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  6TH DISTRICT
AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

June 19, 2015
A Message from Bishop Preston W. Williams II
regarding the tragedy at
Mother Emanuel AME Church

 

Bishop Williams
Two nights ago EVIL raised its ugly head at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina and caused the death of nine (9) of God's children!

Although the details of this horrendous event continue to emerge, we know that around 9:00 p.m. a 21 year old white man with a gun shot and killed 9 people, ages 26 to 87, during a bible study, after he sat with them for an hour. Six of the dead are women and three are men. Four of them were pastors. All were AMEs.

This tragedy is not simply an assault on a single AME Church - it is an assault on the entire faith community. And unfortunately, this tragedy is not without precedent.

Since the African Methodist Episcopal Church was established as a denomination in Philadelphia in 1816, it has stood at the forefront of social action and spread a theology of liberation and freedom. The AME denomination quickly expanded north from the Middle Atlantic States to New England and west to Missouri, and its early churches in South Carolina, established in the 1820's, threatened the institution of slavery which caused the growth of the denomination in that state to slow until after the civil war in 1865.

The history of physical assaults on the black church is well documented, and not limited to the AME Church. In 1996, after two years of black church burnings in the south, the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Congress held formal hearings on the subject. In 1995, six black church burnings were reported and investigated in the south. In 1996, 21 black churches were burned in the south.  In South Carolina alone, black churches that were burned included Mount Zion AME Church in Williamsburg, Macedonia Baptist Church in Manning, Saint Paul Baptist Church in Lexington, Rosemary Baptist Church in Barnwell, Saint John Baptist Church in Dixiana, Effington Baptist Church, Mount Olive Baptist Church, and Allen's Chapel. U.S. Representative Henry Hyde, Chairman of that Committee, stated that there was, "considerable evidence that some of these church fires were connected and that some were racially motivated incidents."

I write this message today to remind you of several things:

First, to confirm to you that those of us in positions of leadership within the African Methodist Episcopal Church are actively engaged in discussions and preparations to keep our churches and church members safe. Our churches are our sanctuary. Moreover, like our founders who affirmed their humanity in the face of slavery and racism, we continue to stand in defense of disadvantaged and oppressed people in the 21st century.

Second, I write to remind you that the scriptures teach us of the wonder of divine grace, which is capable of winning unimaginable victory in the face of the most crushing kind of defeat. 1 Corinthians 15:57-58 reminds us: But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Finally, I remind you that this Sunday, June 21, 2015 is Father's Day and on Sunday, we ask for your special prayers for the children and families of deceased South Carolina Senator and AME Pastor Clementa Pinkney and all of those who died at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston South Carolina. Please pray for my Brother Bishop in South Carolina, Bishop Richard Franklin Norris, Presiding Prelate of the Seventh Episcopal District of the AME Church and for all of our Brothers and Sisters in South Carolina. For their inspiring and faithful public witness, and the ongoing needed courage and strength of the bereaved members of Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church must not be forgotten.

I urge you to join and actively participate in prayer vigils and events organized by the worldwide community of faith. Let us follow the lessons of Jesus and call on the name of the LORD to strengthen and uplift us all.

Yours  in Christ,
 
Bishop Preston Warren Williams II

Presiding Prelate, Sixth Episcopal District


 


 

 

God bless you,
 
6th District A.M.E. Church