ABOUT US
"Out of the mouth of babes and suckling God has perfected praise..." Matthew 21:16
What God didn't put on me will not stick on me
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"What God didn't put on me will not stick on me" is a phrase that we use as a church to apply to our lives on a daily basis through prayers, counseling, and worship. We continue to live our lives trusting God that His word given to us is true.
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Mission Statement
A church yielded to and empowered by the Spirit of God. This enables us to effectively carry out the mandate of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, given to us in Mark 16:15-18. We must win the lost at all cost. Thereby being ready to travel far and wide across the globe as He directs and puts at His disposal all spiritual, material, intellectual, and financial blessings He has provided us for this mission.
Vision Statement
A church that functions in God's divine order and inspiration in line with the Holy Scriptures. Ministering to all races and creeds, bringing them into the fullness of the plan of God for their lives. Ministering to the total man: spirit, soul, and body. This produces Spirit-filled believers who will influence society t and love for God and fellow man.
Tenant of Faith
We believe that God is one, eternally existing in three persons namely: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And that in His omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence; is the Creator of all things. Mark 12:29 | Matthew 3:16-17 | Genesis 1:1 | Psalm 139: 1-18
We believe that Jesus is the only begotten son of God who came from Heaven to save mankind from their sins. We believe in His virgin birth, sinless life and miracles. We believe in His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to Heaven where He is seated at the right hand of God, interceding for us. John 3:17-17 | Timothy 2:5
We believe in the Holy Spirit and His work in the earth today. Demonstrated by the convicting of the sinner of sin and drawing him to the Father through the Son. As well as the infilling of the believer with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Thus endowing the believer with spiritual gifts for effective service. John 14:26 | John 15:26 | John 16:7-15 | Acts 1:8 | Corinthians 12:1-11
We believe the Bible is the holy inspired and infallible Word of God. Timothy 3:16 | Peter 1:21
We believe that man is born in sin and that he is in need of a savior - Jesus Christ, to save him from his sinful state.
Psalm 51:5 | Romans 5:12 | Acts 4:12 | Romans 10:9-10
We believe that after salvation, God demands that man walks in faith, holiness and integrity all the rest of his days on earth.
Hebrews 11:6 | Peter 1:15-16 | Thessalonians 4:3-4
We believe that Satan the Devil is a real person who is the perpetrator of all evil, and that he reigns over a well organized kingdom of fallen angels and demons that help him carry out his evil schemes against the people of God.
Peter 5:6 | Ephesians 6:10-12 | Ezekiel 28:1-19 | Isaiah 14:12-20
We believe that Jesus is coming back one day to judge the world and put an end to satan's kingdom and all wickedness. Thus separating the Christians from the wicked and rewarding every one according to their deeds.
Revelation 20:11-15 | 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 | Matthew 13:24-43
Our Leaders
Bishop Claudius and Prophetess Salome Cooper are from Monrovia, Liberia, in West Africa. They married in 1994 and have ten children together. The family lives in Providence, RI, and pastors Christ Center of Praise Churches in Providence and Worcester, MA.
They are both graduates of The Monrovia Bible Training Center in Monrovia, Liberia, and Spiritual Life Bible College in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
Before they migrated to the United States, Bishop Claudius and Prophetess Salome Cooper served as pastors and founders of Christ Center of Praise in Liberia for nine years (1993-2002).
Our pastors obtained their master's degrees in theology from Spiritual Life Seminary in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, in 2021. They then promptly returned to the Spiritual Life Seminary to pursue their doctorate in theology, graduating in 2024.
Church History
Christ Center of Praise was founded by Bishop Claudius and Prophetess Salome Cooper on December 19, 1993, in Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa. At the same time, attending the Monrovia Bible Training Center 1992-1994. The Lord spoke to the pastors to start His Church. They wrestled with what God had spoken to them for a few months. Finally, they obeyed and started the church in 1993. In March 1999, the Lord opened a door of opportunity for Bishop Claudius to travel to the United States to visit relatives, leaving Prophetess Salome in charge. After six months of stay in the United States, Bishop Claudius returned to Liberia.
In 2000, Bishop Claudius returned to the United States and was joined by his wife, Prophetess Salome, and their six children in December 2002. The Lord told them to fast and pray in January 2003, and they did so until the end of March of that same year. They had received a word from the Lord Jesus Christ to start a church. His exact words were, "Carry on with what you were doing in Liberia,"
Their obedience led them to begin a Bible study in their apartment in June 2003, a seed that eventually blossomed into the church we know today. We are now worshiping in a building that the Lord, who had called them, granted the resources to purchase at 93 Prudence Ave, Providence, RI after they had moved to several rented locations.
While praying for guidance in their ministry in 2007, the Lord again spoke to the pastors, this time to plant a church in Worcester, Massachusetts.
While seeking the Lord for wisdom for the assignment, considering that neither of them knew anybody from Worcester, the Lord brought a man from Worcester to them for prayer. He was believing God for divine healing after the doctors had diagnosed him with a brain tumor and was scheduled for brain surgery. They prayed for him that day. To God be the glory, when this man went back to the doctors, they couldn't find the tumor in his brain. After several tests, he was declared tumor-free by the doctors in Boston and has been healed ever since.
The same man invited the pastors to host a Bible study in his home. He had no idea that the Lord had already instructed them to take the gospel to Worcester. They started the Bible studies every Tuesday evening, which have grown into another Christ Center of Praise-Full Gospel Church.