African Methodist Episcopal Church

rdf:langString African Methodist Episcopal Church

rdf:langString African Methodist Episcopal Church

rdf:langString Methodist Episcopal Church -

rdf:langString Churches Uniting in Christ ;

rdf:langString God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, Holy Spirit Our Comforter, Humankind Our Family

rdf:langString The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexional polity. The African Methodist Episcopal Church is the first independent Protestant denomination to be founded by Black people; though it welcomes and has members of all ethnicities. It was founded by Richard Allen (1760–1831)—who was later elected and ordained the AME's first bishop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania—in 1816 when he called together five African American congregations of the previously established Methodist Episcopal Church (which had been founded either in December 1784 at the famous "Christmas Conference" or at its first General Conference at Lovely Lane Chapel meeting house in old Baltimore Town) by Blacks hoping to escape the discrimination that was commonplace in society. It was among the first denominations in the United States to be founded for this reason (rather than for theological distinctions), and has persistently advocated for the civil and human rights of African Americans through social improvement, religious autonomy, and political engagement while always being open to people of all racial backgrounds. Allen, an previously ordained deacon in the Methodist Episcopal Church, was elected by the gathered ministers and ordained as its first bishop in 1816 by the first General Conference of the five churches—extending from the three in the Philadelphia area in Pennsylvania to ones in Delaware and Baltimore, Maryland. The denomination then expanded west and through the South, particularly after the American Civil War (1861–1865). By 1906, the AME had a membership of about 500,000 (half a million), more than the combined total of the two other predominantly Black American denominations—the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, making it the largest major African-American denomination of the Methodist traditions. The AME Church currently has 20 districts, each with its own bishop: 13 are based in the United States, mostly in the South, while seven are based in Africa. The global membership of the AME is around 2.5 million members, and it remains one of the largest Methodist denominations in the world.