Church of God in Christ bishop re-elected

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Bishop Gilbert E. Patterson has won re-election as the presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ, the nation’s largest Pentecostal denomination.

Patterson, who also is a pastor of a Memphis, Tenn., church, was re-elected Nov. 16 at the close of the predominantly black denomination’s annual meeting in Memphis.

Sherry DuPree, an author and expert on African-American Pentecostal groups, said Patterson helped improve centralized access to retirement and health benefits for the church group’s clergy during his first term as presiding bishop.

Patterson came to the leadership of the denomination in 2000 after unseating the incumbent, Bishop Chandler David Owens.

The Church of God in Christ was ranked fourth among the nation’s top 10 denominations by the 2004 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, with more than 5 million members.