Site
Contents
 |
General Information about the Area Office
North Indiana Conference Office
South Indiana Conference Office
Prayer Guides
(Courtesy of the NIC Prayer Team)
Area United Methodist
Foundation
For resources to assist your congregation in welcoming guests,
click here
Seashore District Volunteer Center VIM project -- Completed
Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodist News |
February 2002 |
Commentary:
Church must remember African Methodists' contributions
By Reginald E. Lee
There is a deep historical fog that rests over some Methodists' memories. Maybe the strength of the Central Jurisdiction (the Church's segregated black jurisdiction that existed from 1939 to 1968) was greater than anyone anticipated. The contributions of black Methodists are so often forgotten. Yet, African Americans have a rich and long history in the movement started by the Rev. John Wesley.
As we celebrate Black History Month, we who know the contributions of Africans and African Americans to the Methodist saga owe it to ourselves, and to others of good will, to tell the story.
Many church historians use 1738 as the beginning of the Methodist movement in England. This means that Methodism was just about 20 years old when Wesley baptized the two slaves from Antigua. These converted slaves went home and converted their slave master, Nathaniel Gilbert. The three of them returned to the West Indies and started the first Methodist chapel on the North American continent.
The Rev. Richard Allen and Absalom Jones are believed to have been at the historic Christmas Conference held in 1784 at Baltimore's Lovely Lane Chapel. Moreover, the presence of African Americans in American Methodism seems to date from the very beginning of the movement. There doesn't seem to be a period when Africans were not active in the life of the church.
From the very foundations of Methodism in America, the names of African slaves appear on the class rolls. The name of Anne Sweitzer, a slave, appeared on the role of Robert Strawbridge's first Methodist society. Slaves were drawn to Methodism by the thousands.
From slave plantations to stately stone cathedrals, blacks packed the house to hear the message of God's deep and abiding love for God's entire creation, a love big enough to include the African. It was a message of pure liberation. In a world that systematically denied their human worth and dignity, the message that God cared resonated deeply in the black consciousness.
A Wesleyan "preferential option for the poor" undergirded this message of love. Wesley strips away the prestige of wealth and chooses to side with the poor. This was the outgrowth of his understanding of justifying and sanctifying grace. If you and I are in a right relationship with God, the proper response is to care for our neighbor.
If we are going to stem the decline in American Methodism, we must find the strength and grace to accomplish the noble task of the Uniting Conference of 1968. If the United Methodist Church is ever to regain its momentum amongst our nation's poor, we must revisit the unique contributions of black Methodists. We must not forget Richard Allen, who left the Methodist Episcopal church due to its harsh treatment of African Americans. His love for Wesleyan theology drove him to start the Free African Society, which evolved into the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Allen took the Wesleyan understanding to its logical conclusion: If God loves us all, then we all deserve to be free.
Allen left the Methodist Episcopal Church as a sociological protest. Yet, many decided to stay and fight. People like Bishops James S. Thomas, Leontine Kelly and Woodie W. White pressed the Church to reconsider its stance on race. Their staying was a quiet but forceful protest against racism. The Church continues to show that where God's spirit is active and available, all things are possible.
As we celebrate Black History Month, let us be reminded that the pages of American Methodism still have room for all of God's children!
The Rev. Reginald Lee is pastor of New Hope UMC in Anderson, Ind., and serves as adjunct professor at Anderson University School of Theology.
Last updated on 01/14/2004