History of African Methodism

The Founder: Richard Allen

Richard Allen, the founder and first bishop of the A.M.E. Church was born February 14, 1760, a slave of Benjamin Chew of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At an early age, he, his father, mother and three other children were sold into the state of Delaware, where, on a farm in the neighborhood of Dover, he was brought up, About 1777 he was converted and soon afterwards, about 1780, he began to preach. His religion was so thorough and genuine, that it affected every department of his life. As a result his master permitted prayer meeting and preaching in his house, and was converted himself. The master showed his conversion by making it possible for his slaves to become free. Accordingly Richard Allen and his brother bought their freedom for $2,000.00 Continental money.

Richard Allen left his master and began working for himself, with a job of cutting cord wood; then he was employed at $50.00 (Continental money) a month in a brick yard; then he worked as a day laborer; then as a teamster hauling salt during the Revolutionary War from Rehobar, Sussex County, Delaware. During all of this time he preached whenever he could, After he had acquired experience, he began to travel from place to place preaching. Like Paul, he worked with his hands for his own support as he preached. In the fall of 1783, he was in Wilmington, Delaware; later and until spring of 1784, he traveled and preached in New Jersey, after which he traveled and preached in Pennsylvania.

In February 1786, he came to Philadelphia and preached at St. George's Church and at different places in that city where there was a large colored population. He soon affiliated himself with St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church, where he subsequently became a member, and a local preacher of that congregation. It was out of St. George's Church that Allen and his followers marched. His followers marched as a protest against racial discrimination within the House of God.

The rise of the African Methodist Episcopal Church came about as a direct protest against racial segregation as was then practiced within the body of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Richard Allen, the first Negro ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church, soon found that he and the other Negro members of St. George's Church in Philadelphia, were increasingly becoming a major problem to the other more affluent members of the congregation.

After being assigned to their "special pews" very often they were forced to vacate them to make room for their Christian brothers whom our common Father had chosen to create with fairer skin. After several embarrassing and humiliating incidents, Allen and his followers withdrew from St. George's Church, and retired to an old abandoned blacksmith shop on the comer of 6th and Lombard Streets, where the African Methodist Episcopal Church came into being.

From the year 1787, when the Negro members withdrew from St. George's Church in Philadelphia, until the year 1816, Negroes in New York City, Salem, New Jersey, Wilmington, Delaware, and Baltimore, Maryland, were experiencing the same indignities that had earlier befallen their brethren in Philadelphia. On learning of their plight, Richard Allen, the leader of the Methodist of African descent in the city of Philadelphia, called them all to an organizational meeting in his blacksmith's shop in Philadelphia, and in this humble and unorthodox manner, the African Methodist Episcopal Church was formally organized.

The A.M.E. Church, as it has since come to be most widely known, has grown from this obscure beginning to be the second largest Methodist denomination in the world. It ministers to more than a million and a half members in continental United States, and perhaps nearly a million more in Africa, India, South America, Bermuda and Canada.

The denomination is divided into Conferences, in which all of the churches within a certain geographical boundary belong. Mt. Zion Church is a part of the New Jersey Conference, comprising all of the A.M.E. Churches within the State of New Jersey. The Conference meets annually and receives contributions from the churches to carry on the denomination's program of education, missions and overseas commitments. Candidates for the ministry are ordained, and the pastors are assigned to the congregations that they are to serve.

The word "African" means that our church was organized by people of African descent and heritage. It does not mean that our church was founded in Africa, or that it is for people of African descent only. It simply means that those Americans who founded it were of African descent, and we proudly recognize this fact.

In the year 1787 Richard Allen, our founder, and a group of dark-skinned Americans of African descent were forced to organize themselves into a separate group for their own spiritual, social, educational and general growth and development. At that time the word Negro or colored had not yet come into general use in reference to those of us who are now called African Americans. All of our ancestors of that day were referred to as Africans. This particular group of Americans of African descent, under the leadership of Richard Allen, constituted the first and founding members of our church.

Our church is a member of the family of Methodist Churches. Richard Allen, our founder and first active bishop, felt that no religious group or denomination would suit the capacity of his people as well as did Methodism. He was impressed with its emphasis upon the plain and simple gospel which the unlearned could understand, and its orderly system of rules and regulations which the under-developed needed. He felt that Methodism had what we needed to encourage us to make progress, to worship God freely, and to fill every office which was available in church and in our total community.

The word "Episcopal" refers to the form of government under which our church operates. The Episcopal form of government means that the chief executive and administrative officers of our denomination are our Bishops. Their authority is given them by the General Conference. Their responsibilities are to oversee the spiritual and temporal affairs of our church, including presiding over annual conferences, making pastoral appointments, ordaining deacons and elders, organizing missions, and generally promoting the interest of the denomination.

The Christian Church is a community of people who believe in God and who have accepted Jesus Christ as the Guide and Master of their lives. We who make up the Christian Church believe that God, through Jesus Christ can transform individuals in such a way as to cause them to want to be like, think like, and act like Jesus in every area of their daily lives. We also believe that there is a divine power, referred to as the Holy Spirit, which enables the willing person to become a true and effective servant of God, as Jesus was a true and effective servant.

