A Look at Black Church History
By Celia C. Peters, AOL BlackVoices
‘The black church’ means many things to many people. The term itself is misleading, because there are a host of black denominations. Collectively, however, they have arguably been the most steadfast component of AfricanAmerican culture. Church as a cultural force has been the foundation of the black community, and it continues to be -- particularly at a time when uncertainty about the state of the world is growing and the black nuclear family itself remains fragmented.
Following are brief histories of three of the major black denominations: the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) church, which was the first formally organized black denomination; the Baptist church, which is perhaps the most widely recognized black denomination; and finally, the Pentecostal church, which in the past 30 years has been the fastest growing black denomination.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church
The origins of the A.M.E. church lie in Methodism, which was established in the 1700s in Britain by John Wesley, who brought his movement to the colonies. Methodism is based upon doctrines of the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus Christ, and the necessity of humankind’s freewill in achieving eternal salvation. Richard Allen, the founder of the A.M.E. church, was born as a slave in Philadelphia in 1760. He was inspired to religious action by an itinerant Methodist evangelist when he was a youth. Allen convinced his master to open his home to evangelists, and eventually, his master rejected slavery and offered Allen the chance to buy his freedom. In 1787, a group of praying black worshippers at the interracial St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia was made to leave the main body of the congregation and go to a separate area. Immediately after, the insulted blacks formed the Free African Society, which later spawned the Episcopalians and the Methodists. Allen led the Methodist faction; more than anything, he wanted freedom of worship, and the dignity of unity. Allen raised money and forged relationships with other religious groups. In 1816, a group of churches came together in Philadelphia and formed the African Methodist Episcopal church, which was essentially a pure form of the original Methodist doctrine, which was practiced by blacks. Its northern roots and sociological origins have shaped the A.M.E. church’s unique character, which historically embraced education and upward mobility.
The Baptist Church
When most people think of “the black church,” it is usually the Baptist church that comes to mind. A key organizer of the American Baptist church was Roger Williams, an Englishman driven from home by his beliefs and the founder of the colony of Rhode Island. Williams, along with a small group of others, was among the first Americans baptized by immersion; they called themselves “Baptist.” The Revolutionary War helped spread the religion, and although there were interracial Baptist congregations in New England, as the religion spread southward, divisions began to appear. The oldest black Baptist church is thought to be the First Colored Baptist Church in Savannah, Ga., which was established in January 1788 by a slave preacher named Andrew Bryan. With the permission of his master, Bryan built a building for his congregation and set up shop. The church members were brutally persecuted by area whites for wanting to worship; Bryan, his brother and other congregants were sometimes whipped for not having proper “tickets-of-leave.” Apparently, this only fortified their faith. Soon, it became clear that many white American Baptists would accept slavery, and by the 1800s, black Baptist churches appeared. By the mid-1800s, the Baptist religion was split over the issue of slavery, although one of the religion’s principles is the equality of believers. As a result, black Baptist churches such as New York’s Abyssinian Baptist Church and Philadelphia’s First African Baptist Church were founded during this era.
The Pentecostal Church
The Pentecostal Church has seen explosive growth in both the United States and Latin America recently. A son of freed slaves, William Joseph Seymour, was pivotal to the development of the Pentecostal faith. Born in 1870, he left the A.M.E. church for a less bourgeois style of worship. Like many blacks, he was seeking “interracial reconciliation” through holiness, divine healing and direct contact with the Holy Spirit. Word of his beliefs spread to two other black men, Charles P. Jones and Charles H. Mason, at a famous California revival called Azusa in the late 1800s. Mason, who had been converted by a white missionary, embraced Seymour’s doctrines. He and Jones took their new faith to Memphis, but soon split over ideological differences. Part of the Pentecostal doctrine lies in the Book of Acts and its reference to the “tongues of fire” that rested upon the disciples and moved them to speak in tongues. While black evangelicals already shouted, it was not necessarily based on biblical text. Charles Jones did not believe that speaking in tongues was necessary for “Spirit baptism,” but Charles Mason did, and they parted. In 1895, Charles Mason formed the Church of God in Christ, which is the largest black Pentecostal denomination. Traditionally, the Pentecostal religion has often appealed to the working class, the underclass and the most severely oppressed.