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J. Delano Ellis

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The Most Reverend

Jesse Delano Ellis II
Metropolitan Archbishop of the Joint College of Bishops, Presiding Prelate of the Pentecostal Churches of Christ, and Senior Pastor of the Pentecostal Church of Christ (Cleveland, Ohio)
Personal details
Born
Jesse Delano Ellis

(1944-12-11)December 11, 1944
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died(2020-09-19)September 19, 2020 (aged 75)
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
ResidenceCleveland, Ohio
Spouse
Sabrina Joyce
​
(m. 1982)​
Children6
OccupationPastor, author

Jesse Delano Ellis II, known as J. Delano Ellis, (December 11, 1944 – September 19, 2020)[1][2] was a leader in African American Pentecostalism in the United States and founding president/chairman and Archbishop Metropolitan of the Joint College of Bishops.[3][4] Ellis also established and was presiding prelate of the Apostolic/Oneness United Pentecostal Churches of Christ (today the United Covenant Churches of Christ) and Pentecostal Churches of Christ.[5][6][7][8] He was the senior pastor of the Pentecostal Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio,[9] a ministry to which he was called on May 14, 1989.[4][10]

Ellis is widely known as a progenitor of unity among African American Pentecostals. He worked to introduce order, identity, and an appreciation of Christian history among Pentecostal churches.[11][12][13] As a promoter of ecumenism, Ellis had put the Pentecostal movement as it is manifested among African Americans in conversation with the broader Christian community around the world.[14] Through Ellis, many Trinitarian and Oneness Pentecostal denominations claim to derive "western and eastern streams of apostolic succession" as described in his book, The Bishopric – A Handbook on Creating Episcopacy in the African-American Pentecostal Church.[15] The Apostolic Pastoral Congress, a British organization, derives succession from Ellis through Abp. Doye Agama.

Career

J. Delano Ellis was ordained by Bishop Ozro Thurston Jones, Sr. in 1963 within the Church of God in Christ and elevated to the episcopacy in 1970 by Bishop Brumfield Johnson of the United Holy Church of America.[16][17][18] In the Church of God in Christ, Ellis organized the Adjutant's Corp.[19]

In 1989, Ellis founded the United Pentecostal Churches of Christ (now the United Covenant Churches of Christ).[19][18] During his tenure as presiding prelate of the United Pentecostal Churches of Christ he co-founded the Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops.[3] The Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops (JCAAPB), more commonly the Joint College of Bishops (JCOB), is an ecumenical synod established by J. Delano Ellis, Wilbert Sterling McKinley, Roy Edward Brown, and Paul S. Morton in November 1993.[3][4] 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 history and meaning of Western Christian vestments in contrast with historical documents (e.g., Roman Catholic and Anglican vestments granted new definitions).[20][21]<ref>"Anglican Vestments: What Are They?". Anglican Compass. 2018-08-21. Retrieved 2020-09-19.</r After 30 years of leadership at the Pentecostal Church of Christ in Cleveland, J. Delano Ellis abdicated his pastorate in 2019; his wife, Dr. Sabrina Ellis, was appointed the new senior pastor.[4] On September 19, 2020, Ellis was pronounced deceased in a public statement by his wife.[2] His death almost immediately follows a street being named in his honor.[22]

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[who?] 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. Schlossberg (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. ^ "Community members mourning loss of beloved Cleveland Bishop J. Delano Ellis". fox8.com. 2020-09-19. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  2. ^ a b "Pentecostal Church of Christ, community mourns the loss of beloved Bishop J. Delano Ellis II". wkyc.com. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  3. ^ a b c "About The Joint College Of Bishops". Joint College of Bishops. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  4. ^ a b c d 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. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  5. ^ Brachear, Manya. "Bishop Trotter to spread ecumenical vision". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-09-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ "History of the United Covenant Churches of Christ". United Covenant Churches of Christ. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  7. ^ "Pentecostal Churches of Christ". Pentecostal Churches of Christ. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  8. ^ "The Doctine, The Discipline, & The Polity of Pentecostal Churches of Christ". Pentecostal Churches of Christ. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  9. ^ "Pentecostal Church of Christ". Pentecostal Church of Christ, Cleveland. Retrieved 2020-07-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ "Bishop J. Delano Ellis is retiring effective October 31, 2019". Praise Cleveland. 2019-10-21. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  11. ^ Banks, Adelle (1995) "Pentecostals dress like Catholic bishops", National Catholic Reporter, 31 (17)
  12. ^ "Pentecostals dress like Catholic bishops". connection.ebscohost.com. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  13. ^ (1995) "Blacks Discover High Church", Christianity Today, 39 (5)
  14. ^ (2000) "Signs of the Times", America, 182 (6)
  15. ^ Ellis, J. Delano (2003). The Bishopric: A Handbook on Creating Episcopacy in the African-American Pentecostal Church. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 978-1-55395-848-2.
  16. ^ "About Bishop J. Delano Ellis II". J.D. Ellis Ministries. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  17. ^ "Who We Are". Mt. Calvary Holy Church of America. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  18. ^ a b "Beloved Cleveland Bishop J. Delano Ellis dies at age of 75". WEWS. 2020-09-20. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  19. ^ a b "Bishop J. Delano Ellis II Biography". Pentecostal Church of Christ, Cleveland. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  20. ^ Bishop Joseph P. Bowens, "The Meaning of the Priestly Garments"
  21. ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Vestments". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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