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Our Affirmation of Faith: The Apostle’s Creed I Believe in God the Father, Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; The third day He arose from the dead, He ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I Believe in the Holy Spirit, (I Believe in) the Church Universal, (I Believe in) the communion of the saints, (I Believe in) the forgiveness of sins, (I Believe in) the resurrection of the body, and (I Believe in) the life everlasting. Amen.
A Statement on African Methodism
The African Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During a worship service at St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church, those of African descent were praying and during their talk with God some were pulled up off their knees and told by some Whites that they couldn't pray before them and therefore had to get up. AFTER PRAYING, nineteen Blacks walked out of the church. Amongst these there was one by the name of Richard Allen, whose leadership helped form the Free African Society, which later organized into the African Methodist Episcopal Church, of which Richard Allen became our first Bishop.
The A.M.E. Church was the first major black movement in America. A church founded NOT out of theological differences, but out of an act of racism (unless you consider racism a theological issue… now that could be an exciting discussion J). Today the A.M.E. Church extends over the continental United States and stretches into Africa itself and the world over.