the bishop's word

A Message from Bishop Richard Franklin Norris

The African Methodist Episcopal Church was born in the cauldron of oppression overshadowed by the inequities of slavery and discrimination. When the United States was being formulated in the city of Philadelphia in 1787, Richard Allen was living out the reality that Blacks were viewed as three fifths of a person. The stigma of segregation in worship was an affront to Allen, and on one crisp fall day he and a small band of Black worshippers walked out of St. George Methodist Episcopal Church. This was, perhaps, the first social action movement recorded in history of the fledging republic.

This liberating action gave birth to Mother Bethel, which spawned the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which has grown into a massive international community of faith. The church is organized into twenty administrative areas known as Episcopal Districts. Each Episcopal District is superintended by a duly elected and consecrated Bishop of the church. The First Episcopal District is the Mother District of the denomination out of which all other districts emerged.

The First Episcopal District has seven Annual Conferences, Philadelphia embracing the eastern half of Pennsylvania, New York which includes New York City, Long Island and Westchester County, Western New York embracing the remainder of the state of New York, New Jersey including the entire state of New Jersey, New England which includes the New England States, Delaware which is made up of the state of Delaware and churches in Chester, PA. and the Bermuda Conference embracing the Islands of Bermuda.

Under the umbrella of the First Episcopal District are more than three hundred congregations with some one hundred thousand members. The congregations range in size from the very modest membership to the mega churches with thousands of members. Each African Methodist congregation in their own unique way provides ministry to meet the needs of the community that they serve.

As the reservoir of the richest history and the greatest possibility for Black people in America, the African Methodist Episcopal Church stands poised for greater liberating and reconciling ministry. The glory of the fast simply provides light for the uncharted future of service. The motto of African Methodism is, "God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, Man Our Brother." We strive to make this motto live for the people we serve.