The nation’s oldest black denomination will bring one of the nation’s oldest national gatherings to St. Louis July 4-11.
More than 30,000 conventioneers are expected to descend upon Downtown St. Louis and the region for the 48th Session of the General Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
“We are very excited about coming to St. Louis,” said Bishop John Richard Bryant, 5th District presiding prelate.
“People will be coming in from across the nation and also from Asia and India.”
Bryant said the AME Church has a “reputation for addressing social issues,” and that tens of thousands of volunteers will be serving in the St. Louis area during the convention.
Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, chairperson of the Conference Commission, said that the church “looks forward to partnering” with St. Louis and the surrounding area.
“We can’t wait to get here,” she said.
While the word “African” is in its name, it only means that the AME Church was organized by people of African descent. The church was not founded in Africa, and its doors are not closed to people who are not of African descent
The church’s roots are in the Methodist church, which according to the church “provides an orderly system of rules and regulations and places emphasis on a plain and simple gospel.”
Founded in 1787 in Philadelphia by Richard Allen and a group of slaves and freedmen, the AME Church was formed after officials at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church pulled blacks off their knees while praying.
The rebelling members changed their mutual aid society into an African congregation. Outraged black members wanted to affiliate with the Protestant Episcopal Church, but Allen led a small group who remained Methodists. In 1794 Bethel AME was dedicated with Allen as pastor.
The AME Church now has more than 3 million members in 7,500 churches in America, Africa, the Caribbean, England and Canada.
As Bryant explained, the church is resolved to not only serving God, but also the communities where they have members.
“When we leave a city, we want to make it better off than when we arrived,” he said.
St. Louis won the AME Church’s convention in 2000.
“It is a tremendous location because so many of our members, from are various regions, can drive,” Bryant said.
In a lighter moment, Bryant also said St. Louis was a major contender for the convention “because you are located where Southwest Airlines serves. And our members definitely like that.”
For more on the AME Church General Conference, visit www.stlamerican.com
Father Allen’s Golden Jubilee
Fr. Philip J. Allen will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving for 50 years of service to the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Wichita Kansas, at St. Elizabeth, Mother of John the Baptist, Catholic Church, 4330 Shreve Ave. in St Louis on Sunday, June 8. The mass will begin at 3 p.m. and will be followed by a reception at Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School, 701 N. Spring Ave. The mass and reception are open to those who wish to attend.
Fr. Allen is a native of St. Louis and was ordained at Kenrick Seminary by Archbishop Joseph Ritter on May 31, 1958. He is the son of the late Eric and Genevieve Allen. Fr. Allen is 80 years of age. He attended St. Nicholas Grade School, here in St. Louis, before entering the seminary of the Society of the Divine Word at Bay St. Louis, Miss.