African Methodist Episcopal Church

African Methodist Episcopal Church
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God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, Man Our Brother
Classification Protestant
Orientation Methodist
Polity Episcopal
Associations National Council of Churches; World Council of Churches; Churches Uniting in Christ
Development
Founder Richard Allen
Origin 1816 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Separated from Methodist Episcopal Church
Statistics
Congregations 7,000
Members 5 million (2.5 million in the United States)

The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the "AME Church", is a Christian denomination founded by Bishop Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816.

Contents

Church name

Motto

"God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, Holy Spirit Our Comforter, Humankind Our Family"

Derived from Bishop Daniel Payne (1811-1893).

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Methodism
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Background
Christianity
Protestantism
Pietism
Anglicanism
Arminianism
Wesleyanism
Calvinism

Doctrinal distinctives
Articles of Religion
Prevenient Grace
Governmental Atonement
Imparted righteousness
Christian perfection
Conditional preservation of the saints

People
Richard Allen
Francis Asbury
Thomas Coke
Albert C. Outler
James Varick
Charles Wesley
Bishops
Theologians

Largest groups
World Methodist Council
United Methodist Church
AME Church
AME Zion Church
Church of the Nazarene
British Methodist Church
CME Church
Uniting Church in Australia

Related movements
Moravian Church

Holiness movement
Salvation Army
Personalism
Pentecostalism

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This Do in Remembrance Of Me

History

The African Methodist Episcopal Church has a unique history in that it is the first major religious denomination in the Western World that had its origin over sociological rather than theological beliefs and differences, and the first African-American organized and incorporated denomination in the US. The AME church is also the church that sponsored the first independent historical black college, Wilberforce University. The church was born in protest against slavery—against dehumanization of African people, brought to the American continent as free labor. This fit well with the Methodist church's philosophy since its founder John Wesley had once called the slave-trade "that execrable sum of all villanies".

The AMEC grew out of the Free African Society (FAS) which Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and others established in Philadelphia in 1787. The church was organized by African-American members of St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church. The incident that led to this was the removal of Absalom Jones (1746–1818) from St. George's by the trustees while he was in the act of prayer. The congregation supported the act of the trustees, and Allen and Jones led the African-American members out of St. George's as a body. Allen went on to form the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1793. In general, they adopted the doctrines and form of government of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Jones affiliated with the Protestant Episcopal Church and would go on to become the first African-American priest in the Episcopal Church.

When officials at St. George’s MEC pulled blacks off their knees while praying, FAS members discovered just how far American Methodists would go to enforce racial discrimination against African Americans. Hence, these members of St. George’s made plans to transform their mutual aid society into an African congregation. Although most wanted to affiliate with the Protestant Episcopal Church, Allen led a small group who resolved to remain Methodists. In 1794 Bethel AME was dedicated with Allen as pastor. To establish Bethel’s independence from interfering white Methodists, Allen, a former Delaware slave, successfully sued in the Pennsylvania courts in 1807 and 1815 for the right of his congregation to exist as an independent institution. Because black Methodists in other middle Atlantic communities encountered racism and desired religious autonomy, Allen called them to meet in Philadelphia to form a new Wesleyan denomination, the AME.

While the AME is doctrinally Methodist, clergy, scholars, and lay persons have written important works which demonstrate the distinctive theology and praxis which have defined this Wesleyan body. Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett, in an address to the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions, reminded the audience of the presence of blacks in the formation of Christianity. Bishop Benjamin T. Tanner wrote in 1895 in The Color of Solomon – What? that biblical scholars wrongly portrayed the son of David as a white man. In the post civil rights era theologians James Cone, Cecil W. Cone, and Jacqueline Grant who came out of the AME tradition critiqued Euro-centric Christianity and African American churches for their shortcomings in fully impacting the plight of those oppressed by racism, sexism, and economic disadvantage.

Beliefs

The AME Motto, "God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, Holy Spirit Our Comforter, Humankind Our Family", reflects the basic beliefs of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The basic foundations of the beliefs of the church can be summarized in The Apostles' Creed and The Twenty Five Articles of Religion.

