Editing Richard Allen (section)

== Founding the AME Church ==

Allen's establishment of Bethel Church in 1794, initially within the Methodist Episcopal structure, began the institutional development that would become the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. His insistence on Black control of Black churches—ownership of property, selection of clergy, determination of policy—brought conflict with white Methodists who sought to maintain authority over Black congregations. The legal battles that ensued confirmed Bethel's independence while establishing precedents that other Black churches would invoke.<ref name="newman"/>

The formal organization of the AME Church in 1816, with Allen as its first bishop, created the independent denomination that his decades of work had prepared. The church's growth, extending throughout the North and eventually into the South after emancipation, demonstrated that his vision of Black institutional independence met genuine need. The denominational structure he established—bishops, conferences, educational institutions—provided organizational framework that served African American communities into the present.<ref name="george"/>

His Philadelphia base, Bethel Church at Sixth and Lombard Streets, became "Mother Bethel," the foundational congregation whose significance extended beyond local worship to denominational and national symbolism. The current church building, the fourth on the site, preserves the location where Allen established Black institutional independence. His burial in the church's basement maintains physical connection between founder and institution.<ref name="newman"/>