The prayers and praise of members of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church blazed the trail for equal religious rights for blacks and autonomy. Now Church leaders are making new strides.
The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME) recently hosted two national conferences in St. Louis which aimed at new approaches to religious and public education. More than 2,000 church leaders from across the country and portions of Africa attended the conferences.
The 2009 Lay Institute took place at the Millennium Hotel recently, immediately followed by the annual CME Church Convocation at the Hyatt Regency.
The Department of Lay is the general makeup of the church body which does not have the responsibilities of ordained clergy. The Lay Institute takes place every four years. During the conference 20 candidates vied for the positions four retiring bishops. Victor Taylor, Lay ministries general secretary, addressed the crowd about the future of the ministry.
“I focus on how they should conduct themselves in their respective churches,” said Taylor, who is a St. Louis native now residing in Chicago. “Show them the best practices for a new direction of the church.”
Since the predominately black church’s inception, its mission has been to provide a separate place to worship and educate its people.
The CME church began in 1870 when 41 former slaves in Jackson, Tenn., petitioned to the then white-led Methodist Church in the South, demanding the right to worship independently, said church spokeswoman Juanita Bryant.
“Back then blacks were seated in the back of the church,” Bryant said. “They weren’t pleased with that, so they started their own church body and had their own ministers.”
Bryant said the church’s main emphasis has always been on education. Fifty years after it was established, the church formed 12 schools and colleges.
Four colleges are still in operation: Texas College, in Tyler, TX.; Lane College, Jackson, Tenn.; Paine College (co-founded with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South) in Augusta, GA.; and Miles College in Birmingham, Ala.
In 1944 the church founded Phillips School of Theology which is located in Atlanta, GA.
Lay leaders reviewed church polices and may recommend changes.
“Our founders wanted our community to be spiritually uplifted and educated because they knew that was the means by which blacks would be successful,” Bryant said. “Our church has and never will deviate from that focus.”