My daughter and I received such an incredible blessing this weekend. Rev. Robert Payne his wife and two wonderful members of his church came to visit us. Rev. Payne pastors Union Bethel A.M.E church in Great Falls Montana. They drove 500 miles round trip to visit me and present gifts to our church. It was a joyful time. My daughter and I commented how we have never been in a denomination that has such wonderful fellowship with it's sister churches. I would love to hear about the fellowship your church has with other A.M.E churches. Isn't God grand!

-- Anonymous, April 06, 2002

Answers

Dear Rev. Denise In case some of us would like to visit you. How would we find you. Give us a trail (I know you are not in Oregon). Blessings to you

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2002

Brother Nalton I live in the state of Montana. And there are three wonderful congregations in our state. Montana has two national parks Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone is within one hour of my town. It is breath taking. The best time for visitors to come to Montana (If you do not like winter) is between May and August, my town is situated in the Rocky mountains in a valley, and within ten minutes there are four national forests. The A.M.E church has been in Montana since 1860. There are 900,000 people in our state, 45,000 native americans and 2,500 african- americans. Our Prelate is Bishop John Bryant and we are in the fifth district. Do let me know if you are planning a visit out west. There is much to do and see, horseback riding, white water rafting, visiting ghost town, panning for gold and sapphires (I am not kidding) visiting Ted Turner buffalo ranch. He lives in my town. Our town also has a hot spring. And the people are wonderful!!

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2002

I can speak of some examples of AME fellowship.

• Reedy Chapel is one of two AME churches in Galveston. For Resurrection Sunday over the last several years it has shared a sunrise service with its sister church, Shiloh, pastored by Rev. Michael Bell. This year it was Pastor Payne's turn to preach at Shiloh. The two churches are also supportive of each other's annual days and special days.
• For Holy Week in Galveston churches from several denominations participated in the preaching of the "Seven Last Words". It was pleasant indeed.
• In 1999 four of our churches - Clear Lake (Houston), Primm Chapel (LaMarque), Reedy Chapel, and St. James (Dickinson) came together to host the Annual Conference. This followed an example set in 1998 by four other sister churches - Mt. Calvary, Petra, Visions, and Wolridge Chapel (all in Houston). The experience increased fellowship among the four, with the pastors working together to coordinate the hosting details and ativities, and the various departments coming together to perform their function. The Presiding Elder liked the fellowship so much he began holding a joint Fourth Quarterly Conference service.

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2002

In Chattanooga, Tennessee there are 7 AME churches. The local AME minister's alliance has first sunday night service each month at one of the churches on a rotating basis. The service has one or two choirs from the cities churches, a message brought by one of the pastors or associate ministers, and communion. This past Sunday we were blessed by Saint Paul's recently formed Male Chourus. The offerings from these sevices go to the alliance scholarship fund. Also the Alliance has Good Friday service.

Usually our church make at least on trip a year "over the mountain" to one of the churches at the other end of the East Tennessee Conference about 50 to 100 miles away. It is always a blessing to see brothers and sisters you have not seen since annual conference.

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2002

Jerryl you mentioned that your church and three others hosted annual conference one year. What a great idea? Is this unusual in our denomination to have more than one host church. It makes sense though, for there would be more helpers. Great idea!

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2002

I am not yet enough of a historian to know if it occurred before the two conferences in texas in 1998 and 1999, but it certainly seemed new to the Texas Conference. In both years, the four congregations were smaller congregations that might not normally be looked to to host the Annual Conference. The innovation allowed the churches to pool their resources and provide a delightful entertainment both years.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2002

The AME Churches in our area have a 100+ year history fellowshipping with other AME churches. It would be even nicer if we got into the habit (particularly in our urban communities) of fellowshipping with our non-AME brothers and sisters. However, fellowshipping of any kind is a good thing. God bless you.

-- Anonymous, April 13, 2002