Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME Church) is a Methodist denomination that is based in the United States. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology. Though historically a part of the black church, the Christian Methodist Episcopal church membership has evolved to include all racial backgrounds.

The CME Church was organized on December 16, 1870, in Jackson, Tennessee, by 41 former enslaved congregants, with the full support of their white sponsors in their former Methodist Episcopal Church, South. They met to form an organization that would allow them to establish and maintain their own polity.^[1] They ordained their own bishops and ministers without their being officially endorsed or appointed by the white-dominated body. They called this fellowship the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America. The church used this name until 1954, when successors adopted the C.M.E.C. name.^[2]

In the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, bishops are the Chief Officers and are elected by "delegate" votes for life until the age of 74, when he/she must retire. Among their duties are the responsibilities of appointing clergy to serve in local churches as pastors, performing ordinations, and safeguarding the doctrines and discipline of the Church. The General Conference, held every four years, comprises an equal number of clergy and lay delegates and is when a bishop can be elected. In each Annual Conference, CME bishops serve for four-year terms. CME Church bishops may be male or female.

In 2006, there were an estimated 850,000 members in 3,500 churches.^[3] As of 2025, the CME Church has more than 1.2 million members across the United States with mission and sister churches in Haiti, Jamaica and fourteen African nations.^[4]

The foundational doctrines of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church are found in what is commonly referred to in Wesleyan Methodism as The Articles of Religion. The Articles of Religion were derived from the Church of England and abridged by John Wesley, Founder of Methodism, for Methodists in America in 1784.

En la denominación CME, los servicios religiosos dominicales suelen incluir una lectura responsorial de las Escrituras . Un líder lee un versículo y la congregación lee una respuesta. Los pasajes bíblicos no están organizados por tema; las lecturas responsivas sí. A menudo, una sola lectura responsorial consta de fragmentos de varios pasajes bíblicos.

Las lecturas responsivas de la CME se publican en el himnario de la Iglesia Metodista Episcopal Cristiana . Los elementos 1 a 545 son canciones, y los elementos 546 a 604 son lecturas responsivas. Las lecturas responsivas oficiales provienen de la versión King James de la Biblia .

El logotipo o símbolo oficial de la Iglesia Metodista Episcopal Cristiana fue autorizado originalmente por el obispo B. Julian Smith para la Conferencia General del Centenario celebrada en Memphis en 1970. Fue adoptado oficialmente por la Conferencia General en 1974 como el distintivo de la denominación.

Diseñado por Will E. Chambers, el logotipo muestra el lugar de la Iglesia Metodista Episcopal Cristiana en la sociedad urbanizada en rápida transformación y su relación con el pueblo de Dios. El logotipo se compone de:

El globo terráqueo que representa la viña de Dios;

El Skyline , que representa la preocupación de la Iglesia por los problemas humanos y urbanos y la alienación de las personas respecto a Dios y entre sí;

La veleta, que simboliza la necesidad de la Iglesia de ser flexible para satisfacer las necesidades contemporáneas de las personas; y,

La Cruz , que simboliza, mediante su barra vertical, la necesidad de una relación adecuada entre las personas y Dios, y mediante su barra horizontal, la necesidad de relaciones adecuadas entre las personas. La Cruz completa es un signo de la victoria final asegurada mediante la sangre de Jesucristo .

Desde principios del siglo XX, la Iglesia CME ha explorado la posibilidad de fusionarse con otras iglesias metodistas afroamericanas que son muy similares en doctrina y práctica.

En 1918, representantes de la Iglesia CME, la Iglesia Metodista Episcopal Africana (AME) y la Iglesia Metodista Episcopal Africana Zion (AME Zion) se reunieron en Birmingham, Alabama, donde acordaron proponer una fusión. Este "Plan de Birmingham" fue aprobado por la Conferencia General de la CME, pero no obtuvo suficiente apoyo en las conferencias anuales. ^{[ 5 ]}

in the late 20th century, the CME Church engaged in new talks with the AME Zion Church on a merger, with CME General Conference delegates approving a union in principle in 1986, and AME Zion delegates giving the same approval in 1988. Bishops of each church reopened the question in 1999, adopting a timeline for an eventual merger.^[5]

In May 2012, The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church entered into full communion with the United Methodist Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, African Union Methodist Protestant Church, African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Union American Methodist Episcopal Church. These Churches agreed to "recognize each other's churches, share sacraments, and affirm their clergy and ministries."^[6]

• 1st Bishop William H. Miles (1828–1892)
• 2nd Bishop Richard H. Vanderhorst (1813–1872)
• 3rd Bishop Joseph A. Beebe (1832–1902)
• 4th Bishop Lucius Henry Holsey, D. D. (1842–1920)
• 5th Bishop Isaac Lane, D. D. (1834–1937)
• 6th Bishop Robert S. Williams, D. D. (1858–1932)
• 7th Bishop Elijah Cottrell, D. D. (1853–1937)
• 8th Bishop Charles Henry Phillips, D.D. (1858–1951)
• 59th Bishop Teresa E. Jefferson-Snorton (1st woman bishop) (1955–)
• Bishop Denise Anders-Modest (2nd woman bishop)

The church elected the first woman bishop in 2010. In 2022, the church elected its second woman bishop. In addition, Jefferson-Snorton became the "first woman to give the episcopal address" during the quadrennial General Conference.^[7]

• Homer College, Homer, Louisiana; not a true college
• Lane College, Jackson Tennessee
• Paine College, Augusta, Georgia
• Miles College, Birmingham, Alabama
• Texas College, Tyler, Texas
• Phillips School of Theology, Atlanta, Georgia

• Churches Uniting in Christ
• Religion in Black America
• Civil rights movement (1865–1896)
• Methodist Episcopal Church, South
• African Methodist Episcopal Church
• African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

• Bailey, Kenneth. "Las separaciones raciales posteriores a la Guerra Civil en el protestantismo sureño", Church History (1977) 46#4 pp 453–73
• Gravely, William B. "El significado social, político y religioso de la fundación de la Iglesia Metodista Episcopal de Color (1870)", Methodist History (1979) 18:3-25
• Pettigrew, MC De Miles a Johnson: Cien años de progreso, 1870-1970 (Memphis: CME Church Publishing House, 1970)
• Phillips, Charles Henry. De la granja al obispado: una autobiografía (1932) (fragmento )
• Phillips, Charles Henry (1898). La historia de la Iglesia Metodista Episcopal de Color en América: su organización, desarrollo posterior y situación actual . Editorial CME Church., reimpreso por Arno en 1972; una historia oficial
• Sommerville, Raymond R. Una iglesia de ex-colores: Activismo social en la Iglesia CME, 1870-1970 (Mercer University Press, 2004)
• Spragin, Rev. Dr. Ore. Historia de la Iglesia Metodista Episcopal Cristiana 1870-2009 (Wyndham Hall Press, 2011) 304 págs.

• Sitio web de la iglesia CME
• Editorial de la Iglesia CME
• Perfil de la Iglesia Metodista Episcopal Cristiana en el sitio web de la Asociación de Archivos de Datos Religiosos.