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This chapter provides an introduction to the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), offering brief glimpses of its one-hundred-year history, from its humble beginnings in a borrowed cotton gin to its current position as the largest Pentecostal denomination in North America. The church has been studied before, but like Pentecostalism itself, has been mostly overlooked by social scientists. Understanding the history, doctrinal perspectives, organizational structure, and credentialing opportunities of the denomination is key to understanding the institutional framework that both liberates and constrains individuals' sense of what it means to be called. Thus, drawing primarily on secondary sources, the chapter provides some context to the stories explored in the rest of the book and depicts what is distinctive about this denomination as both a Black and a Pentecostal denomination, highlighting both its differences and similarities with its peers.

This chapter provides an introduction to the tradition that established the context for the eventual emergence of serpent-handling churches. Serpent handlers identify themselves as members of a church. Serpent-handling churches are discussed from the perspective of the believers. It is helpful to understand serpent handling both from within and from without. Unlike many mainstream Pentecostal denominations, serpent-handling church worship has not been “routinized” or “regularized.” Serpent-handling churches typically meet at least once weekly to worship God and experience manifestations of the spirit. As they gather for the service, members greet each other and any visitors present with warm handshakes and exchanges of conversation; in some churches bodily embraces are reserved for the faithful and those of the same sex.

Charles Harrison Mason was the founder of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), which from its Memphis roots grew into the largest black Pentecostal denomination in the United States, with profound theological and political ramifications for poor and working-class black Memphians. This essay traces the origins of COGIC in Memphis; it reveals how Mason’s early black Pentecostal denomination grew, gained social and political power, and earned a permanent place in Memphis’s black religious pantheon. While analyzing how the local black and white press viewed Mason, it uncovers the significance of Mason’s religious teachings, especially his thoughts about freedom of religious expression, racial inequality, integration, gender discrimination, and appreciation of black working-class culture. The essay argues that COGIC congregants regarded Mason’s unusual religious demonstrations as embodying political protests—these rituals of resistance transformed black lives, helping to strengthen and sustain blacks fighting for freedom in segregated Memphis.

This chapter describes music as a crucial part of worship in the serpent-handling tradition. It presents research on the types and meanings of songs that are popular among the serpent-handling churches. The serpent-handling churches share with the larger, mainstream Pentecostal denominations the use of music as an essential component in worship. At a typical serpent-handling meeting, it is most likely that instrumentals and singing will provide a prelude to the service as members enter the church and fellowship with one another. The importance of music is such that services rarely begin “on time” but usually whenever the musical prelude happens to end or, more often, as it swells and rises to a level that elicits participation from congregants to join in with singing.