The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), a Christian Methodist denomination, has a very succinct history. It grew from the Free African Society (FAS) that was established by Richard Allen, Absalom Jones and others in Philadelphia in 1787. African-American Methodists were the focus of the creation of the AME, as they sought to find religious freedom after being discriminated against in St. George’s MEC in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
For the first time in western history, sociological differences rather than theological differences allowed the AME to gain it’s distinction. The AME was also the first African American denomination that was incorporated and organized in the US. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church was an abolitionist rather than from dissent as it may seem.
Before the civil war, the midwest and northeast was where the church predominently settled. Also during this time of slavery, the church expanded into Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, and South Carolina. In the 1850’s, the African Methodist Episcopalians grew their ministry to the western US, building ministries in San Francisco, Stockton and Sacramento.
The AME website states :
Denominational development came during the reconstruction after the civil war. Newly freed slaves were recruited into the AME with permission from the Union army officials from the collapsing confederacy’s states. “I Seek My Brethren” This sermon was often preached in South Carolina by Theophilus G. Steward. This initiated a call to get blacks evangelized in the southern states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and more. The membership base rose to 400,000 in 1880 due to the expansion below the Mason-Dixon line. Helping to spread the word was Bishop Henry M. Turner from the Atlantic coast to Sierra Leone and Liberia in 1891. By 1896, the AME had spread into South Africa and AME had spread to another continent.
The AME is doctrinally Methodist, and the doctrine can be summarized within the Apostle’s Creed and the Twenty-five Articles of Religion (found on the AME site) and the by-laws of the AME church. Additionally, the AME makes a point to include peoples of all nationalities and ethnic backgrounds in their evangelism, as they state that the name of the church “does not mean that the church was founded in Africa, or that it was for persons of African descent only.”
AME churches are not “self governed” since there is a larger organization that includes a council of bishops, board of incorporators, a general conference, judicial council and a general board. The chief officers are the bishops themselves that are elected for life by the general conference that meets once every four years, requiring a majority vote. Church law requires the bishops to retire after their seventy fifth birthday. This structure originates from the episcopal church, contributing to the name African Methodist Episcopal.
The church motto is a source of unity within the church and contains a history of its own.
The AME official website publishes that in 1856, Bishop Daniel A. Payne made a proposal to the general conference of the AME church in Cincinnati, that the seal of the episcopal church should include a denominational creedal statement: “God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, Man Our Brother”. This was the declaration of A.M.E. faith identity until 1908, when pentecostalism surged in 1906 at the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles, previously, the site of First A.M.E. Church, were convinced to change their motto. Therefore, the general conference meeting in 1908 in Norfolk, Virginia documented in published minutes, “God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, the Holy Ghost Our Comforter, Man Our Brother”.
The mottow was kept until 1916 when they reverted back to the original motto. In 2008, the general conference created a new motto : “God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, the Holy Spirit Our Comforter, Humankind Our Family.”
The AME is involved in church missions and has been a forerunner of education in the African-American community through colleges and theological seminaries.
Visit Churchangel for a African Methodist Episcopal Church List. View our ChurchAngel homepage where you can view our directory of all local churches.
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