AME Church celebrates bicentennial at 50th Quadrennial conference

By Zenitha Prince
Contributing Writer

(Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper) — Two centuries ago, former Delaware slave Richard Allen and other Black worshippers formed the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, fleeing discrimination in the segregated Methodist Church.

Today, the AME Church has membership in 20 Episcopal Districts in 39 countries on five continents. And, from July 6-13, thousands of those AME congregants returned to the birthplace of their denomination to celebrate its bicentennial during the 50th Quadrennial Session of the church’s general conference.

AME Church Senior Bishop John Bryant is retiring.

“It is a significant moment for us to gather in Philadelphia,” said the Rev. Ronald Braxton, Presiding Elder of the Washington Conference, “Two hundred years for an African-American institution to survive but to also be thriving is pretty significant.”

The bicentennial milestone was a key focus of the conference and had already been celebrated at pre-conference activities, including the dedication of a Richard Allen statue at founding church, Mother Bethel AME in Philadelphia, a torch run from Delaware to Philadelphia and a Bicentennial Banquet at Pennsylvania Aca-demy of the Fine Arts on July 5.

Beyond the anniversary festivities, luncheons, worship services and other opportunities to fellowship, the general conference was the forum where much of the church’s business is conducted.

A chief part of that business is legislating new church by-laws, debating religious, community and even political issues and deciding on official church positions on those matters. This year, conference delegates—who are chosen at the annual district conferences—grappled with 402 pages of legislation.

“I’m hoping that the church will make good decisions as it relates to our role in our communities, that we become that instrument of change and the motivator of a new order so our communities can become stronger,” said Rev. Braxton prior to the convening of the conference. He heads the Second Episcopal District’s delegation.

Conference attendees addressed political matters such as get-out-the-vote efforts and new impediments to voting—although the church does not make official candidate endorsements.

This year, five bishops are retiring, including Bishop William DeVeaux, presiding prelate of the Second Episcopal District, which covers the Maryland-D.C.-Virginia area and Senior Bishop John Bryant, a native son of Baltimore. And, currently, 31 persons are vying for those five slots, including the Rev. Dr. Frank Reid III of Baltimore and the Rev. Dr. Harry Seawright of Prince George’s County, Md.

Of particular focus was the dearth of women on the council of bishops. Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, another Baltimore native who made history in 2000 when she became the first female bishop of the AME Church, is currently the denomination’s only female presiding prelate.

Braxton told the AFRO, “The church is concerned about that and will be looking at that during the conference.”

This article originally published in the July 18, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.