was. Unlike many of the earliest Pentecostal clergy, Lawson was spiritually born into this movement. Though he was from a family of Baptist preachers, he had not been converted in that tradition. When he entered the ministry, there was no aversion to strict superintendency. He had not known the rejection that others before him had experienced. 

One example that comes to mind is the case of Rev. William Pendleton, one of the early officers of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. Pendleton was a Holiness pastor in Los Angeles. He and a large segment of his membership began associating with William Seymour's church at 312 Azusa St., and they brought news and witness of their Pentecostal experience back to their home church. Unfortunately, their testimony was rejected outright by Holiness leadership in their area; Holiness churches, ironically, were some of the most vociferous opponents of this new branch of their movement. Pendleton and the spirit-filled group were disfellowshipped and turned out of the building they had worked to purchase. Soon they joined Frank Bartleman at his mission on the corner or Eighth and Maple; some years later, Bartleman turned the pastorate over to Pendleton.

When Pendleton was an officer of the P.A. of W., it was little more than a loose association of churches. There were no bishops; in fact, Pendleton is listed as "Bro. Pendleton," a common means of address among clergy that reveals the egalitarian ideal that prevailed in those days.

However, when Brother Lawson came into Pentecost -- and especially when he entered ministry -- strict oversight was the means of his entry. He came to Christ Temple a total novice; seeing someone receive the Holy Ghost sitting in their seat, he went and sat in the same seat in order to be filled, before someone taught him otherwise. As a young ministerial candidate, he was forbidden by his pastor, Elder Garfield T. Haywood, to read any book besides the Bible, which they read in its entirety six times a year. Lawson was part of a young cadre of young ministers whose doctrinal instruction was extremely disciplined and closely watched. The fruit of this training was such that all of these men became leaders of note in the growing P.A. of W.

When Elder Lawson founded his own organization, this sense of strict training was ingrained in him. The only hurt he had known was the rejection of uneducated laity whose regard for Haywood's charismatic authority had diminished his ability to challenge what he saw as unscriptural views on divorce and remarriage. Determined on one hand to duplicate and improve upon the rigorous training he had received, and eager on the other hand to create a community of scripturally informed, well-educated congregants (as opposed to what he had dealt with in the Midwest), Elder Lawson embraced episcopal church government, but made many allowances for the empowerment of the congregation. Because Elder Lawson had a knack for planting churches, it was natural for him to develop in every church the kind of discipline he thought was necessary to create the kind of organization he envisioned.

As time passed, the churches that made up Lawson's Refuge Churches of Christ were presented with the option to fully incorporate. All church property would become the property of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the official new name of the organization. Elder Lawson would become the bishop of the organization, and he had the authority to appoint and remove pastors. Quite a few churches pulled out of the organization during this "revolution," which took place in the mid-1920s. However, those were mostly churches that Lawson himself had not started. Up and down the Eastern Seaboard were churches that were started, directly or indirectly by Elder -- now Bishop -- Lawson. They weren't going anywhere. Bishop Lawson was well-loved, even by the ministers and churches who left. (They were not comfortable with being sent from the churches they had sacrificed for, so they demurred.)

Clearly, authority in this new arrangement flowed principally from Bishop Lawson to his appointed ministers. Lawson was not stingy with opportunity, though. Young ministers, as young as 18, were sent to take charge of churches. As the organization grew and churches began to branch out in different parts of their various states, Bishop Lawson was eager to appoint bishops to oversee and encourage growth nationally. Young Smallwood Williams became bishop of the District of Columbia and Maryland. Another of Lawson's spiritual sons, Thomas Jefferson Richardson, would be appointed bishop of South Carolina, even while he pastored in New York.

There was one especially promising minister from North Carolina: Elder Sherrod C. Johnson. A commanding presence, Johnson was given charge of the Refuge Church of Christ in Philadelphia. He was one of the first men appointed as bishops in the organization; his oversight comprised Pennsylvania and North Carolina. A product of Lawson's Haywoodesque mentorship, Johnson was unusually well-versed in scripture. His charisma was equivalent to Lawson's own, but his sense of discipline was much, much firmer.

Lawson came into Pentecost when what was not expressly endorsed in scripture was taken to be unscriptural. This was not limited to Pentecostals, but certainly reflected the movement's biblicist Holiness roots. Choirs, musical accompaniment, and hymnals: Unscriptural. Eyeglasses, neckties, and jewelry: prideful, and unscriptural. Newspapers, secular education. religious education: unnecessary, and unscriptural. Bishop Lawson made it a point to cry against these prohibitions. He featured choirs and singing groups at his church, and installed an organ at 133rd St. Men could wear whatever color ties they pleased. Members were encouraged to get an education and a good job, and Lawson founded one of the earliest Pentecostal Bible schools to give sound training to his ministers. At times, Lawson, known to wear pince-nez glasses, could be found walking through 133rd St with several newspapers in the jacket pockets of his baggy suits.

