Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Clergy== The Church of God recognizes three ranks of credentialed ministers: Exhorter (initial level), Ordained [[Minister (Christianity)|Minister]] (intermediate level), and Ordained [[Bishop]] (highest level). Exhorters are authorized to preach, serve as [[Evangelism|evangelists]], and serve as pastor of a church.<ref name=2012MinS58.II>In emergencies, Exhorters may be authorized by their state overseer to baptize converts and receive new church members. When serving as pastors, if state laws allow, the Exhorter may solemnize marriages. 2012 COG Minutes S58.II, pp. 155.</ref> Ordained Ministers are further authorized to baptize converts, receive new church members, administer [[sacraments]] or [[Ordinance (Christianity)|ordinances]], solemnize marriages, and establish churches. In addition to the rights and privileges held by Exhorters and Ordained Ministers, Ordained Bishops are authorized to assist in [[ordination]] ceremonies. State/regional overseers are designated "Administrative Bishops," International Executive Committee members as "Executive Bishops," and the General Overseer as "[[Presiding Bishop]]." Women are eligible to be Exhorters and Ordained Ministers; however, only men can become Ordained Bishops. There are also categories of Licensed Minister of Christian Education and Licensed Minister of Music.{{Sfn | Roebuck | 1999 | p = 8}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page