c. 2005 Religion News Service

TULSA, Okla. _ A high-profile evangelical pastor who lost 90 percent of his 5,000 members after adopting a universalist theology has begun holding services in Tulsa’s oldest and largest Episcopal church.

Bishop Carlton Pearson’s “gospel of inclusion” theology _ that Christ died for the sins of the world, and therefore the whole world will be saved _ went against evangelical orthodoxy that salvation requires a personal response to the message of Christ.

If it weren’t for the Episcopalians, “We’d have been out on the street,” said Pearson, pastor of Higher Dimensions Family Church, whose property is in foreclosure.

“They said, `Come and live in our house,’ which is the Christian thing to do.”

Higher Dimensions, founded by Pearson in 1981, once was one of Tulsa’s largest and most prosperous churches.

Its high-energy, sharp-dressing pastor appeared regularly on the Trinity Broadcasting Network and at national conferences, wrote several books, and hosted an annual Azusa Street conference that drew national speakers like the Rev. T.D. Jakes, labeled America’s best preacher by Time magazine.

Pearson was a mayoral candidate in Tulsa, a Grammy-nominated singer and one of a small group of black church leaders that met with President Bush.

Higher Dimensions’ slide began about four years ago when Pearson began teaching a form of universalism that alienated him from his charismatic/evangelical base.

His alma mater, Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, banned his church buses from the campus. National church leaders and publications condemned him, including Charisma, a leading charismatic magazine.

His own denomination, the Church of God in Christ, the nation’s largest black Pentecostal group, denounced “my doctrine, but not me,” Pearson said. “It’s a very legalistic tradition.”

Faced with declining revenue, the church was unable to make mortgage payments on its 30-acre site in an upscale part of south Tulsa. In late August, Gold Bank filed foreclosure papers on the property. The church is trying to sell the property to avoid losing it in foreclosure. It will hold Sunday morning services in the building as long as it can, Pearson said.

With the building in jeopardy, Pearson accepted an invitation to hold afternoon worship services at the century-old Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Tulsa, the flagship Episcopal church in the city with 1,600 members.

The unusual arrangement, which began Nov. 6, brings together Pearson’s largely black congregation in the Pentecostal tradition and a white congregation in the “high church” liturgical tradition.

The invitation to worship at Trinity came out of discussions between Pearson and the Rev. Stephen McKee, Trinity rector. Pearson had preached at a Sunday night vesper service at Trinity in February and was “very well received,” McKee said.

Pearson said he was shocked when Trinity offered to share its facilities.

“It touched us deeply. We see it as a cross-cultural, cross-denominational, multiethnic expression. It fits right into our inclusion consciousness.”

McKee said he was comfortable with Pearson’s gospel of inclusion.

“The foundation of my belief system is that God created everything good. And I also believe in the Incarnation, that God actually became a human being, and if he loved us enough to do that, I have difficulty believing in a God that’s going to put my colleagues in hell.”

Theology is important, he said. “But I’m much more interested in what you do than what you believe.”

Pearson said he was “as confident and resolute as I’ve ever been” about the message, which has opened the door for him to speak to congregations of liberal Christians, Jews, Unitarians and others.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that we always put creed ahead of covenant. And our creed is what divides us on the planet. This is a situation where a teaching, or a doctrine, has caused people to distance themselves from us.”

MO/PH END RNS

Editors: To obtain a photo of Bishop Carlton Pearson, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.