Our Mission
The Mission of the African Methodist Episcopal Church is to minister to the spiritual, intellectual, physical, emotional, and environmental needs of all people by spreading Christ’s liberating gospel through word and deed.
At every level of the Connection and in every local church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church shall engage in carrying out the spirit of the original Free African Society, out of which the A.M.E. Church evolved: that is, to seek out and save the lost, and serve the needy through a continuing program of:
-
Preaching the gospel
-
Feeding the hungry
-
Clothing the naked
-
Housing the homeless
-
Cheering the fallen
-
Providing jobs for the jobless
-
Administering to the needs of those in prisons, hospitals, nursing homes, asylums and mental institutions, senior citizens’ homes; caring for the sick, the shut-in, the mentally and socially disturbed
-
Encouraging thrift and economic advancement
Building History
“Faith does nothing alone-nothing of itself, but everything under God, by and through God.”
With a pledge of $100 each Dr. A. L. Lewis, Rev. E. J. Gregg, Rev. J. Milton Waldron, Dr. Arthur W. Smith, A. W. Price, E. W. Latson and J. F. Valentine banded themselves together and applied for a Corporate Charter for the Afro-American Industrial Benefit Association in January 1901. The Bee Hive became a familiar symbol on the first issued polices. The disastrous Jacksonville fire of 1901 really destroyed the physical assets of The African-American Industrial Benefit Association. records were salvaged and business continued in the home of A. L. Lewis.
The company moved to larger headquarters at 609 Main Street, with the purchase of the Miami Mutual Insurance Company the company spread into South Florida. During the Depression years the Afro-American launched a program of study and advanced job training for employees. A new million dollar home office at Ocean and Union added much to the growth and development of the Afro American Insurance. Life Insurance Company.
Unfortuntely, the Afro-American Insurance Company stopped doing business and the African Methodist Episcopal Church purchased and renovated the building. It was dedicated- March 1998. Today the Enterprise Center has approximately ten (10) tenants including the Eleventh Episcopal District Headquarters. We continue the proud heritage of the founder of the Afro-American Insurance Company that everything we do is by and through God.
CLICK HERE to learn more about the 11th Episcopal District of the AME Church