AME Church Celebrates at Annual Conference

By Rev. Gilbert Hayward

The 132nd Session of the Bermuda Annual Conference of the AME Church was held at the Fairmont Southampton last week. It was hosted by the AME Ministerial Alliance and was overseen by the 118th elected and consecrated bishop, the Rt. Rev. Gregory Ingram, and the Episcopal supervisor, the Rev. Dr. Jessica Kendall Ingram.

The opening session was attended by a host of dignitaries. David Burt, the premier, explained to the crowded banquet room how the Progressive Labour Party and the AME Church were inextricably linked. “We’ve marched together, struggled together and worshipped together in pursuit of social justice in this country,” he said.

The retiring presiding elder, the Rev. Betty Furbert-Woolridge, delivered the sermon entitled, “The Dignity of Toil.” She encouraged the church to work together with all stakeholders in the community. A banquet was held the week before the conference at St. Paul Centennial Hall in celebration of the sterling service rendered by her to the church. She was escorted by her husband, Edward McDonald Woolridge, and supported by her sons, Brent and Norvel Furbert.

As a female, the Rev. Furbert-Woolridge celebrated a ministry of “firsts.” She was the first licensed preacher, first ordained pastor, and first appointed presiding elder in the district, to name a few. She now joins the elite class of elders and pastors.

Bishop Ingram will fill the two positions left vacant by the Rev. Furbert-Woolridge as he engages the remaining annual conferences of the First Episcopal District.

“What happened to Sydney?”, a play written and directed by Patricia Pogson-Nisbett, was performed on Thursday night. The Department of Christian Education sponsored activities on Friday night, during which Shi Shun Burgess was named AME Youth of the Year.

On Sunday afternoon, Bishop Ingram preached the closing and commissioning sermon. It was entitled, “It’s Not Always What it Looks Like.”