African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, or AME Zion Church, was officially formed in 1821, but operated for a number years before then. The church can be traced back to the John Street Methodist Church of New York City. Following acts of overt discrimination (such as black parishoners being forced to leave worship), many black Christians left to form their own churches. The first church founded by the AME Zion Church was built in 1800 and was named Zion. These early churches were still part of the Methodist church, although the congregations remained separate.

The fledgling church grew and soon multiple churches were formed based on the original congregation. These churches were attended by black congregants, but ministered to by white Episcopalian ministers. In 1820, six of the churches met to ordain James Varick as an elder. A debate raged in the white-dominated Methodist church over the possibility of black ministers. This debate concluded on July 30, 1822 when James Varick was ordained the first bishop of the AME Zion church.

Note

The AME Zion Church is not to be confused with the similarly-named African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Structure

A general conference is the supreme administrative body of the church (s. 1988). Between meetings of the conference, the church is administered by the Board of Bishops. The denomination operates Livingstone College in Salisbury, NC, and two junior colleges. It's missionaries are active in North and South America, Africa, and the Caribbean region (s. 1988).

The Church Today

The church grew rapidly with the ordination of black ministers, but was mostly confined to the northern United States until the conclusion of the American Civil War. Today, the AME Zion church as roughly 1.2 million members with outreach activities in many areas around the world.

The AME-Zion church has been in negotiations for many years to merge with the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church into a tentatively-named Christian Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. The plan was originally for them to unite by 2004, but this has been delayed by the AMEZ church, which insists on having "African" in the name. [1] [2] It is very similar in doctrine and practice to that church and the AME Church.

References

• World Book encyclopedia 1988.
• [An Oration on the Abolition of the Slave Trade - George Lawrence An 1813 sermon at the AME Zion Church, from the Antislavery Literature Project.

See also

• Churches Uniting in Christ