Big Bethel AME Church

The Big Bethel AME Church is the oldest African-American congregation in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia, and according to AME historical documents, it is the mother church of AME in North Georgia. It is located at 220 Auburn Avenue NE in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood. It is the "first" church on the North Atlanta District, in the Atlanta-North Georgia Annual Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Big Bethel was founded in 1847 as Union Church in the town of Marthasville, Georgia. Marthasville became Terminus, and finally Atlanta, and Union Church became Bethel Church, then Bethel Tabernacle. At the close of the Civil War, the AME Church spread rapidly throughout the former Confederacy, and the Bethel Tabernacle allied herself with the denomination, becoming Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Her first pastor was Rev. Joseph Woods.

In 1879, the first public school for blacks in Atlanta, Gate City Colored School, was founded in the basement of the church, though it would later move to Houston Street. Morris Brown College held its first classes here in 1881 before moving to its first campus. Big Bethel was known as "Sweet Auburn's City Hall." In 1911, President William Howard Taft spoke here, as did Nelson Mandela in 1990.

African Methodist Episcopal Church

The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the A.M.E. Church, is a predominantly African-American Methodist denomination based in the United States. It is the oldest independent Protestant denomination founded by black people in the world. It was founded by the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816 from several black Methodist congregations in the mid-Atlantic area that wanted independence from white Methodists. Allen was consecrated its first bishop in 1816. It began with 8 clergy and 5 churches, and by 1846 had grown to 176 clergy, 296 churches, and 17,375 members. The 20,000 members in 1856 were located primarily in the North. AME national membership (including probationers and preachers) jumped from 70,000 in 1866 to 207,000 in 1876.

Church name

Motto

"God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, the Holy Spirit Our Comforter, Humankind Our Family"

Derived from Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne's original motto "God our Father, Christ our Redeemer, Man our Brother", which served as the AME Church motto until the 2008 General Conference, when the current motto was officially adopted.

List of African Methodist Episcopal Churches

This is a list of African Methodist Episcopal Churches, all located exclusively in the United States.

By name group, then by state

Adams

Allen

Baber

Bethel

Bethel A.M.E. Church (Indianapolis, Indiana)

The Bethel A.M.E. Church is a historic church in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was built in 1869 and added to the National Register in 1991.

Bethel is Indianapolis's oldest African-American church. It has steadfastly served its community since before the Civil War. The church was founded in 1836 by a group of African-American Methodists. Members built a small church building on Georgia Street in between the Central Canal and Senate Avenue five years later. In 1857 members purchased Christ Episcopal Church and moved the building to their church's site on Georgia Street. The role of Bethel AME Church, which was originally known as the Indianapolis Station AME, grew along with the black population of the city.

That black population made up approximately less than 3 percent of the total population in Indianapolis before the Civil War. Out of the total population of 1,338,710 in the state of Indiana in 1860, only 11,428 were African American. As the Civil War progressed though, the number of blacks coming to Indianapolis from the South as well as rural areas around the state only grew higher and higher.

Bethel AME Church (Davenport, Iowa)

Bethel A.M.E. Church is located at 323 W. 11th Street, Davenport, Iowa, United States. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

The African Methodist Episcopal Church was established in Davenport in 1875 at the corner of Fourth and Gaines Street. It was one of several small churches that were founded by the Black community in Davenport after the conclusion of the American Civil War. The trustees were Emanuel Franklin, P.C. Cooper, Hy Simon and William Van Duzer.

In 1908 the congregation built the current church building in the heart of the city’s African-American Community. It had grown to 50 congregants at the time the new building was built. At the time the new building was constructed the congregation changed its name to Bethel A.M.E. Church. William W. Williams was the pastor during this period.

The property was covered in a 1982 study of Davenport MRA and its 1983 follow-on, which noted that until the 1920s the black community in Davenport was relatively small and scattered.