African Episcopal Methodist Church , usually called A.M.E. Church or AME , is an African-American Methodist denomination based in the United States. This is the first independent Protestant denomination founded by blacks. It was founded by Rt. Pdt. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816 from some black Methodist congregations in the mid-Atlantic region who wanted independence from the white Methodists. This is one of the first denominations in the United States founded on racial and non-theological differences and is constantly advocating African-African civil rights and human rights through social upliftment, religious autonomy and political engagement. Allen, a deacon in the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ordained as the first bishop in 1816 by a five-church conference from Philadelphia to Baltimore. Denominations were then extended to the west and south, especially after the Civil War. In 1906, AME had membership of about 500,000, more than the combined total of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America and the African Methodist Episcopal Sion Church, making it the largest African-American Methodist denomination in the country. AME currently has 20 districts, each with its own bishop: 13 are based in the United States, mostly in the South, while 7 are based in Africa. AME's global membership is around 2.5 million and remains one of the largest Methodist denominations in the world.
Video African Methodist Episcopal Church
Church Name
- Africa
- The AME Church was created and organized by people of African descent (mostly from enslaved Africa brought to America) in response to being forcibly denied the opportunity to pray with the white congregation at Methodist churches based on their skin color. The Church is not established in Africa, nor is it specific to people of African descent. This place is open and friendly to people of all ethnic groups, origins, nationalities, and colors, although the congregation is mostly made up of black Americans.
- Methodist
- The roots of the church are in the Methodist church. The members of St. Methodist Church George left the congregation when confronted with racial discrimination, but continued with the Methodist doctrine and order of worship.
- Episcopal
- The AME Church operates under an episcopal form of church government. The denominational leader is the bishop of the church.
Maps African Methodist Episcopal Church
Motto
"Our Father, Christ our Redeemer, the Holy Spirit, our Comforter, Man, Our Family"
Derived from Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne's original motto "God our Father, Christ our Redeemer, our Brother Man", which serves as the motto of the AME Church until the 2008 General Conference, when the motto of today is officially adopted.
History
Origins
The AME Church grew out of the Free African Society (FAS), the Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and the other free blacks founded in Philadelphia in 1787. They left the Methodist Episcopal St. Church. George because of discrimination. Although Allen and Jones are both accepted as preachers, they are limited to black congregations. In addition, blacks were made to sit in a separate gallery built in the church when their share of the congregation increased. Former member of St. George is making plans to transform their gotong royong community into an African trial. Although the group was initially non-denominational, members eventually wanted to affiliate with the existing denominations.
Allen leads a small group that decides to remain Methodist. They formed the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1793. In general, they adopted the doctrine and form of the administration of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1794 Bethel AME was dedicated to Allen as a pastor. To establish Bethel's independence, Allen was successfully prosecuted in Pennsylvania courts in 1807 and 1815 for the right of his congregation to exist as an institution independent of the white Methodist congregation. Because Black Methodists in other central Atlantic communities also encountered desirable racism and religious autonomy, Allen summoned them to meet in Philadelphia in 1816 to form a new Wesleyan denomination, the "African Episcopal Methodist Church" (AME Church).
Growth
It started with eight pastors and five churches, and by 1846 had grown to 176 priests, 296 churches, and 17,375 members. 20,000 members in 1856 are located mainly in the North. AME's national membership (including trials and preachers) jumped from 70,000 in 1866 to 207,000 in 1876.
Education
AME provides a high premium on education. In the 19th century, the AME Church in Ohio collaborated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, a predominantly white denomination, in sponsoring the second independent black college (HBCU), Wilberforce University in Ohio. In 1880, AME operated more than 2,000 schools, mainly in the South, with 155,000 students. For school houses they use church buildings; their ministers and wives are teachers; meetings raise money to keep schools operating at a separate public school short of funds.
Bishop Turner
After the Civil War Bishop Henry McNeal Turner (1834-1915) was the main leader of AME and played a role in Republican politics. In 1863 during the Civil War, Turner was appointed the first black pastor of the United States of Color. After that, he was appointed to the Freedmen Bureau in Georgia. He settled in Macon, Georgia, and was elected a member of the state legislature in 1868 during the Reconstruction. He planted many AME churches in Georgia after the war.
In 1880 he was elected as the southern bishop of the AME Church after a fierce battle in denominations. Angered by the power of regaining the Democratic Party and instituting the law of Jim Crow in the late nineteenth century, Turner was the leader of black and emigration black nationalism to Africa.
