The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, one of the nation’s oldest African-American denominations, has been awarded a $1.25-million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.
Continuing in the heralded legacy of its founder, Bishop James Varick, world-renowned abolitionist prognosticators Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, and Sojourner Truth, and steeped in the rich tradition of liberation and justice, as “The Freedom Church,” the grant seeks to assist the Denomination in leading preachers to recapture the art of relevant, compelling and contextual preaching to its congregations and communities.
The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is one of 81 organizations being funded through the competitive round of Lilly Endowment’s Compelling Preaching Initiative.
The grant will be housed and facilitated through the Office of the General Secretary-Auditor, The Reverend Dr. J. Elvin Sadler, and assisted by the Rev. Dr. Dominique A. Robinson. Dr. Sadler, the Program Director, states, “The A.M.E. Zion Church has been blessed with a rich tapestry of prophetic preachers, who have helped to shape the landscape for communities during some of the most critical times in our nation’s past, and we look forward to recapturing this rich legacy, as we chart the course of preaching for future generations. We are grateful to Lilly Endowment for honoring us with this opportunity!”
Dr. Robinson further states: “It is a tremendous honor, opportunity, and sacred responsibility to contribute to the rich legacies and cultural significance of African American preaching and the prophetic witness of The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. I am elated and committed to stewarding this grant as Program Manager. This project aims to educate, equip, and empower Zion preachers through rigorous scholarship, research, collaboration, and engagement while ensuring our role in maintaining, shaping, and building the landscape of contemporary Black preaching and inspiring generations of communities to come.” Bishop Eric L. Leake, Chairman of the Administrative Board, Records, Statistics and Archives, and the Office of the General Secretary-Auditor, states: “Preaching is a sacred and special call for the men and women of God! Therefore, this is a great, awesome, and timely opportunity for The A.M.E. Zion Church to receive the Compelling Preaching Initiative grant! This grant will help preachers in every generation to sharpen the skills, gifts, and ministry of preaching in times like these. In this season, it is important that the tradition of preaching, in the African American tradition, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, be held in high esteem! How exciting!”
Capturing the spirit of prolific denominational voices of the past, such as Bishops J.W. Hood, Alfred Gilbert Dunston, George Junius Leake, Charles H. Foggie, W. Darin Moore, and the Reverend Drs. Richard Council, Ocie Brown, and William O. Carrington, who Dr. Gardner C. Taylor said was one of the greatest preachers he had ever heard, the grant will seek to recapture the spirit of such prolific giants while providing new methods for preaching to ever-evolving cultures through national and regional events, mentoring and preaching labs, to shape further the artform of compelling preaching in an ever-evolving culture. This will be done by offering training on the connectional and episcopal levels, establishing peer preaching cohorts, and making resources accessible through multi-media platforms for homiletical development.
For further information, please contact the Office of the General Secretary-Auditor at KayGabriel@AMEZion.org.
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