bible lord

The Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ World-Wide, Inc. is an organization of African-American Pentecostal churches stared in 1957 in Washington, DC and later reorganized into two organizations in 1997 with headquarters in Brooklyn, NY and Danville, VA.

The Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ was organized in September of 1957 by Smallwood Edmond Williams, who at the time was the General Secretary of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith (COOLJC). Under Williams' leadership, about 70 churches withdrew from that organization to form the new organization, citing the sole-governorship of COOLJC leader, Bishop Robert C. Lawson, as grounds. Williams became the first presiding bishop of the church.

Beliefs of the Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ include the inspiration of the Bible as the word of God; salvation made possible only through Jesus Christ; the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues; water baptism by immersion in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; the premillennial second coming of Jesus Christ; the final judgment of the dead; and the establishment of new heavens and a new earth.

In 1995 the church had about 300,000 members in 350 congregations world wide. The chief officer in the church is the Presiding Bishop, which office was held in 2006 by Chief Apostle Huie L. Rogers for the church headquartered in Brooklyn, NY and Chief Apostle Cornelius Showell for the church headquartered in Baltimore, MD. Both bodies conduct a general conference annually in July and operate a publishing house in Washington, DC.