Race
The African Episcopal Methodist Church has a unique history because it is the first major religious denomination in the western world to flourish because of race rather than theological differences. This is the first African-American denomination to be organized and incorporated in the United States. The Church was born in protest against racial discrimination and slavery. This is consistent with the Methodist Church philosophy, whose founder John Wesley once referred to the slave trade as "the amount that can be sacrificed from all criminals." In the 19th century, the AME Church in Ohio collaborated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, a predominantly white denomination, in sponsoring the second independent black college (HBCU), Wilberforce University in Ohio. Among the early founders of Wilberforce University were Salmon P. Chase, Ohio governor and future Treasury Secretary under President Abraham Lincoln.
Other members of the FAS want to affiliate with the Episcopal Church and follow Absalom Jones in doing so. In 1792, they founded St. Episcopal Church. Thomas in Africa, the first Episcopalian church in the United States with an established black congregation. In 1804, Jones was ordained as the first black imam of the Episcopal Church.
While AME is doctrinally Methodist, priests, scholars, and laymen have written works that show the distinctive racial theology and praxis that has come to define this Wesleyan body. In a speech at the Parliament of World Religions of 1893, Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett reminded the audience of the influence of blacks in the formation of Christianity. Bishop Benjamin T. Tanner wrote in 1895 in The Colour of Solomon - What? that biblical scholars mistakenly portrayed the son of David as a white man. In the post-civil rights era, James Cone theologians, Cecil W. Cone, and Jacqueline Grant, who came from the AME tradition, criticized Euro-centric Christianity and African-American churches for their lack of resolving the suffering of those oppressed by racism. , sexism, and economic losses.
Confidence
Moto AME, "Our Father, Our Redeemer, Our Holy Spirit, Our Entertainer, Our Man, Our Family", reflects the basic beliefs of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
The basic foundations of the church's beliefs can be summarized in the Apostles' Creed, and Twenty-Five Articles of Religion, in common with other Episcopal Methodist congregations. The Church also observes the official regulations of the AME Church. "African Methodist Episcopal Teachings and Discipline" was revised at each General Conference and published every four years. The AME Church also follows the rule that ministers of denominations must retire at age 75, with bishops, more specifically, being required to retire at the General Conference closest to their 75th anniversary.
Church Mission
The mission of the African Episcopal Methodist Church is to serve the social, spiritual, and physical development of all people. At every level of Connection and in every local church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church will be involved in exercising the spirit of the Free African Community, from which the Church of the AME evolves: that is, to seek and save the lost, and serve the needy. It is also the Church's duty to continue to encourage all members to be involved in all aspects of church training. The main objectives are: (1) to provide God's biblical principles, (2) to spread the liberating gospel of Christ, and (3) to provide a sustainable program that will enhance all the social development of all people. To meet the needs at every level of Connection and in every local church, the AME Church must implement strategies to train all members in: (1) Christian discipleship, (2) Christian leadership, (3) current teaching and learning methods, (4) history and the importance of the AME Church, (5) the biblical principles of God, and (6) the social developments which must all be applied to everyday life.
- preach the gospel,
- feeding the hungry,
- bare clothes,
- housing for the homeless,
- cheers that fall,
- provides jobs for unemployment,
- take care of the needs of the people in prisons, hospitals, nursing homes, mental institutions and mental institutions, homes of senior citizens; caring for the sick, the dead, the mental and social disorders,
- promote economic savings and progress., and
- bring people back to church.
Colleges, seminaries and universities
The African Episcopal Methodist Church has been one of the pioneers of education within the African-American community.
College & amp; university of the AME Church:
- Western University (Kansas)
- Campbell College, Jackson, Mississippi - now part of Jackson State University
Senior college in the United States:
- Allen University (Columbia, SC) Website
- Edward Waters College (Jacksonville, FL) Website
- Morris Brown College (Atlanta, GA) Website
- Paul Quinn College (Dallas, TX) Website
- Wilberforce University (Wilberforce, OH) Website
Junior colleges in the United States:
- Shorter College (North Little Rock, AR) Website
Theological Seminary in the United States:
- The Jackson Seminary Theological Website
- Payne Theological Seminary Site
- Turner Theological Seminary Website
Foreign colleges and universities:
- African Methodist Episcopal University, Liberia
Structure
General Conference
The General Conference is the supreme body of the African Episcopal Methodist Church. It consists of bishops, as president of officially, according to the rank of election, and an equal number of ministerial and lay delegates, elected by each of the Annual Conference and Electoral College of the Annual Conference. Other ex officio members are: General Officer, President of Higher Education, Dean of Theological Seminary; Pastor in US Regular Army. The General Conference meets every four years, but may have additional sessions in certain emergencies.
Board of Bishops
The Council of Bishops is the Executive Branch of the Church of Confrontation. It has a general oversight of the Church during the interim between the General Conference. The Council of Bishops shall meet annually at such time and place as the majority of the Council shall decide and also at other times deemed necessary in carrying out its responsibilities as Executive Branch of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The Council of Bishops must hold at least two public sessions at each annual meeting. Initially, complaints and petitions against a bishop should be heard, in the second decision, the Council's decision will be made public. All decisions must be in writing.
