The Denominational Leadership Health Initiative

Brief History of AME Church

Dr. Jamesina Evans, International President, Women’s Missionary Society

The Women's Missionary Society (WMS) of the African Methodist Episcopal Church continues in its 137th year legacy to inspire and equip its members to participate in advocacy for justice and peace, human rights, the oppressed and voiceless, women, children and the elderly.

The WMS continues to serve in the forefront of the works of the mission, operating from the highest level within each Episcopal District. As the representative of some 1.5 million women of the AME Church worldwide, The Women's Missionary Society has a legacy of mission service committed to winning souls to Christ and improving the quality of life for women from those injustices that effect health, peace, economics and other issues. Today, Dr. Jamesina Evans serves as the societies international President.

Richard Allen
 
The African Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in Philadelphia, PA on April 12, 1787, by Richard Allen as a result of the discrimination against Black members of the St. George Methodist Episcopal Church and in protest against slavery. The AMEC grew out of the Free African Society (FAS), which Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and others established in Philadelphia in 1787. When officials at St. George's MEC pulled blacks off their knees while praying, FAS members discovered just how far American Methodists would go to enforce racial discrimination against African Americans. Hence, these members of St. George's made plans to transform their mutual aid society into an African congregation. Although most wanted to affiliate with the Protestant Episcopal Church, Allen led a small group who resolved to remain Methodists. In 1794 Bethel AME was dedicated with Allen as pastor. To establish Bethel's independence from interfering white Methodists, Richard Allen, a former Delaware slave, successfully sued in the Pennsylvania courts in 1807 and 1815 for the right of his congregation to exist as an independent institution. Because Black Methodists in other middle Atlantic communities encountered racism and desired religious autonomy, Bishop Allen called them to meet in Philadelphia to form a new Wesleyan denomination, the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
 
Sr. Bishop
John R. Bryant, Sr.
AME Church


In the 1990s, the AME included members in more than 30 nations in North and South America, Africa, and Europe . Twenty bishops and 12 general officers comprised the leadership of the denomination.

For more information on the history of the AME Church, Click here.