During the tenure of Bishop J. O. Patterson, Sr. as Presiding Bishop in the 1970s and 80s, Bishop Patterson established several interdenominational Christian schools and seminaries, and helped to establish the World Fellowship of Black Pentecostal Churches and gained COGIC membership in the Congress of National Black Churches as well, a national caucus of Black church denominations that represent different denominations and organizations of the Black Church in America. During the tenure of Bishop L. H. Ford as Presiding Bishop in the 1990s, he helped gain COGIC membership into the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America, a more diverse, international caucus of different Pentecostal church denominations and organizations that sought to heal the racial divides in the North American Pentecostal movement.