What does the initials AME mean?

Answer 1

There is a church in Montgomery, AL, that is called St. John A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) Church. There are also several Zion churches listed in the phone book that are all called A.M.E. churches, which stands for African Methodist Episcopal also. The members of these churches are primarily black, though a few whites also attend the services. I have never attended one of the worship services in any of these churches, and cannot tell you precisely what it means to be called A.M.E. I believe the A.M.E. churches date back to the late 1800s or early 1900s. I do know that Methodist and Episcopal worship services are very similar, and I think their core beliefs are closely related. The Episcopal Church was never part of the "Reformation" when the Protestant upheaval took place. The Episcopal Church is the American version of the Church of England, and the Archbishop of Canterbury is still the high leader of the church. The Methodist Church took part in the Protestant Reformtion, but they kept a great many core beliefs of the Church of England, with just a few small changes. To put the word African first, with the Methodist and Episcopal names next, probably means that somewhere in time a large group of black people embraced the Methodist and Episcopal worship services. But, they customized the services to be more the way they remembered worship in Africa, I think.