The Omaha guide., 1935-10-19
KELLY MILLER
SAYS:
UNION OF AME, AMEZ
AND CINE DENOMINATIONS

A denomination is a body 0
Christians united by a common
faith and form Of worship anC
discipline. There are over two
hundred denominations of Chris
tians differentiated by creed OF
ritual.
The Methodist Episcopal church
was organized by John Wesley in
America in 1884. Since then il
has split into six separate demon
inatlOns-three white and three
colored. The proposal to unite the
three white bodies is now receiy-
Ing wide discussion.
The AME and the AMEZ de-
nominations split off from the
parent body at about the same
time and for practically the same
reasOn-race prejudice. The CINE
was Later set apart by the ME
church South. There never has
been any creedal or ritual differ
ence in these Negro denominations.
These three denominations copied
their confession faith and form Of
worship from the Mother Church.
| remember the first time that
| saw Dr. Price President Of Liv-
ingston College, was in 1881 when
he was visiting Washington as a
member Of a commission to con
sOhdate these denominations. /
recall that he expressed the hope
that the union would take place
as the result Of the pending DELHI
eratlons. For more than fifty
years there has been repeated eff
fort to bring about this result,
but all without success. There
never has been, and is not now,
any reason why these denOmina-
tons should not unite except the
practical difficulty Of eccleastical
consolidation. Experience shows
that it is exceedingly difficult to
have separate church organiza-
lions, Of the same faith and order,
united into one congregation with
one set Of officers, purely for
reasons Of eccleastical and per
sOnal jealousy. Neither congrega-
ton IS willing to give up its own
name, pastor and set Of officers.
One often finds several struggling
congregations Of the same denom-
nation in a given community
whereas, if they were cOnsolidat-
ed into one organization the work
OF the Master cOuldtb carried on
with half the expense and thrice
the efficiency. But human ma
ture, with its petty jealousies and
narrow prepOsSesSiOns, is a stub
born force which must be reckon
ed with in all practical dealings.
These denominations for many
years have been operating in the
same field and among the same
class Of people. Each Of them
is ambitious to cover the entire
Negro race; but the field il very
imperfectly covered and too often
the work is i%nefficiently done.
Poor congregations and poorly
prepared ministers are struggling
as best they can in the spirit of
rivalry rather than Christian I'M
ion and cooperation. 1t is pathetic
to go through a small town and
see a little AME church on one
corner, an AMEZ on the other and
a CME on still another, whose
combined congregations could
barely support a competent min
lister and carry on u~p-to-date
church activities. Tic there were
any reasonable hope or promise
for growth or enlargement in the
early future, this wasteful dupli-
cation Of effort might not be 30
inexcusable. But for the past
thirty or forty years neither Of
these denominations have very
greatly augmented its member
ship. In the large cities the mem
bership Of each denomination ISL
concentrated in a few large
churches with little or no promise
Of church extension. I doubt
whether there are many more Ne
gro Methodist in Washington to-
|Inv +l1~ 4I1no H. -