View source for African Union Methodist Protestant Church

{{short description|Methodist denomination}}
{{Infobox Christian denomination
|name = African Union Methodist Protestant Church
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|main_classification = [[Methodism]] 
|theology = [[Wesleyan theology|Wesleyan]]
|orientation = [[Holiness movement]]
|polity = [[Connexionalism]]
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|separated_from = 
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|separations = [[Union American Methodist Episcopal Church]] (1865)
|associations =
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|congregations = 40
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}}
{{Methodism}}
The '''African Union Methodist Protestant Church''' ('''AUMPC'''), abbreviated as '''A.U.M.P. Church''', is a [[Methodist]] [[Religious denomination|denomination]]. It was chartered by [[Peter Spencer (religious leader)|Peter Spencer]] (1782–1843) in [[Wilmington, Delaware]], in 1813 as the "Union Church of Africans", where it became known as the "African Union Church".<ref name="dalleo">{{cite web |url=http://www.udel.edu/BlackHistory/antebellum.html|first=Peter T.|last=Dalleo|title=The Growth of Delaware's Antebellum Free African Community|work= A HISTORY OF AFRICAN AMERICANS OF DELAWARE AND MARYLAND'S EASTERN SHORE |editor=Carole Marks| publisher= University of Delaware|date=1997}}</ref>

==History==
The formation of the African Union Methodist Protestant Church is a part of the [[history of Methodism in the United States]]; in 1866, the First Colored Methodist Protestant Church merged with it. This was a Maryland offshoot of the [[A.M.E. Church]], which was based in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]]. The Delaware-Maryland denomination renamed itself, combining names, as the ''African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church and Connection'', usually called the A.U.M.P. Church.  In the 1860s, a schism resulted in some of the congregations forming the "[[U.A.M.E. Church|Union American Methodist Episcopal Church]]" in 1865. The two denominations are now referred to collectively as the "[[Spencer Churches]]" (or, less often, the "Union Churches").

Although a decentralized Methodist Protestant church in its earlier years, the A.U.M.P. Church in the 1880s began to consider adopting an episcopal structure. In 1922 it consecrated its first bishop, [[Daniel J. Russell, Jr.]]  But it was not until 1967 that the Church fully changed to an episcopal structure and consecrated its two leaders as bishops.

The A.U.M.P. Church has a total of about 40 congregations in the area of the mid-Atlantic and Upper South: the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia.

==Notable churches==
*[[Hosanna Meeting House]], built in 1845 in the free Black village of [[Hinsonville]], [[Chester County, Pennsylvania|Chester County]], [[Pennsylvania]]
*[[St. John's Church (Ruxton, Maryland)]], listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] (NRHP) in 1982
*[[Olivet Chapel|St. John's African Union Methodist Protestant Church]], [[Goshen (village), New York|Goshen, New York]], listed on the NRHP in 2010
*[[Saint Paul African Union Methodist Church]], [[Washington, D.C.]], listed on the NRHP in 2011
*Mt. Zion A. U. M. P., Marshalltown, NJ, mother church of the New Jersey and Pennsylvania districts. This is the base of bishop and historian Daniel James Russell. It is classified as a contributing resource in the [[Marshalltown Historic District]], which was listed on the NRHP in July 2013

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101021222649/http://www.aufcmp.org/ Official site]
*[http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/russell/russell.html Russell, Daniel J. ''History of the African Union Methodist Protestant Church''. Philadelphia: Union Star Book and Job Printing Publishing House, 1920]. ''Documenting the American South'', University of North Carolina
*[http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/aump/aump.html A.U.M.P. ''Book of Discipline'', 1871], ''Documenting the American South'', University of North Carolina
*[https://stjamesaumpchurch.org/ St. James African Union Methodist Protestant Church]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121119113105/http://www.mountcalvaryaump.org/  Mount Calvary African Union Methodist Protestant Church]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121119044458/http://www.mountpleasantaump.org/ Mount Pleasant African Union Methodist Protestant Church]

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{{Black church}}

[[Category:A.U.M.P. Church| ]]
[[Category:African-American history of Delaware]]
[[Category:Historically African-American Christian denominations]]
[[Category:Religious organizations established in 1813]]
[[Category:Methodism in the United States]]
[[Category:Methodist denominations in North America]]
[[Category:Methodist denominations established in the 19th century]]
[[Category:1813 establishments in the United States]]


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