Bethel AME Church, Baton Rouge, Commemorates Founder’s Day and Black History Month
By Felecia LeDuff Harry, 8thEpiscopal District
Bethel AME Church, the oldest of the three African Methodist Episcopal churches in Baton Rouge, celebrated Black History Month and commemorated the denomination’s founding on Sunday, February 25, 2018. The speaker was Bishop Julius Harrison McAllister, who presides over approximately 200 AME churches in Louisiana and Mississippi. Serving on the program committee were Millie Williams, Muriel Haysbert, Evelyn Harrell, Tirzah Smith, and Danice B. Thomas. The pastor of Bethel is the Rev. Herman O. Kelly, Jr.
Bishop McAllister used Psalm 137:4 as the basis of his rousing sermon. In the fourth verse, the writer asks, “How can we sing in a strange land?” In the verse, the captured people are asked to sing joyfully “the songs of Zion” for their captors. This verse is often used as an analogy to the African American experience. Also during the program, the Bethel AME Church Bell Choir performed as well as the liturgical dancers.
The AME Church is the oldest African American denomination in the world. It grew out of the Free African Society established by Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and others in Philadelphia in 1787 to offer a worship place for blacks who were being discriminated against in predominately white churches.
Bishop McAllister, a member of the Council of Bishops, was among the bishops included in the memorial services for the “Emanuel Nine,” when a lone gunman shot and killed nine members of Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in June 2015. He stood behind then President Barack Obama at the service for Pastor Clementa C. Pinckney, the church’s pastor and member of the South Carolina State Senate.
Bethel is located at 1358 South Boulevard in historic South Baton Rouge and was founded by a group of free men in 1867. The church celebrated 150 years last year, with a legacy rich in the Civil Rights Movement and a tradition of social action and ministry to the urban community. In 2016 at Bethel, the United States Postal Service unveiled a Black Heritage stamp that honored Richard Allen.