Church mission

The Mission of the African Methodist Episcopal Church is to minister to the spiritual, intellectual, physical, emotional, and environmental needs of all people by spreading Christ's liberating gospel through word and deed. At every level of the Connection and in every local church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church shall engage in carrying out the spirit of the original Free African Society, out of which the A.M.E. Church evolved: that is, to seek out and save the lost, and serve the needy through a continuing program of (1) preaching the gospel, (2) feeding the hungry, (3) clothing the naked, (4) housing the homeless, (5) cheering the fallen, (6) providing jobs for the jobless, (7) administering to the needs of those in prisons, hospitals, nursing homes, asylums and mental institutions, senior citizens' homes; caring for the sick, the shut-in, the mentally and socially disturbed, and (8) encouraging thrift and economic advancement.[2]

Colleges, seminaries and universities

The African Methodist Episcopal Church has been one of the forerunners of education within the African-American Community.

Former Colleges & Universities of the AME Church

Senior Colleges within the United States

Junior Colleges within the United States

Theological Seminaries within the United States

Structure

The General Conference

The General Conference is the supreme body of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. It is composed of the Bishops, as ex-officio presidents, according to the rank of election, and an equal number of ministerial and lay delegates, elected by each of the Annual Conferences and the lay Electoral Colleges of the Annual Conferences. Other ex-officio members are: the General Officers, College Presidents, Deans of Theological Seminaries; Chaplains in the Regular Armed Forces of the U.S.A. The General Conference meets quadrennially (every four years), but may have extra sessions in certain emergencies.

Council of Bishops

The Council of Bishops is the Executive Branch of the Connectional Church. It has the general oversight of the Church during the interim between General Conferences. The Council of Bishops shall meet annually at such time and place as the majority of the Council shall determine and also at such other times as may be deemed necessary in the discharging its responsibility as the Executive Branch of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The Council of Bishops shall hold at least two public sessions at each annual meeting. At the first, complaints and petitions against a Bishop shall be heard, at the second, the decisions of the Council shall be made public. All decisions shall be in writing.

Board of Incorporators

The Board of Incorporators, also known as the General Board of Trustees, has the supervision, in trust, of all connectional property of the Church and is vested with authority to act in behalf of the Connectional Church wherever necessary.

The General Board

The General Board is in many respects the administrative body and comprises various departmental Commissions made up of the respective Secretary-Treasurer, the General Secretary of the A.M.E,. Church the General Treasurer and the members of the various Commissions and one Bishop as presiding officer with the other Bishops associating.

Judicial Council

The Judicial Council is the highest judicatory body of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. It is an appellate court, elected by the General Conference and is amenable to it.

Overview

The AME church estimates around 5,000,000 members worldwide (2.5 million in America), 9000 ministers, and 7000 congregations in more than 30 nations in North and South America, Africa, and Europe. Twenty bishops and 12 general officers lead the denomination.

The AME Church is a member of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC), and the World Council of Churches.

It is not the same as the U.A.M.E. Church founded in Delaware by Peter Spencer in 1813, or the AME Zion Church, founded in New York by James Varick.

Bishops (Past and Present)

Four Prominent Bishops

Active Bishops (in order of current episcopal district)

Active General Officers (2004 - 2008)

Retired General officers

Notable AME ministers and educators

Notable AME Members

See also

External links

Select district websites

Other districts and their jurisdictions

References

Notes

  1. ↑ AME Church homepage describing its name
  2. ↑ The Doctrine and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. (2000). p. 13.
Black church denominations and leaders
Denominations
AME · AME Zion · COGIC · International Circle of Faith · National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. · PAW · National Baptist Convention of America, Inc. · PNBC · NMBCA · CME · AUMP · Apostolic Faith Mission · African Orthodox Church
 Martin Luther King in 1964
Leaders
Richard Allen · Martin Luther King, Jr · Joseph Lowery · T. D. Jakes · Jeremiah Wright
Categories
Predominantly African American Christian denominations (Clergy)