History of the Church of the Living God PGT

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On August 2, 1910, Bishop A.H. White was saved, sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost. Mother M.L. Tate, Chief Overseer of the House of God which is the Church of the Living God, was conducting a revival in Waycross, GA. Bishop White went to the revival and heard this great woman preach sanctification and holiness. He was thoroughly convinced that sanctification and holiness was right.

In 1911, God gave him a mission to teach and preach the Gospel of Salvation by faith in the Son of God. Many souls were blessed and saved through his humble way of teaching. By 1914, the late Mother M.L. Tate, the Chief Overseer, commissioned him to a Pastorship in Lumber City, GA. After attaining an exemplary efficiency rating at this mission, he was appointed to pastor in Greenville, AL, while he presided over the State of Mississippi and Alabama. After completing his mission in Greenville, AL, he was appointed to Douglas, GA to pastor and in 1915 built a temple there, which still stands as one of the milestones of his service for the Master. In the same year, the Chief Overseer, Mother Tate, felt that his life, leadership skills and pastoral performances justified his being consecrated to the Bishopric.

Bishop White traveled, preached the Word of God and set up churches under the auspices of the House of God Church of the Living God, Pillar and Ground of the Truth throughout the years. Relocating his family to Philadelphia, PA, he began to pastor in Philadelphia, PA. The church worshipped in a storefront that would accommodate approximately 20 people. The Lord blessed the church to purchase two houses located at 3833-35 Haverford Avenue where the walls were tom out on the first floor to make more space for people. The Lord blessed the congregation to increase from 20 to 200 members in a short period of time. As the work expanded and souls were added, the church sought out another facility at 43rd and Aspen Streets in Philadelphia. That church became known as “Old Jerusalem” Church of the Living God where the saints worshipped for years and served as the “Headquarter” church and place for many Annual and General Assemblies to convene.

By the help of God and the cooperation of the Bishops, Elders, Pastors, Ministers, Mothers and all the saints, the church grew under Bishop A.H. White’s leadership. Local churches were added to the rolls and many church buildings were built, bought and paid for. In the year 1948, the Church of the Living God purchased a “Headquarter” building and sanctuary at 58th & Thompson Streets in West Philadelphia, better known as the “National Temple”. That church served as the “Headquarter” church for many decades. The ministry flourished in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Ohio, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Illinois, Michigan, New York, the West Indies, and Africa. Through all of this, Bishop White gave the credit to God and those who stood with him over the years.

Under the leadership of Bishop A.H. White, other ministries were added, such as the Church of the Living God Publishing House, a Convalescent Home, a school known as the White’s Theological Bible School and Business Institute, and a radio broadcast. In the early 1960’s, the Church was able to purchase a property located at Washington Shores, Lewis Court and Bethune Drive, Orlando, Florida. The building had a seating capacity of 1500 or more and now served as the National Tabernacle of the House of God, Church of the Living God, Pillar and Ground of the Truth, Inc. Today it serves as the “National Tabernacle Convention Headquarters” site. The National Tabernacle is utilized for local, state, and national services, as well as conferences.

Under Bishop A. H. White, the work continued to expand both in the Northern and Southern states, as well as the Midwest. He had a great desire for the Gospel to be preached to the entire world and rejoiced when the Lord gave the church its first Foreign Missionary, Rev. Mrs. Pearl Grant. During his lifetime, he supported Foreign Missions and encouraged the establishment of the National Foreign Mission Convention. It was his dream that some day the church would reach many foreign lands through radio, television, and other audiovisual means with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Bishop A.H. White remained the Senior Bishop until his demise on January 25,1981. In the General Assembly in Philadelphia, PA, in October 1981, Bishop James H. Smith was unanimously elected by the General Delegation to be the next Senior Bishop and President General of the House of God, Church of the Living God, Pillar and Ground of the Truth, Inc.

Mother Mary Magdalena Lewis Tate, who was then called “An Apostle/Elder of Jesus Christ, a Mother and a light to the nations of the earth”, established the Church of the Living God in 1903. She felt moved by the Holy Spirit of God to go out into the world and preach the Gospel first at Steel Springs, Tennessee and then in Paducah, Kentucky accompanied by her two small sons, Walter Curtis Lewis, the elder, and Felix Earley Lewis, the younger. At that time she was known as Saint Mary Magdalena. Mother Tate was greatly used of the Lord; an anointed servant whose preaching attracted both white and black people. The thrust of her ministry was a call to Holiness, with emphasis on clean living, sanctification and perfection.

