A Unique and Glorious History . . .
The African Methodist Episcopal Church

This article first appeared in the February 1998 edition of Imani Tidings.

It has been said that one who knows his/ her past has a good grasp of his/her future. We learn and grow from both the vicarious and our own actual pasts.

It is fitting that we recognize the founders of this great Church during the month of February, the month where we recognize the collective history of people of African heritage. At such a time as this, where we also remember one of the most heart wrenching episodes of human history, that of American slavery, we must remember that the founder of our church was himself a freed slave. Working diligently night and day, by the time he was 20 he had bought both the freedom of himself and his brother for $2,000.00. His Master was so moved by Richard Allen's Christian Spirit and his faith, he too was converted to Christianity.

The African Methodist Episcopal Church is an offspring of the Methodist Church founded by John Wesley in England and America in the eighteenth century. The Methodist movement itself began in 1739 when John Wesley, an Anglican, started a movement within the Church of England to improve the spiritual life of his Church. The movement became widespread.

The genesis of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, which today numbers over 2.5 million members worldwide, can be traced to a clearing in the Delaware woods in the year 1777. To that sylvan setting an itinerant Methodist preacher came, spreading the gospel to a group of slaves, among whom was a 17 year-old field hand by the name of Richard Allen.

When young Richard heard the Word he underwent a religious awakening. Enslaved and recently severed from several members in his family, who were "sold down the river" -- Allen took solace in his belief that hewould never be cut off from God's love. The faith that took root in the forest that day would ultimtely enable Richard Allen to establish what we now know of as the African Methodist Episcopal Church. As members of the A.M.E. Church, our lives are inextricably linked to that young slave by the name of Richard Allen. To use a familiar line from our Scriptures, the half has never been told".

Richard Allen Founder and First Bishop of the A.M.E. Church

The formation of the A.M.E. Church is unique in that it is the first major religious denomination in the Western world that originated over sociological rather than theological beliefs and differences. The immediate cause of the organization of the A.M.E. Church was the fact that members of the St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia PA, in 1787 segregated its "colored" members from its white congregants. Black church members had been the most generous contributors of time and money to help build a new gallery (balcony) in a building expansion program. What they did not know was that the expanded upper gallery was targeted exclusively for the growing black membership.

On a November Sunday in 1787, the first Sabbath service after the church's renovations, the Blacks (including Richard Allen, Absalom Jones and prominent black church member William White) were ushered to the new gallery of the Church. As the church was called to pray, some of the Africans (as they were called) knelt to pray outside of their segregated area. An altercation occurred. Richard Allen looked up to find a church trustee trying to pull Absalom Jones to his feet. An astonished Jones said to the trustee "Wait until the prayer is over, and I will get up and trouble you no more." Then another trustee came and tried to pull Mr. White from his knees. By then, the prayer was over and they all "went out of the church in a body".

The organization of the Free African Society was the initial results of this split and from this Society came two groups: The Episcopalians and the Methodists. The leader of the Methodist Group was Richard Allen. He desired to implement his conception of freedom of worship and desired to be rid of the humiliation of segregation, especially in church. After study and consultation, five churches came together in a General Convention which met in Philadelphia, PA in April, 1816 and formed the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The name African Methodist came naturally, as Negroes at that time were called Africans and they followed the teaching of the Methodist Church as founded by John Wesley. The young Church accepted the Methodist Doctrine and Discipline almost in its entirety.

Mother Bethel

From "History of the A.M.E. Church ", WWW. AMENET. ORG, and "Historic Philadelphia: Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church www.libertynet.org/ihaftour/ bethel, html.