John Drew Sheard Sr., the Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) announced a historical partnership with the Church of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) that would allow the two denominations to serve food to multiple communities. Unfortunately due to the backlash of the two church groups forming together for a good cause, Bishop Sheard has announced that he has “pulled the plug” on the partnership.
He shared the news from the pulpit of his church Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ.
In a video post about a week ago, Bishop Sheard announced that he had visited Salt Lake City, Utah and met with leaders of the Church of Latter Day Saints, including the First President Russell Nelson and the Board of Twelve.
He also said that his wife and Grammy award-winning Gospel singer Karen Clark-Sheard, along with their Grammy award-winning daughter Evangelist Kierra Sheard-Kelly sang in the LDS choir when they visited the church. The Mormon Church’s Tabernacle Choir is known for their annual, full-orchestra Christmas performance. The meeting was a success.
According to the Bishop, LDS has a warehouse (about 600,000 sqft.) filled with food to give away to the unprivileged. Since COGIC has access to many unprivileged communities, Bishop Sheard thought this would be a great opportunity to partner and distribute.
Bishop Sheard made it clear that both churches did not enter into this potential partnership expecting to accept doctrines or beliefs. They simply wanted to feed the hungry.
The Church of God in Christ in the largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States with membership exceeding 6M. It is the second largest primarily Black denomination in America.
The Church of Latter Day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church, is the 4th largest Christian denomination in the US with a membership of 6M people.
Many COGIC members were against the partnership because of certain beliefs LDS (the Mormon’s Church) have, which some beliefs are outdated. For example, until 1978, the Mormon’s actually barred Black people from the Church. The Church’s founder, Joseph Smith, taught that the dark skin of Black African ancestry was a sign of a curse from God. It was only in 2013 that the LDS church disavowed itself from its previous beliefs and teachings on race.
The Church of Latter-Day Saints has struggled with diversity. Only about 1% of its membership today is Black.
Pastor Djuan Rich of Victory Temple is one of the COGIC members who wasn’t on board with this partnership. Honestly, he doesn’t seem to be on board with anything the Sheards do.
On the flip side, Bishop Sheard had a flood of supporters, including Pastor John P. Kee.
“So many people have dogged & persecuted this man of God in the last 72 hours! I’ve talked to many that agree with him but fear retribution!”
Pastor Kee continued, “Let me go on the record and say I’m so glad I left the shackles of religiosity and pursued hands on mininsty! I may not ever be a success in the eyes of others but I’ll kick the an and shake the house to feed the hungry and clothe the naked!”
He ended his statement, “I love you Bishop and I’ll stand with you in ministry in Salt Lake City and the city crack house… Uncle John”
Bishop’s wife and first Lady Sheard responded to the post, “Wow! Well said @keetwit thank you sir 👏❤️.”
Other supporters reacted to the announcement. Gospel artist Travis Green said, “Man, feed the people!”
Gospel singer Darwin Hobbs also chimed in, “🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!!! It’s nearly laughable the level of error and arrogance!!!” He then added for clarification, “and yes I’m agreeing with YOUR POST AND WITH @bishopdrewsheard WHAT A FORWARD THINKER!!!!!”
Gospel recording artist Sherlandra Revis also had thoughts on the decision to end the partnership. “They definitely missed an opportunity. We are supposed to love our neighbors as thyself. The Bible didn’t say love just the neighbors that think like us or believe like us. You don’t know what seeds you could have planted by doing that. You can show love for people without believing what they believe in.”
It’s unfortunate that churches can’t come together to do a good deed and help people struggling. Hungry people don’t care what religion you are. They just want to eat. Hopefully, after having some time to think about it, another opportunity will come around where everyone can see the big picture and make a decision from the heart.