Mother Tate’s call to the ministry and commission to go and preach the Gospel was more plainly shown to her in Paducah, KY. She moved with fear and obedience to begin the work of preaching the Gospel as she made her first ministry voyage to Brooklyn, Illinois. She returned to Paducah, KY and being pressed by the Holy Spirit, she was led to go to Paris, Tennessee.

On the streets of Paris, Tennessee, Mother Tate stood up and boldly preached the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. People, both white and colored, were amazed at the demonstration of the Gospel. Her preaching and teaching was a great token of her Apostleship and Bishopric to which God had foreordained her. She was so encouraged in the Lord that she was determined to go into all the world and preach. She visited many homes and taught the people the Word of God and many believed. Many others were also amazed at her preaching of the unadulterated Word of God.

Mother Tate’s work carried her to the State of Alabama where she and her followers were called “Do Rights”. She was inspired and established many believers in the dogma called “The Cleanliness of the Word” based on St. John 15:3. In 1907, while in Alabama, her ministry had come to a point where over nine hundred people were converted and turned to Christ through her preaching. In 1908, Mother Tate underwent a supernatural experience which she understood to be the baptism and infilling of the Holy Ghost. After that, she began preaching the baptisms and filling (indwelling) of the Holy Ghost as she found it in the Bible. She also boldly went into the water and baptized a number of those converts with her own hands, through the physical strength given her of the Lord’s power. She organized local units of her converts and called them “Bands” instead of churches. The various “bands” came together and permanently organized and incorporated under the name “Church of the Living God, Pillar and Ground of the truth”.

Mother Tate, the first Chief Overseer of our Church, traveled and preached the Gospel with her two sons through the State of Tennessee. Mother Tate called the First General Assembly in Greenville, Alabama, over which she presided. Some walked as many as thirty miles to get to the first great Assembly of the church and also the first great Pentecostal Revival of the Church. The meeting continued ten days or more and nearly a hundred people received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Mother Mary Magdalena was made the Overseer and Chief Leader of the Church, preachers were ordained, and pastors appointed before that Assembly adjourned.

Churches were set up in various places in Georgia and an Assembly was held at Waycross in 1911. The attendance was very large and some saints came to this meeting from Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi. In Ocala, Florida, Mother Tate established the Church, and then moved on to establish the Church in Tennessee and Kentucky. Presiding Elders were appointed by 1911 and four State Bishops were ordained in the Church at Quitman, GA in June 1914. By 1916, the Church had spread very fast and had grown very strong reaching over twenty states within the United States including the District of Columbia and some foreign countries and Islands.

From 1903 - 1914, Mother Tate called together the humble people of the southern sections of the country into the true light of the gospel of Jesus Christ and she taught true holiness in the Church of the Living God. As the world war ensued, many of the Saints made an exodus from the South to the North, East, and West seeking new labor and new homes. For a time, it was thought by some to be the worse run of the Church, but it proved to be for the best and served for the general out spread, building up, and establishment of the Church in nearly every state of the union from 1914 – 1924. Mother M.L. Tate sent Bishop W.C. Lewis, one of the first four State Bishops, together with Bishop A.H. White to the east during the time of the great exodus. These, together with Mother Tate and Rev. B.L. McLeod with the assistance of Bishop F. Giles, worked to establish the Church in the northeast.

In 1929, Mother M.L. Tate, appointed Bishop A.H. White as the one to carry on the work of the Church and in a subsequent General Assembly, he was elected Senior Bishop of all churches connected with the Pennsylvania Group incorporated under the name “House of God, Which is the Church of the Living God, Pillar and Ground of the Truth”. There are other branches of the Church of the Living God in many areas who continue to use slight variations of the name “Church of the Living God” and still carry on the great work begun by this anointed woman.

Bishop A. H. White

President General

1929 - 1981

Bishop T. W. Williams

Vice President General

1935 - 1952