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Colored Methodist Episcopal Church
Born in the aftermath of the Civil War, this historically Black Methodist denomination was organized in Jackson, Tennessee, in 1870 and later took the name Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Its story is closely tied to African American religious independence, leadership, and community building in the United States.
1 Audiobook
The Doctrines and Discipline of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church Revised Edition 1918
by Colored Methodist Episcopal Church
About the author
The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church was organized on December 16, 1870, in Jackson, Tennessee, by African American Methodists who had previously been connected to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1956, the denomination officially changed its name to the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, while keeping the familiar abbreviation, CME.
It developed as a Wesleyan Methodist church with episcopal leadership and a connectional structure, holding general conferences and building its own institutions, clergy leadership, and congregations. Over time, it became one of the major historically Black Methodist denominations in the United States.
The church's history reflects a larger story of self-determination after emancipation. Its congregations have long served not only as places of worship, but also as centers of education, mutual support, and civic life in Black communities.