Part of the Christian Methodist denomination, the AME Church has a concise history. Looking for religious freedom and freedom of discrimination by Philadelphia’s St. George’s MEC, African-American roots dominated the creation of AME. The original church was established by Absalom Jones, Richard Allen and others in 1787, the AME began as the FAS (Free African Society).
The African Methodist Episcopal Church is the first church in the Western world that came from sociological differences rather than theologica. Also, it was the first African-American denomination that was incorporated / organized in the USA. One may think that the AME grew from dissent however, the reality is that John Wesley (the Methodist church founder), was actually known as an abolitionist.
Prior to the civil war, the church expanded throughout the midwest and northeast. Also during this time of slavery, the church expanded into Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, and South Carolina. It wasn’t until the 1850′s that the AME expanded it’s ministry to the west coast, planting churches in California cities such as San Francisco, Stockton and Sacramento.
According to the AME Web site:
During the reconstruction after the civil war, came an era of denominational development. Freshly free’d slaves were recruited into the AME with permission from the Union army officials. The collapsing confederacy’s states were the target of the denomination. “I Seek My Brethren,” a sermon that was often repeated by Theophilus G. Steward who was a preacher in South Carolina. This became a call to evangelize blacks in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and other parts of the southern US. Membership of the AME in 1880 grew to 400,000 members due to its rapid expansion below the Mason-Dixon line. Bishop Henry M. Turner worked to spread African Methodism from the Atlantic coast to Liberia and Sierra Leone in 1891. In 1896, AME had spread into South Africa and laid the foundation for adherents on two continents.
The roots of AME is methodist and can be described in the Apostle’s Creed / 25 articles of religion and the bylaws of the AME church. The AME stresses that people of any ethnic background or nationality will be included in their church. Dispite 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 do not stand alone. There is a larger organization that includes a general board, judicial council, council of bishops, board of incorporators, and a general conference. The bishops act as chief officers and are elected by the general conference “for life”. The general conference meets every four years, to vote on bishops. A majority vote is required for each bishop to serve. Their church law requires each bishop to retire after they turn 75. This law was inherited from episcopal church, also helping to define the African Methodist Episcopal name.
The motto of the church is “A source of Unity” and it’s history is unique in itself.
According to the official website of the AME, in 1856, Bishop Daniel A. Payne proposed to the general conference that the seal of the episcopal church should include a denominational creedal statement: “God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, Man Our Brother”. Until 1908, this was the official declaration of A.M.E. faith identity. Then pentecostalism gained momentum in 1906 in Los Angeles’ Azusa Street Mission, previously, the first church site of the A.M.E. Church, they were convinced to change the motto. At the general conference meeting in Norfolk, Virginia, 1908 the motto was officially changed to “God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, the Holy Ghost Our Comforter, Man Our Brother”.
Although the change was retained through 1916, a return to the original motto carried the church through the twentieth century. At the 2008 General Conference, however, a more inclusive motto was adopted. It now declares, “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.
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