The guardian. [volume] (Boston, Mass.) 1901-1960, 1940-07-06

! Ddpl4oI lISI, DcCduSe eOpIe CuuICu
has received little or nothing from the
A.M.E. Church at its Annual Confer
ences for the past thirty years except
abuse, ridicule and very Door financial
support. During the spring and sum-
mer of 1899, the white Baptist Minis
tiers and their congregations from all
over the State of Massachusetts have
helped to raise more money and to as
sist Peoples Church in general than
the AME. Church has done for the
past twenty years, and during this
period (spring and summer of 1887
the A.M.E.'s sulked in their tents and
refused to help said church because
Rev. Fuller could not be swayed into
turning said church over to the A.M.E.
Church. With the exception of Mrs.
w. Sampson Brooks, DR.. II. L. Moore
and few other strong friends of Rev.
Fuller in the A.M.E. Church, the Bis
hop, Presiding Elder, the Mite Mission
airy Society and other auxiliaries of
the A.M.E. Church, have done moth
ing but made false promises to come to
the aid of Peoples Church since the
year 1887 when the court put stop
to the Bishops power over said church,
while the white Baptists have helped
our church in a very substantial way
during this period. The Bishop has re
sorted to all kinds Of pernicious politi-
cal schemes to get DR.. Fuller to turn
Peoples Church back to the A.M.E's
even to the point of trying to make a
bargain thru the presiding elder with
the members Of Peoples Church to APP
point him to the Bethel A.ME. Church,
Providence, R. l., if he would agree to
let the Bishop move him from Chelsea
and put another minister at Peoples
Church. DR.. Fuller said: 81 saw
through this dirty scheme at once but
did not say I wouldn't go to Provi-
dence, so | told the presiding elder to
talk to the members of Peoples church
about the same and I would abide by
their decision" So the presiding elder
asked permission to have a business
meeting after he had preached a most
wonderful sermon on the Sunday eve
ming just before the Annual Confer
ence at Springfield in May, 1899, and
after telling the people that l should be
promoted to a larger church where l
could use my talents more advantage
ously for the A.M.E Church and that
minister satisfactory to the people
would be sent to Chelsea, the matter Of
my release was put to a vote and it was
unanimously voted that there should
be no change of ministers at said Peo-
pies Church. So the Bishops scheme
was defeated. This was no fault of the
presiding elder for he was just carry
ing out one of Bishop Sims many
schemes on the ministers and the peo-
pie.
Secondly, Peoples Church went
Baptist because from the time the
church was built in 1911 to 1887 the
church has been steadily going back
ward and falling beneath the heavy
financial burden of the A.M.E. Church
because of the various money schemes
and rackets of the A.M.E. Church such
as Dollar Money, Easter Da~ money,
Allen Day money, Educational day
money and many other burdensome
schemes for raising money, but there
was no Money Raising Day for the
poor mission preachers and their wives.
The budget for Peoples Church was
$4,000 per year under the AME.
Church, exclusive of its current run
ming expenses, but under the Baptist
Church its budget is not more than
$25 per year. In 1887 DIR. Fuller put
a stop to all Of the money racketeering
schemes of the A.M.E. Church so far
as Peoples Church was concerned and
not one cent has been sent to the An
nual Conference since that time.
Thirdly, Peoples Church went Bap-
fist because the loyal white People of
Chelsea who had really supported both
the church and its ministers for many
years in the past grew weary and dis
gusted with frequent contributions to
the Peoples Church and half of the
time the money could not be accounted
for after it left the hands of the con-
tributors. At least half dozen friends
of Peoples Church told the present
pastor that they would not contribute
another cent of money to said church
as long as it remained in the A.M.E.
connection, and they would help again
only on the condition that the church
denomination would be changed. The
A.M.E. Church raises enough money
to care for its Mission Churches with
out depending upon the white people
to support them, but where does the
money go7 Nobody knows but the Bis
hop and his Episcopal henchmen. AT
the recent Annual Conference in Provi-