They immediately formed the Free
African Society and began collecting funds to build a church.
This resulted in the founding of St. Thomas' African Protestant
Episcopal Church headed by Absalom Jones. In spite of the
behavior of the Methodists, Allen believed that Methodism was
better suited to his people's style of worship and gradually he
collected a community of followers. In 1794 the Bethel African
Methodist Episcopal Church was opened in Philadelphia. In 1816
several A.M.E. congregations met together to form a national
organization with Allen as its bishop. Similar events in New
York City led to the establishment of the African Methodist
Episcopal Zion Church. Early in 1807 a black Baptist Church was
founded in Philadelphia, and later in that same year
congregations were established in Boston and New York. The New
York congregation developed into the Abyssinian Baptist Church.
The African church became the most important organization within
the Afro-American community. Besides providing spiritual
strength and comfort, it became a community institution, a center for
social, political, and economic life.
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