St Luke AME Church is located at 8411 Main Street in the historic district of Ellicott City, Maryland. The church had its beginnings in Oella, Maryland and remained there until 1860. A parcel of land was purchased by the Trustees from Thomas Isacc and his wife for the sole purpose of building a place of worship. This property was located on Merryman Street, then known as ” Missionary Bottom”. A log cabin was erected and called the “Colored Church of Ellicott City”. This building presently stands directly across from the current location
It was also in 1860 that this place of worship was incorporated by the General Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and was named St. Luke AME Church.
In later years the Trustees were authorized to attend a meeting concerning the purchase of the current property. On October 19, 1896, the Trustees received the deed to this current location and the cornerstone was laid. The Trustees were Oliver Scott, Jonas Neal, Wesley Neal, William Adams, Jerry Dent, Horace Raveling and Alexander Butler.
Some of the present members were the direct descendants of the original signers of this deed.
AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
The African Methodist Episcopal Church is also known as the A.M. E. Church for short. The word African means that the church was organized by people of African descent and heritage. It does not mean that the church was founded in Africa, or that it was for persons of African descent only. The church’s roots are of the family of Methodist churches in terms of its basic doctrine and order of worship. Methodism provides an orderly system of rules and regulations and places emphasis on a plain and simple gospel. The A.M.E. Church was born through the adversity of the Methodist church and to this day does not differ in any major way from what all Methodists believe. The split from the main branch of the Methodist Church was not a result of doctrinal differences but rather the result of a time period that was marked by man’s intolerance of his fellow man, based on the color of his skin. It was a time of slavery, oppression and the dehumanization of people of African descent and many of these un-Christian practices were brought into the church, forcing Richard Allen and a group of fellow worshippers of color to form a splinter denomination of the Methodist Church. Episcopal refers to the form of government under which the church operates. The chief executive and administrative officers of the African Methodist Episcopal denomination are the Bishops of the church.
For a complete history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church by going to http://www.ame-church.com
