Carlton Pearson was a megachurch founder who embraced the idea of universal reconciliation, a fringe Christian doctrine that asserts there is no hell, and all souls will eventually be welcomed by God, and was branded as a heretic by the evangelical fundamentalist church as a result.
- Died: November 19, 2023 (Who else died on November 19?)
- Details of death: Died in Tulsa, Oklahoma, of bladder cancer at the age of 70.
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Carlton Pearson’s legacy
Pearson was mentored by Oral Roberts (1918–2009) at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There, he sang with the World Action Singers and became ordained in the Holiness-Pentacostal Church of God in Christ. In 1981, he formed the Higher Dimensions Evangelistic Center in Tulsa. By the 1990s, it had grown into a megachurch, hosting over 6,000 congregants each week and at one time making Pearson one of only two Black ministers with a national television show. For a time, he had one of the most watched shows on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
This began to change in the late 1990s, after Pearson watched news reports on the genocide in Rwanda. He once taught that non-Christians would go to hell, but he began to doubt his own doctrine. Believing he had spoken to God, Pearson began teaching that God was not focused on punishment, but on love. Pearson denied the existence of hell and embraced the fringe Christian doctrine of universal reconciliation, which asserted that all souls, including those of the sinful, would eventually be welcomed by God. He called this the Gospel of Inclusion.
As a result, the Joint College of African American Pentecostal Bishops branded Pearson as a heretic. He lost most of his following and his church. In 2006, the once packed church building was foreclosed, but he kept going. Pearson formed the New Dimensions Worship Center, where he began to build a new following around his more inclusive teaching. His story drew widespread attention and media coverage. It was featured on the Chicago Public Radio program “This American Life,” and in the Netflix film “Come Sunday.”
Notable quote
“I don’t care if they’ve got a needle hanging in their vein or they’re HIV positive, tell them they’re loved and forgiven. That was the beginning of the gospel of inclusion that got me in so much trouble.”—from a May 2013 interview for Reform
Tributes to Carlton Pearson
Full obituary: ABC News