Board Incorporators
The Incorporator Council, also known as the General Board of Supervisors, has oversight, in trust, of all Church related property and is authorized to act on behalf of the Church of Connectivity wherever necessary.
General Board
The General Council is in many respects an administrative body and consists of various Commission departments comprising the Secretary-Treasurer, the Secretary-General of the AME Church, the General Treasurer and members of the various Commissions and one Bishop as chief officers with other related Bishops.
Judicial Council
The Judicial Council is the highest judicial body of the African Episcopal Methodist Church. This is the appeals court, elected by the General Conference and agrees to it.
AME Connectional Health Commission
The Connectional Health Commission serves, among other duties, to help denominations understand health as an integral part of the Christian Church's faith, to try to make our denomination a community of healing faith, and to promote the health problems of its members. One of the initiatives of the commission is the establishment of an interactive website that will enable not only the health director, but AMEC membership is in-large for accessing health information, full reports, asking for help. This website serves as a resource for AMEC members, and will be the same for anyone accessing the website. Additionally, since this will be an interactive site, this will allow the health director to enter password-protected chat rooms to discuss urgent needs and coordinate regional, national and global assistance efforts.
It is through this website that efforts to distribute information on resources and public health updates, and service requests can be coordinated nationally. This will allow those who access the website to use a central location for all resource information needs.
Overview
The World Council of Churches estimates membership of the AME Church about 2,510,000; 3,817 pastors, 21 bishops and 7,000 congregations.
The AME Church is a member of the National Council of Christ Churches in the United States (NCC), World Methodist Council, Churches Uniting in Christ, and World Council of Churches.
The AME Church is unrelated to the Episcopal Methodist American Union Methodist Church (founded in Delaware by Peter Spencer in 1813), or the Episcopal Church of Zion Methodist Africa (founded in New York by James Varick). However, all three are in full fellowship with each other since May 2012.
District
In May 2012, the African Methodist Episcopal Church held a full communion with the racially united United Methodist Church, and most members of the Methodist Church of the African/African Episcopal Church of Zion, the African Union Methodist Protestant Church, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, and the American Methodist Episcopal Union Church, where these Churches agree to "confess the church to one another, share the sacrament, and affirm their clergy and ministry." bringing a resemblance of unity and reconciliation with church bodies that follow in the footsteps of John and Charles Wesley
Social issues
The AME Church is active on social justice issues and has invested time in reforming the criminal justice system. The AME Church also opposes "elective abortion". Regarding women's issues, AME has supported gender equality and, in 2000, chose the first female bishop. In 2004, denominations voted to ban same-sex marriage in their churches, but did not assign positions at the ordination. However, church bishops have stated that LGBT people are openly not ordained.
During the 2016 General Conference, the AME Church invited Hillary Clinton to give speeches to delegates and clergy. In addition, the AME Church chose to take a "climate change stance".
See also
- A.M.E. Church Review, quarterly journal of the African Episcopal Methodist Church
- Religion in the Black America
- African Methodist Episcopal Church of Sion
- The black church
- The British Episcopal Methodist Church in Canada
- The Methodist Christian Episcopal Church
- Churches Uniting in Christ (formerly Consultation on Church Union [COCU] - founded in 1960).
- List of African Methodist Episcopal Churches
- Methodism
- Category: African Methodist Episcopal bishops
- Category: Universities and colleges affiliated with the African Episcopal Methodist Church
- African Episcopal Methodist Church in Nigeria
Footnote
Further reading
- Bailey, Julius H. Race Protest Patriotism and Print Culture at AME Church. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 2012.
- Campbell, James T. Songs of Zion: The African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States and South Africa. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
- Cones, James. God our Father, Christ, our Redeemer, My Sister Man: The Theological Interpretation of the AME Church, The AME Church Review , vol. 106, no. 341 (1991).
- Gregg, Howard D. History of the African Episcopal Methodist Church: The Black Church in Action. Nashville, TN: Henry A. Belin, Jr., 1980.
- Wayman, Alexander W. Cyclopaedia of African Methodism. Baltimore: Methodist Episcopal Book Depository, 1882.
External links
- The official Church AME website
- The official website of "The Christian Recorder"
- Women's Missionary Community at AME church
- AMEC Office of Labor Security
- AME Church Warehouse
- AmE Church of Global Witness & amp; Ministry
- AME Digital Archives at Payne College
- AMEC Christian Education Department
- AMEC Lay Organization
- Richard Allen Young Adult Council
- AMECHealth.org AME Official Health Commission
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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