That was all well and good, but Johnson had other bones to pick with Lawson. Women's clothing styles were changing, and Johnson felt that Bishop Lawson was much too lax. Conservative Southerner that he was, Johnson found resonance with many of Lawson's followers when he drew attention to the worldly styles that were coming in the church: make-up, pressed hair, and, perhaps most scandalously, open-toed shoes. Saints, in Johnson's opinion, were to continue the holiness of their forebears sartorially: dark colors, long dresses, high-top shoes, and natural face and hair. While Johnson's complaints were actually reflective of the practice of most of the Pentecostal movement at the time, in Johnson's estimation, the fact that an earring or open-toed shoe could make its way inside Refuge Temple unimpeded was evidence enough that Bishop Lawson was not the godly leader he claimed to be. Johnson -- Bishop Johnson -- pulled out and caused the first major schism of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He called his group the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Johnson's ultra-conservative following splintered after his death. Several descendants of that group -- the late Randolph Goodwin; Gino Jennings; Tony Smith -- became well-known either for their ultra-conservative dress code, or for their Johnson-like polemical preaching. To this day, long skirts, hats (or heavy veils) and cotton stockings are the mode of dress for women. High heels are not common, and open-toe shoes are altogether absent. Men wear dark suits (mainly black) and ties. Children's dress resembles that of their parents. This is not to say that Bishop Lawson's group was not also conservative; it would be more accurate to say that, despite the same tendencies in dress in Lawson's churches, there was much more flexibility in choice of color and other details relating to dress. (N.B.: Dress codes have historically been one of the primary cultural expressions of Pentecostal churches. You can tell a lot about a church's degree of discipline by looking for just one of the things mentioned in the above previous paragraphs.)

While the organization survived this split, Lawson came to the conclusion that his young ministers were getting the wrong impression about the term "bishop." If Johnson, not much older that Smallwood Williams, thought the title "bishop" gave him the authority to assail the character and reputation of the undisputed leader and founder, perhaps other ministers would follow Johnson's example and use ultimately unimportant disagreements in order to wrest a few churches from the organization. 

Shortly after the split, which occurred somewhere between 1930 and 1933, Bishop Lawson changed the title of bishop to overseer. Bishop Lawson understood that the terms were exchangeable, as both are used in scripture to translate the Greek word episkopos. Lawson himself would keep the title of bishop as "senior bishop with life tenure" of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Within the organization, parishioners would continue to refer to their state overseers as bishops. However, outsiders might be confused by the difference in official and unofficial nomenclature. Of course, the title "overseer" carried not the ring of "bishop." Lawson himself generally referred to them as "Elder So-and-so": elder, overseer, bishop, it was all the same to him, scripturally speaking. 

In retrospect, it is clear that this titular change did more to preserve Lawson's personal authority than it did to preserve the integrity of the organization. The person against whom Lawson was reacting -- Johnson -- had left and would not have taken correction, much less a demotion. From his Philadelphia pulpit (the one Lawson sent him to), Johnson challenged any and every one he could, claiming to be the only one preaching the whole truth. (He shared this characteristic with Bishop C. M. Grace, but that's another story...) He and Bishop Lawson clashed by way of radio. Johnson, however, a wealthy man later in life, ended up separating from his wife and children ... who were taken care of by Bishop Lawson. Lawson exposed news about his former protege on the radio in hopes of killing his influence.

Alas, none of Lawson's preaching or exposes could break Johnson's following. That would happen internally, and not because the women were tired of looking like "happy hooligans," to use Bishop Lawson's description of the outdated way Johnson's female disciples had to dress. Meanwhile, Lawson's own ministers were paying the debt that Johnson incurred. The title of "bishop" had been shelved for a much less prestigious, much more functional title of "overseer." I imagine that, given the similarity to AME state assignments, and given the unavoidable fellowship with the Church of God in Christ, where state bishops were also the norm, Lawson's overseers may have chafed at the fact that so simple a thing as the title bishop was being withheld. Clearly, COOLJC's overseers were the counterpart to bishops in other episcopal organizations. Nevertheless, presenting yourself as "Overseer So-and-so" when you knew you were really a bishop, or worthy of the title at least, must have felt at least a little humiliating. 

Additionally, the bishop, the one who assigned you the task of overseeing a whole state at your own charges, was just as likely to call you by a much more general title, elder. How could Bishop Lawson have been so oblivious to his ministers' discontent? We'll explore Lawson's understanding of the office of bishop in an upcoming article, but let's look back at two other organizations that were emerged from Lawson's movement.