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Greater Allen African Methodist Episcopal Cathedral | |
---|---|
Religion | |
Affiliation | African Methodist Episcopal Church |
Status | Active |
Location | |
Location | Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States of America |
State | New York |
Architecture | |
Type | Cathedral |
The Greater Allen Cathedral of New York is an African Methodist Episcopal church located in Jamaica, Queens, New York. [1] [2] The congregation currently has over 24,500 members, making it one of the largest churches in the United States. [3] Its annual budget exceeds $72 million. GAC once operated a 750-student private school, (Pre-K through 8th Grade, now called The Eagle Academy of Queens.) Additionally, the church offers numerous commercial and social service enterprises. [4] Allen holds a number of expansive commercial and residential properties and coordinates a number of subsidiary organizations. GAC has been named one of the nation's most productive religious and urban development institutions, and is one of the Borough of Queens largest employers. The church has been pastored by Floyd Flake and his wife Elaine for nearly five decades. Floyd Flake also served as the president of Wilberforce University-- his alma mater and a former United States Congressman. Flake's wife, M. Elaine Flake was appointed by Bishop Gregory Ingram to serve as senior Pastor when Floyd Flake retired in 2020. (The African Methodist Episcopal Church has a mandatory retirement age of 75. All clergymen must retire at the Annual Conference nearest to their 75th birthday.)
The parent African Methodist Episcopal denomination is Methodist denomination founded by the Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816. The African Methodist denomination includes other major churches such as the First A.M.E. Church of Los Angeles with over 19,000 members and the Reid Temple A.M.E. Church in Glenn Dale, Maryland with over 15,000 members. [5]
Richard Allen was a minister, educator, writer, and one of the United States' most active and influential black leaders. In 1794, he founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), the first independent Black denomination in the United States. He opened his first AME church in 1794 in Philadelphia.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Methodist denomination based in the United States. It adheres to Wesleyan–Arminian theology and has a connexional polity. It cooperates with other Methodist bodies through the World Methodist Council and Wesleyan Holiness Connection.
The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, or the AME Zion Church (AMEZ) is a historically African-American Christian denomination based in the United States. It was officially formed in 1821 in New York City, but operated for a number of years before then. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology.
Merrick Road is an east–west urban arterial in Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk counties in New York, United States. It is known as Merrick Boulevard or Floyd H. Flake Boulevard in Queens, within New York City.
Black churches primarily arose in the 19th century, during a time when race-based slavery and racial segregation were both commonly practiced in the United States. Blacks generally searched for an area where they could independently express their faith, find leadership, and escape from inferior treatment in White dominated churches. The Black Church is the faith and body of Christian denominations and congregations in the United States that predominantly minister to, and are also led by African Americans, as well as these churches' collective traditions and members.
Floyd Harold Flake is an American businessman, minister, and former politician who was the senior pastor of the 23,000-member Greater Allen African Methodist Episcopal Cathedral in Jamaica, Queens, New York, and the 18th president of Wilberforce University. He is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1987 to 1997.
Daniel Alexander Payne was an American bishop, educator, college administrator and author. A major shaper of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), Payne stressed education and preparation of ministers and introduced more order in the church, becoming its sixth bishop and serving for more than four decades (1852–1893) as well as becoming one of the founders of Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1856. In 1863, the AME Church bought the college and chose Payne to lead it; he became the first African-American president of a college in the United States and served in that position until 1877.
The Allen Temple AME Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, US, is the mother church of the Third Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Founded in 1824, it is the oldest operating black church in Cincinnati and the largest church of the Third Episcopal District of the AME Church.
Religion of Black Americans refers to the religious and spiritual practices of African Americans. Historians generally agree that the religious life of Black Americans "forms the foundation of their community life". Before 1775 there was scattered evidence of organized religion among Black people in the Thirteen Colonies. The Methodist and Baptist churches became much more active in the 1780s. Their growth was quite rapid for the next 150 years, until their membership included the majority of Black Americans.
Religion in Atlanta, while historically centered on Protestant Christianity, now involves many faiths as a result of the city and metro area's increasingly international population. While Protestant Christianity still maintains a strong presence in the city, in recent decades Catholic Christians have gained a strong foothold due to migration patterns. Atlanta also has a considerable number of ethnic Christian congregations, such as Korean Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian Churches, the Tamil Church Atlanta, Telugu Church, Hindi Church, Malayalam Church, Ethiopian, Chinese, and many more traditional ethnic religious groups. Large non-Christian faiths are present in the form of Buddhism, Judaism and Hinduism. Overall, there are over 1,000 places of worship within Atlanta.
Saint Philip AME Church in Atlanta, Georgia is the largest congregation in the Sixth Episcopal district of the African Methodist Episcopal Church with over 5,000 members.
The First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles is a megachurch in Los Angeles, California, United States, part of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. It is the oldest church founded by African Americans in Los Angeles, dating to 1872. It has more than 19,000 members.
The Reid Temple A.M.E. Church is an African Methodist Episcopal megachurch located in Glenn Dale, Maryland, USA to the northeast of Washington, DC. In 2008, Outreach Magazine reported that attendance was 7,500, making it the 88th largest church in the US at that time. Reid Temple is located in Glenn Dale, Maryland with a membership of well over 9,000 persons.
The Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, also known as "Mother Zion", located at 140–148 West 137th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Lenox Avenue in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, is the oldest African-American church in New York City, and the "mother church" of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion conference.
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The Greater Hood Memorial AME Zion Church was the first black church in Harlem, New York. It now receives notoriety as the "Oldest Continuing" church in Harlem. The church’s first house of worship was erected on East 117th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues in 1843.
Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, colloquially Mother Emanuel, is a church in Charleston, South Carolina, founded in 1817. It is the oldest AME church in the Southern United States; founded the previous year in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, AME was the first independent black denomination in the nation. Mother Emanuel has one of the oldest black congregations south of Baltimore.
Morris Brown was one of the founders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and its second presiding bishop. He founded Emanuel AME Church in his native Charleston, South Carolina. It was implicated in the slave uprising planned by Denmark Vesey, also of this church, and after that was suppressed, Brown was imprisoned for nearly a year. He was never convicted of a crime.
Jeffery Tribble is an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and a professor of ministry with research interests in Practical Theology, Congregational Studies and Leadership, Ethnography, Evangelism and Church Planting, Black Church Studies, and Urban Church Ministry. Academics and professionals in these fields consider him a renowned thought leader. Tribble's experience in pastoral ministry allows for his work to bridge the gap between academic research and practical church leadership.
Israel Metropolitan Christian Methodist Episcopal Church is a Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. It was the first independent African American church of the city.
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