| Our Beginning
|
In 1787, Rev. Richard Allen, Rev. Absalom Jones, and a band of followers
withdrew from the St. George Methodist Church in Philadelphia because of
the "unkind treatment" and discrimination with which these worshippers of
African decent faced. They felt they no longer could worshop in a
congregation that could not affirm them fully as children of God with equal
potential and worth. Allen and the followers began worshipping in a
blacksmith shop. They founded The Free African Society, which was the
beginning of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
In 1816, Richard Allen and representatives from several African churches met
and a church organization or "connection" was organized as the African
Methodist Episcopal Church. Richard Allen was the founder and first Bishop
of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. They began the first African
American denomination; it allowed and still allows people of African
descent self-respect, dignity, and the freedom to worship God wholly,
participating to the fullest measure in the building of God's kingdom.