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Historically African American
Denominations
For the FACT survey a group of seven
historically African American denominations combined their efforts through the
resources of Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, GA. These
denominations include:
- The African Methodist Episcopal Church
(AME)
The AME dates from 1787 when it split from the Methodist Church. There are currently 3.5 million members located throughout the U.S., Caribbean, and Africa. The AME Church supports over a dozen colleges and seminaries.
- The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
(AMEZ)
The AMEZ church began in New York in the late 18th century after splitting from the Methodist Church. The AMEZ denomination currently has over 1.2 million members
throughout the U.S., Caribbean, and Africa.
- The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
(CME)
The CME is one of three major African American denominations derived from the
Wesleyan tradition in America. It was organized by 41 ex-slaves in 1870 in Jackson, Tennessee and has over 3000
churches throughout the United States, West Africa, Haiti, and Jamaica. The CME is presided over by ten
bishops, sponsors four colleges and one seminary, and has a worldwide membership of 800,000.
- The Church of God in Christ
(COGIC)
The Church of God in Christ was founded early in the twentieth century. It is primarily a urban centered church and has over 5.5 million members in the
United States. C. H. Mason Seminary, located in Atlanta is its only African American seminary.
- Baptist
There are three predominately African American Baptist conventions with a
total of approximately 13.5 million members. These
are: The National Baptist Convention of America (NBCA); The National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
(NBC); and The Progressive National Baptist Association (PNBA).
The conventions are located throughout
the United States and several foreign countries.
- United Methodist Church (UMC)
The Methodist Church was founded in 1784. Black constituency within the Methodist Church has remain stable since 1968 when several factions
merged to form the United Methodist Church. The UMC has approximately 3500 African American churches, primarily in the U.S. There have been 42 African American's elected to the
episcopacy since 1968.
- Presbyterian Church (USA)
African American Presbyterian congregations were first organized in Philadelphia in 1807. Currently there are over 65 thousand Black Presbyterian's in the U. S., Africa, and southeast Asia. The Presbyterian USA church has a special
commitment to developing countries and preservation of African-American Presbyterian history.
Together, the African American
Denominational participation in the
FACT project included a survey of churches in the United States. A total of 1863 verbal
questionnaires
were collected by the Gallup Organization. View
the version of the questionnaire used by the historically African American
denominations.
If you are interested in obtaining specific
information about the results of the African American denominations survey, please get in
touch with their official contact persons Michael I. N. Dash at mindash@itc.edu
and Stephen C. Rasor at scrasor@itc.edu .
Several additional persons were involved in
collecting the African American denominations information. The Gallup
Organization was the key researcher with assistance by Larry Mamilya, Michael I. N. Dash
and Stephen C. Rasor are the persons charged with encouraging denominational congregations to
use this information, in addition to the Deans of the Seminaries in the
Interdenominational Theological Center.
You will be able to find further information about the
African American denominations Faith Communities Today participation when they are
posted at their web site devoted to this project .
If you would like to know more about the
African American denominations, visit the various denominational sites:
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