J. Delano Ellis

Jesse Delano Ellis II, known as J. Delano Ellis, is a leader in African-American Pentecostalism in the United States and is the founding President/Chairman and Archbishop Metropolitan of the Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops.[1][2] Ellis is also the founder and former presiding prelate of the United Pentecostal Churches of Christ and presiding prelate of Pentecostal Churches of Christ.[3][4] J. Delano Ellis began as a clergyman in the Church of God in Christ before being asked to lead a local congregation outside that denomination.

The Most Reverend

Jesse Delano Ellis II
Personal details
Birth nameJesse Delano Ellis
Born (1944-12-11) December 11, 1944
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
ResidenceCleveland, Ohio
Spouse
Sabrina Joyce
(
m. 1982)
Children6
OccupationPastor, author

He was the senior pastor of the Pentecostal Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio,[5] a ministry to which he was called on May 14, 1989. His wife, Dr. Sabrina Ellis, currently serves as senior pastor after abdicating from ministry after 30 years of leadership.[6]

Ellis is widely known as a progenitor of unity among African-American Pentecostals. He has worked to introduce order, identity, and an appreciation of Christian history among Pentecostal churches.[7][8][9] As a promoter of ecumenism, Ellis has put the Pentecostal movement as it is manifested among African-Americans in conversation with the broader Christian community around the world.[10] The Apostolic Pastoral Congress, a British organization, derives succession from Ellis through Abp. Doye Agama.

Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops

The Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops, simply the Joint College of Bishops (JCOB), is an ecumenical college established by J. Delano Ellis, Wilbert Sterling McKinley, Roy Edward Brown, and Paul S. Morton in November 1993.[6][11] The Joint College of Bishops originally functioned as a High Church Pentecostal body, later expanding into other Protestant traditions and the Convergence Movement. Unique among adherents of paleo-orthodoxy, members of the Joint College of Bishops are noted for redefining the meaning of Western Christian vestments.[12] The Joint College of Bishops has also admitted and certified gay bishop O.C. Allen of the Vision Church of Atlanta.[13][14]

Apostolic succession

In an Appendix to his book The Bishopric – a handbook on creating episcopacy in the African-American Pentecostal Church, Ellis claims both western and eastern streams of "apostolic succession" for himself and for United Pentecostal Churches of Christ, as summarized below.

Western stream

Ellis claims this succession via the Church of England, John Wesley, Thomas Coke, Francis Asbury, the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Church of God in Christ. The link from the Methodist Episcopal church is stated as being via three Church of God in Christ bishops (David Charles Williams, Carl Edward Williams and Reuben Timothy Jones), all of whom held "Holy Orders" from the Methodist Episcopal Church.

NOTE 1: In his book, Ellis makes no claim or comment at all as to whether the line of succession via Wesley, Coke, Asbury and the Methodist Episcopal Church carries un-broken episcopal succession as distinct from presbyteral succession only. The question as to whether there can be an episcopal succession via Wesley is a moot point. Wesley was a Church of England clergyman but he was not a Church of England bishop. Some believe that Wesley was secretly consecrated bishop by Greek Orthodox bishop Erasmus of Arcadia in 1763. For more information, see the wikipage for John Wesley.
NOTE 2: Ellis does not indicate that Williams, Williams and Jones possessed episcopal consecration from the Methodist Episcopal Church, nor does he cite any episcopal apostolic lineage for their status as bishops of the Church of God in Christ.

Ellis also notes that in 1964 he had been ordained presbyter by Bishop Ozro Thurston Jones of the Church of God in Christ, and he notes his episcopal consecration in 1970 by Bishop Brumfield Johnson of the Mount Calvary Holy Church of America Incorporated of Boston (Dorchester), Massachusetts, with other Mount Calvary bishops assisting. His book cites no episcopal apostolic lineage for this 1970 consecration.

Eastern stream

This succession is traced from the Syro-Chaldean church in the East, via Archbishop Bertram S. Schlossbereg (Mar Uzziah), archbishop-metropolitan of the Syro-Chaldean Church of North America, now known as the Evangelical Apostolic Church of North America.

In 1995, Ellis states, the Evangelical Apostolic Church of North America entered into collegial fellowship with the United Pentecostal Churches of Christ. At a Holy Convocation of the United Pentecostal Churches of Christ, Bishop Robert Woodward Burgess II (representing Archbishop Schlossberg, who was living in Jerusalem) assisted at the consecration of a number of additional bishops.

Archbishop Schlossberg and Bishop Burgess possess lineages from the Bishops Prazsky (Slavonic Orthodox lineage), and from Bishop Gaines (Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox lineage) converge in Schlossberg and Burgess, as well as numerous lineages deriving via Hugh George de Willmott Newman (Mar Georgius).

In his book, Ellis mentions the Slavonic and Russian/Ukrainian lineages via the Prazskys and Gaines, but the only one of Newman's many lineages that he cites is the Syro-Chaldean.

Notes
  1. "Joint College Of Bishops | Home". JointCollege. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  2. "Impact Church's De'Andre Salter Dually Consecrated As Bishop". TAPinto. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  3. "Blake formally elected head of Church of God in Christ", Christian Century, 124 (November 2007).
  4. Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches 2012, edited by Eileen W Lander, published by National Association of Churches of Christ in USA.
  5. "PCC Cleveland | Home". pcccleveland. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  6. Jayson, Raquel (2019-10-21). "After 30 Years Bishop J. Delano Ellis President/Chairman and Archbishop Metropolitan of the Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishop's Is Retiring Effective October 31, 2019". Joy105.com. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  7. Banks, Adelle (1995) "Pentecostals dress like Catholic bishops", National Catholic Reporter, 31 (17)
  8. "Pentecostals dress like Catholic bishops". connection.ebscohost.com. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  9. (1995) "Blacks Discover High Church", Christianity Today, 39 (5)
  10. (2000) "Signs of the Times", America, 182 (6)
  11. "History of the Joint College of Bishops". JointCollege. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  12. Bishop Joseph P. Bowens, "The Meaning of the Priestly Garments"
  13. "J. Delano Ellis' JCAAPB certifies openly homosexual bishop". God 1st. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  14. Betty (2018-01-24). "Bishop O.C. Allen III". Retrieved 2020-07-20.
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