J. Delano Ellis

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)
ChurchPentecostal Churches of Christ
SeePentecostal Church of Christ
Orders
Ordination1963
by Ozro Thurston Jones, Sr.
Consecration1970
by Brumfield Johnson
Personal details
Born
Jesse Delano Ellis

(1944-12-11)December 11, 1944
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died(2020-09-19)September 19, 2020 (aged 75)
Cleveland, Ohio
ResidenceCleveland, Ohio
Children6[1]
OccupationPastor, author
Education
Coat of armsJesse Delano Ellis, II's coat of arms

Jesse Delano Ellis, II, commonly known as J. Delano Ellis, (December 11, 1944 – September 19, 2020)[2][3] was an American Protestant religious leader and progenitor of unity among African American Pentecostals with Trinitarian and nontrinitarian affinities.

Co-founding and initially leading the Joint College of Bishops as their metropolitan archbishop, Ellis also founded and served as presiding prelate for the United Pentecostal Churches of Christ (today the United Covenant Churches of Christ) and Pentecostal Churches of Christ.[4][5][6][7] He served as the senior pastor of the Pentecostal Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio, beginning on May 14, 1989.[8]

From the inception of the Joint College of Bishops, Ellis, alongside the organization's co-founders—Wilbert Sterling McKinley, Roy Edmond Brown, and Paul Sylvester Morton—have been labeled as "leaders in the shift" among African American Pentecostals for introducing liturgical order and identity among Pentecostal or Full Gospel churches and denominations.[9][10] As a promoter of ecumenism, Ellis placed Pentecostalism as manifested among African Americans in conversation with the broader Christian community around the world.[11]

Through Ellis, many classical and Oneness Pentecostal denominations claim to derive "western and eastern streams of apostolic succession" as described in the appendix to his book, The Bishopric – A Handbook on Creating Episcopacy in the African-American Pentecostal Church.[12] According to Ellis, claims of succession stemmed from the Church of England, the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Church of God in Christ; he also claimed apostolic succession through the Syro-Chaldean Church. In his book, he cited no lineage for his "western" stream, and his Syro-Chaldean claims contrast the record produced by Burgess, who he claimed passed on the "eastern" stream.[13]

  1. ^ "Funeral arrangements for Bishop J. Delano Ellis II announced". wkyc.com. September 23, 2020. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
  2. ^ Freeman, Kevin (September 19, 2020). "Community members mourning loss of beloved Cleveland Bishop J. Delano Ellis". FOX 8. Archived from the original on September 23, 2020. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
  3. ^ "Pentecostal Church of Christ, community mourns the loss of beloved Bishop J. Delano Ellis II". WKYC 3. September 19, 2020. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
  4. ^ Brachear, Manya (December 3, 2004). "Bishop Trotter to spread ecumenical vision". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  5. ^ "About the Joint College of Bishops". Joint College of Bishops. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  6. ^ "History of the United Covenant Churches of Christ". United Covenant Churches of Christ. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  7. ^ "History of the Pentecostal Churches of Christ". Pentecostal Churches of Christ. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  8. ^ "About the Pentecostal Church of Christ". Pentecostal Church of Christ, Cleveland, Ohio. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  9. ^ "Blacks Discover High Church". Christianity Today. 39: 44. April 24, 1995. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021 – via Christianity Today Network.
  10. ^ Banks, Adelle (February 1995). "Pentecostals dress like Catholic bishops". National Catholic Reporter. 31 (17): 3. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021 – via The Free Library.
  11. ^ "Signs of the Times". America. 182 (6). 2000.
  12. ^ Ellis, II, Jesse (2003). "Chapter III: Apostolic Succession". The Bishopric: A Handbook on Creating Episcopacy in the African-American Pentecostal Church. Google Books: Trafford Publishing. ISBN 978-1-55395-848-2. We believe that bishops are the direct descendants of the Lord Jesus Christ, through His Apostles. Because of that contention, we hold dear our Apostolic Succession which we claim through Augustine of Rome, who was sent by the 'Holy See' to England to establish the English Church. Aside from Succession through the Western Stream, this College also holds this same Succession through the Syrian Orthodox stream. [Please refer to the Historical Documents on Apostolic Succession in the APPENDIX of this Book.]
  13. ^ "Apostolic Succession of Robert W. Burgess, Jr". Diocese of St. Thomas. Retrieved October 16, 2023.