Jesus Christ is the spiritual head of the Christian Church. The A.M.E. denomination and the local church of which you are a member represent an organized group of Christian believers who are studying, learning, growing, serving, and further developing themselves into effective Christian servants.

"Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it." 1 Cor. 12:27

The true Christian is referred to by St. Paul in 1 Cor. 12:27 as "............. the body of Christ," and as persons "called to be saints" in 1 Cor. 1:2. It is the instrument for making the will of God known and effectively operating in the world. Just as the human body is the home of every living personality in the world, so the Church is the home of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Just as man’s body and spirit are intimately joined together, so are Christ and His Church intimately joined together.

All of this is to say that the Christian Church is the spirit of Jesus Christ and the body of Jesus Christ. We who make up the church are his voice, his hands, and his feet in action, seeking to bring about a new world under God.

We join the church in order that through participation in her many activities we may grow in spiritual understanding and character, and become better able to more effectively serve both God and man.

Since the church is "the body of Christ" we expect it to be organized. A body cannot function effectively unless the various parts are properly related to each other. An effectively functioning church must be an organized church - must be knitted together as the various parts of our body are knitted together. No single part of our body is isolated or self-sufficient. Each part is a member of the whole. 1 Cor. 12:20-21.

The church is organized into groups, clubs, boards, and classes in such a way as to serve the needs of all members, and in such a way as to have the members serve the needs of each other. Each group is separate from the other, yet absolutely related to one another, bound together in one fellowship of worship, activity, and service.

The church might be described as a body of lively organized Christians in action. A body without life is ready only to be buried. A body with life is ready for action. A church that is not active is not Christian because Christianity represents life. This life is a gift of God.

The Spirit of God is what brings life. When the Spirit of God is present in the church organizations, the whole church becomes a lively instrument of God, crusading for His kingdom on earth.

Jesus Christ is the head of the church that is his body. The entire body is under the control of the Head. When any part of the body ignores its head, the members suffer. We who make up the church organize ourselves to serve divine ends. God gives life and power to the organization, provided the parts of the organization do not separate themselves from Him.

The membership roll of the church represents the human materials out of which the church must be built. Whatever else we might say about the church we must never ignore the fact that the church is people. It is more than people, but it is nothing without people.

"GOD OUR FATHER, CHRIST OUR REDEEMER, MAN OUR BROTHER"

Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it Holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou Nor thy son, nor thou daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy gates, for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: Wherefor the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Thou shalt not kill.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.

Thou shalt love thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

1. Attend worship service regularly,
2. Participate in the activities of the church, enthusiastically,
3. Give for the support of the church, liberally,
4. Seek after and persuade others to join the church
5. And represent the church in every daily activity, sincerely.

To do all of these jobs effectively it is important that persons have their membership In local churches which they can conveniently attend.

HOW TO BECOME A MEMBER

There are several ways of becoming a full member of a local church.

There are several ways of becoming a full member of a local church.

1. Respond to the invitation and Be Place on Probation

Any person who wants To join may do so by presenting himself or herself to the pastor at a regular worship service or at anytime when the invitation is extended. Such a person is received and placed on probation for three months. During this period the probationary member receives instructions from the pastor, a steward, class leader, and others. At the end of this period, if the class leaders considers the probationary member to be worthy, he may recommend him for full membership. If an examination confirms the class leader’s judgment, the person may be received in to full membership.

2. On Probation of Faith

To be received on profession of faith a person must have been baptized, professed faith in Jesus Christ, and assumed the vows of membership in the A.M.E. Church.

3. Transfer

Any member moving from one place to another may have his or her membership transferred by requesting a letter of transfer from the church in which membership is now held. Persons coming from other denominations shall remain on trail for three months, unless recommended by two members in good and regular standing. These persons must take the vows of membership in the A.M.E. Church.

4. Restoration

Members who move From one place to another but fail to unite with the A.M.E. Church within twelve months, may be restored to full membership if recommended by two members who are in good and regular standing. Without such recommendation they must be placed on probation.

5. Affiliated

Members of the A.M.E. Church residing in a community for only a temporary period may enroll as affiliated members of any A.M.E. Church in the vicinity of their temporary residence.

6. Termination of Membership

A person may cease To be a member of the A.M.E. Church only by Withdrawal, Expulsion or Death. When a member desires to withdraw he must do so by stating in writing to the pastor. The pastor shall give a letter of withdrawal and report the same to the Official Board.

A person who has been a non-resident member for three consecutive years shall be listed as having left Without Certificate and shall no longer be classed as a member. This same procedure shall apply to members who join another denomination without notice.

A member who continuously neglects his duty as a Christian shall be entrusted by the stewards to renew his vows. If he refuses to be dutiful he shall be listed as Left without certificate, subject to the action of the Church Conference and the Quarterly Conference.