Free to Worship: Bishop Richard Allen and the Birth of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
Sometimes we like to share a little bit of an Asbury “Did You Know” article and feature some of the rich history that impacts our community and faith life. For February’s edition of the Alumni Link, we would like to feature the priceless contributions of an individual for whom one of the chapels on our Wilmore campus is named. This man overcame unimaginable obstacles, earning the money to buy his own freedom and proceeding to become the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He is not remembered nearly often enough for the sacrifices and contributions he made to American Methodism and the Kingdom of God.
Born a slave in Philadelphia, PA on February 14, 1760 at 2am, this pioneer of faith was known only as “Negroe Richard.” Sold later to a Delaware planter named Stokeley Sturgis, Richard was converted to Methodism by a traveling preacher and became critical in Sturgis’s conversion as well. Sturgis, having a crisis of conscience about slavery and in desperate need of money, offered to allow Richard to purchase his freedom. Richard earned the money in record time by tirelessly hauling salt.
After being freed, Richard marked the retrieval of his dignity by taking an official surname: Allen. He traveled around the northeast, preaching and working his way around. Upon returning to Philadelphia as an entire class of freedmen and freedwomen emerged, Richard Allen and his contemporaries formed the Free African Society, a mutual-aid society dedicated to the improvement of black lives, families, and communities. Shortly after forming this society, the racially driven aggression Allen and others experienced at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church led them to establish their own church, which they named Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. It was the first Methodist church solely for black members in America, and was dedicated by Francis Asbury in 1794 with Allen as pastor. They wished to remain within the Methodist Episcopal Church due to the simple accessibility of the denomination for common people. Allen was ordained a deacon by Asbury in 1799.
Allen and his contemporaries, however, continued suffering racial discrimination and aggression within the world of white Methodism. The interference from white leadership stifled their ability to lead their own congregation; even two of their three class meetings were led by appointed white leaders from St. George’s rather than leaders from their own congregation. Eventually, just as he fought for his own freedom, (and even while he and his wife secretly ran an Underground Railroad stop in their home) Allen fought fiercely for the freedom of his congregation, leading him to sue twice (in 1807 and 1815) for Bethel Church to exist as an independent institution without the interference of her aggressors. When the courts ruled in Bethel’s favor in 1816, Allen is purported to have penned these words:
The God of Bethel heard her cries,
He let his power be seen;
He stopped the proud oppressor’s frown,
And proved himself a King.
Finally, with freedom and autonomy within his congregation’s grasp, Allen boldly gathered other black leaders of other congregations to meet in Philadelphia and form a denominational structure of their own: the African Methodist Episcopal Church. They elected Allen their first bishop, and with that, his life trajectory, which began with the name “Negroe Richard,” came to its peak as his name finally reflected the distinguished accomplishments of his faithfulness and hard work: The Rt. Rev. Richard Allen.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church still stands as one of the strongest, most respected expressions of black faith in America, and the things we can learn from their tenacity, suffering, fight for autonomy, and rich tradition are boundless. As we learn to appreciate the diversity and uniqueness with which God has created us–in full living color–let us hear the stories of all the Kingdom with a resolve to appreciate what everyone has to offer. For more in-depth history on this critical intersection of church history, Methodism and black excellence, check out the following resources:
The Official Website of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
New Light on Richard Allen: The Early Years of Freedom
The African Methodists of Philadelphia
Freedom’s Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers
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