Edmund Douglas Taylor became pastor.Īn 1867 document tells of a July 8 resolution passed by the St. He pastored until 1867 at which time Rev. Ferdinand Smith, the first minister of Little Zion Church in Mobile, was arrested and sent to the penitentiary of that state for refusing to bow to the authority of a rebel preacher. Walls wrote in The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (Reality of the Black Church, “that the Alabama Conference was organized in a dangerous period for Blacks in the South.” Rev. On July 29, of the same year, he was authorized to take charge of the church. He was the first colored ordained minister by a colored Bishop in the state of Alabama. In 1865, Ferdinand Smith was ordained by Bishop Joseph Clinton of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Charles Lee, a local preacher, pastored while they worshipped in the shed. This property was also deeded to the Methodist charge. A shed building was erected which served as the worship center. In 1860, a lot was purchased at the northeast corner of Bayou and Church streets from Henry Turner. Zion Church persuaded the worshippers of the merits of affiliation with the Zion connection. During this experience, Bishop Joseph Jackson Clinton of the A.M.E. It was here that its first quarterly conference was held. Subsequently, the congregation was permitted to hold services at the Medical College (now Dunbar School of Performing Arts) on St. Shortly after its purchase, the building to the ground and worship was held in Burden’s Mill at St. Because of the slave status of its members, difficulties were faced but property was eventually purchased and deeded to white trustees. In 1848, efforts were made to purchase the property. Meetings were held in a house on the corner of Church and Dearborn streets. The third swarm form today’s Big Zion African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. They assisted in establishing Dauphin Way United Methodist Church.
A second swarm left and formed the west ward with became St. I live to serve I exist for others I leave my future to you.Īlso beginning in the 1840’s, “swarms” were sent from the congregation to form new societies throughout the city. I will continue to be strong for I am in the heart of the city I am the Bee Hive, I am a downtown church, These persons were permitted to worship on Sunday afternoon, but by the 1840’s a few members persistently voiced objection about slaves in the church even for separate services.įranklin Street Mission, called the “Bee Hive,” because of its activity, prompted Wayne Olan to write, Classes were regularly scheduled for Negroes in 1927 and the roll listed forty-seven (47) members. The original Methodist Society in Mobile was organized in 1826 and designated as the Franklin Street Mission, now the Government Street United Methodist Church, which is ‘Methodism’s Mother Church” in Mobile. Records exist validating its direct association with each of the two oldest Methodist churches in the city even before its affiliation with the Zion connection.
The Big Zion African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church traces its history to 1842 and the earliest days of Methodism in Mobile.
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