Presiding Elder of AME India, the Rev. Minnie Sarah, right, learned about the church from a seminary exchange student, the Rev. Karla J. Cooper, left, who pastors the Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church in Lincoln, Neb.
(Photo by Mark Mehlinger)
By Zenitha Prince
Washington Bureau Chief
ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The African Methodist Episcopal Church, at its 48th general conference, expanded its stamp on the world with the incorporation of 21 churches in India.
“A 100 years ago, we expanded into Africa and now 100 years later, having the opportunity to extend into Asia…”
The move is a monumental achievement for the church, said Bishop John Bryant, presiding prelate of the Fifth Episcopal District to which AME India belongs.
“A 100 years ago, we expanded into Africa and now 100 years later, having the opportunity to extend into Asia is extremely significant,” he said. “We’re excited to think that a church born out of the sweat and vision of ex-slaves is now, 200 years later, a global church.”
AME India is led by husband and wife team the Revs. Abraham Peddiny and Minnie Sarah.
Sarah, who attended the general conference for the first time this year, learned about the church when she was partnered with the Rev. Karla Cooper, who was in India as part of a seminary exchange study program.
Six months after she and her husband had heard about and studied the history and doctrines of the church, and after much prayer and fasting, they decided to join.
Part of the attraction, Sarah said, was the significant role that women play.
“I was thinking as a woman, after my theological studies what am I going to do? I’m not going to be ordained. That was around the time that Karla Cooper said they have women pastors in their church,” she said. “So here I am, ordained by A.M.E. and doing ministry in India.”
Cooper, who pastors Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church in Lincoln, Neb., called the union a “marriage divine” because of the shared history of African-American and Indian peoples.
“One of the reasons why it was such a wonderful marriage between the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Indian experience is that the caste system [there] is comparable to racism here in America only, at a deeper level,” Rev. Cooper said. “For over 5,000 years, Indians— [mostly the ‘dalits,’ better known as the ‘untouchables’]—have been oppressed under the caste system. And when I shared the story of Richard Allen, a freed man, who left the Methodist Episcopal Church because he believed the God he served did not discriminate, it just resonated so richly.”
And the A.M.E. churches in India have made that concept of equality a central one to their ministry, Sarah said.
“In AME India, we don’t encourage caste system at all,” she said. “We invite everybody in our churches; we invite everyone to come and worship the Lord, freely.”
That freedom of worship, seen among the American A.M.E.s in India and here at the general conference, is a source of great wonder and encouragement, Sarah said. In her country, where Hinduism is the national religion, Christians are considered to be lower than the lowest caste and they pay for it.
“In India we don’t have the freedom you have here as Christians,” she said. “Many of our churches are secretly worshipping in places, especially in the northern part of India. The pastors are beaten up and they don’t have a proper church over there.”
The backlash is especially fierce within villages.
“They say go back to your Christian countries, don’t stay here, this is for Hindus,” she said and later added, “As a pastor, I don’t identify myself as a reverend, I identify myself as a social worker to go the villages to reach out to people.”
Despite the persecution or maybe because of it, the church is growing by leaps and bounds.
“We started with cell groups all over in India and the cell groups have become churches now,” said Sarah.
In addition to spiritual outreach, the church attends to social needs—providing food to widows and children and providing micro-financing for economic, self-sustaining projects.
Cooper, who planted the A.M.E. seed, said she is awed by the fruit that has already been borne and thanked the Bryants for their openness to the vision.
“This is a mighty move of God spearheaded by none other than Abraham and Sarah, the patriarch and matriarch of the faith…and I’m just honored to have had the spiritual guidance of Bishop John and Rev. Cecilia Bryant, who caught the vision and took it on to higher heights,” she said.
And Sarah said having the support and guidance of such spiritual leaders has made a great difference.
“Their guidance and encouragement is wonderful…wonderful. We are able to push on under the shadow of Bishop John and Rev. ‘C’,” said Sarah, who, along with her husband, is a presiding elder for the conference. “We are growing in the Lord and the A.M.E. is growing in India.”
Bryant, whose term in the Fifth District ends with this conference, said he was grateful to have had a hand in this undertaking.
“It humbles me that God would have allowed me to help shepherd this work into the denomination,” he said, “a work that is in keeping with the scriptures, that great command of Christ that we spread the gospel throughout the world.”