“The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church began in New York City in 1796.  Just as, several decades earlier, John Wesley founded the Methodist Church in England in an attempt to remake the Church of England from within, the A.M.E. Zion Church grew out of a spirit of reform.  Despite Wesley’s deep opposition to slavery and his championing of poor and mistreated people, both white and black, not all of his followers remained true to his ideals.  Although black people had been accepted as worshippers in the Methodist tradition since it was first brought to America by Wesley and his brother Charles in the 1730s, black Methodists were often poorly treated by their white brethren.  The church, by then known as the Methodist Episcopal Church, granted preaching licenses to a few black men, but they were rarely allowed to preach, even to other black members of the church.  Preaching to white Methodists was out of the question.  These black preachers were not allowed to join the  Methodist Conference, the church’s decision-making body.  In many Methodist churches, black worshippers were segregated from white members and were forced to sit in the church gallery rather than in the main area of worship.  Burial rights for black Methodists were also at issue.

By 1801, the group was incorporated as the African Methodist Episcopal Church in New York.  For the next two decades, they remained affiliated with the white-dominated Methodist Episcopal Church.  In 1820, however, the A.M.E. Zion leaders voted to leave the Methodist Episcopal Church, and they published their first discipline, or rules and regulations for church practice.  In 1848, “Zion” was added to the name of the New York A.M.E. church to honor the name of their first church, as well as to distinguish this group from the Philadelphians, whose first church was known as “Bethel.”

From its earliest beginnings, the A.M.E. Zion Church has been known as the “Freedom Church” for its spirit of reform and activism.  In the 19th century, the church was in the forefront of the antislavery movement.  Several of the best-known black abolitionists, including Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Sojourner Truth, joined the A.M.E. Zion Church.”

The Rossville AME Zion Church was founded on December 5, 1850 by a group of five people who saw the need for a church in the Sandy Ground community. Original members were Andrea Harris, Louise Harris, Elizabeth Titus, Drucila Morse and Rev. William Pitts, the first pastor.  They met in Rev. Pitts’ home until first church building which seated about 150 persons was erected in 1854.   As the community grew, parishioners made many financial sacrifices to purchase land.  In 1870, under the leadership of Rev. E. M. Stanton, construction on the current building began and was completed in 1897 under the pastorate of Rev. F. E. Owens.

Many changes have been made to the building in the last 156 years.  Current plans are to renovate the church building and to develop vacant land that the church owns.

Many people have met, married, baptized their children and buried loved ones out of the this church; and it continues to be a vibrant house of worship, a base for service, and a source of religious empowerment and enrichment for those seeking a closer relationship with Christ.