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Frequently Asked Questions

Why do we say ''African Methodist Episcopal''?

 

The word African means that the church was organized by people of African descent and heritage. It does not mean that the church was founded in Africa, or that it was for persons of African descent only.

 

The church's roots is of the family of Methodist churches. Methodism provides an orderly system of rules and regulations and places emphasis on a plain and simple gospel.

 

Episcopal refers to the form of government under which the church operates. The chief executive and administrative officers of the African Methodist Episcopal denomination are the Bishops of the church

 

What is our relationship with the Methodists?

 

The A.M.E. Church is Methodist in terms of its basic doctrine and order of worship. It was born, through adversity, of the Methodist Episcopal Church and to this day does not differ in any major way from what all Methodists believe. The split from the main branch of the Methodist Church was not a result of doctrinal differences but rather the result of a time period that was marked by intolerance, based on the color of a person's skin. It was a time of slavery, oppression and the dehumanization of people of African descent and many of these un-Christian practices were brought into the church, forcing Richard Allen and a group of fellow worshippers of color to form a splinter denomination of the Methodist Church.

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