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An aged white building with a shingled roof and a circular stained glass window stands on the corner of County and Mill Street. Large green doors open to a blue-carpeted space enclosed by white walls with blue accents. Rows of wooden pews line the middle and either side of the room and an open Bible rests on a wooden table in the center. Behind the Holy Scriptures hangs a cross with the words “God is Love” embossed in gold lettering above it.
The Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church has served New Bedford since 1822. It was at the forefront of the anti-slavery and abolitionist movement as a station in the Underground Railroad. Its services were graced by key figures such as Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Charles Lenox Remond, Samuel Pennington, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and Sojourner Truth. From its pulpit on Kempton Street, these leaders decried slavery and fought for freedom.
The church’s significance is found on a plaque affixed to an outside wall that reads, “The Founding Church of African Methodism in New England.” It has sustained fires, a relocation, and 80 pastors. More than two centuries after its inception, it continues to be a place of worship and community.
Although the space is quiet apart from the whirring of floor fans and cars passing by, it is typically filled with singing, dancing, preaching and clapping at its Sunday services. And on Friday, it will celebrate its 200th anniversary as a place of worship, education and community.
“The history in this church, in this community, New Bedford, I just find it exciting every day,” said the Rev. Dr. Sandra Gatlin Whitley, the church’s 80th pastor. “Because it’s something new that I’m going to hear about or confirm something I’ve already heard about individuals and the parts that they played and this church being who she is at this particular point.”
“The church is not this building,” said the Rev. Kenneth L. Whitley, husband and assistant pastor to Pastor Whitley. “The church is the people, and the church is what goes back to 1822.”
Bethel A.M.E.C.’s history
Bethel A.M.E.C. in New Bedford originally celebrated its 200th year anniversary in 2022, but due to the pandemic, the landmark anniversary was not celebrated properly, said Pastor Whitley. Instead, the anniversary will be celebrated this year, its 203rd anniversary, starting Friday, July 25.
The church originally operated out of homes until a physical space was built at 318 Kempton St. in 1842. It was burned down in an act of hatred in 1854, said Yvonne Drayton, a lifelong parishioner.
“There was resentment of anything to do with Black people,” Drayton said. “A lot of Black churches were burned.”
The church was rebuilt in less than two years. Drayton — the fifth generation in her family to attend the church — said the celebration for the reopening initially attracted the first member of her family to join.
The building remained on Kempton Street for over a century until urban renewal — which has since turned the former location into a playground — forced the parish to move locations. The First Church of Christ, Scientist, a Christian Science church, sold the building at 532 County St. to Bethel A.M.E.C. in 1973, and it was dedicated in 1974.
The church is a part of Bethel A.M.E.C. denominations throughout the world – of which there are about 2.5 million members across 7,000 churches and 20 districts, 13 in the United States. The denomination was established in 1787 after free slaves who were worshipping at St. George’s Methodist Church in Philadelphia were told to “get off their knees and go to the back of the church,” Pastor Whitley said.
“When we could not have the unity there, they left.”
It is currently the oldest Black denomination in the United States. Although it includes African in its name, the Bethel A.M.E.C. is open to everybody, Pastor Whitley said.
“It [was] like a password to others who may have been experiencing discrimination,” she said.
The New Bedford church hosted the denomination’s first New England Conference in 1852 and the second conference in 1854. Pastor Whitley said the conference now switches location each year. The church plans to host the conference in 2028 in collaboration with other Bethel A.M.E. churches in Fall River, Plymouth, Providence and Newport.
“All of us will come together and say OK we’re gonna make this happen,” she said. “It’s going to be great.”
Pastor Whitley and Reverend Whitley work together as a team and couple to meet community needs. Reverend Whitley supports his wife in her role as pastor, preaching when needed and dealing with the technology and sound aspects of the church, which Pastor Whitley said was his strength.
“We complement each other,” she said.
Community involvement
Reverend Whitley said the church plays an “A to Z role” in the community.
During the pandemic, Bethel A.M.E.C. New Bedford worked with other churches and organizations to provide vaccines to the community. It also conducted research on the effects COVID had on communities of color in the New Bedford area.
“We brought together people from the community to join us in doing the research,” Pastor Whitley said. “And so then everybody got together.”
On top of being a place for religious services such as Bible study, prayer, and worship services, the Bethel A.M.E.C. also provides a space for an Alcoholics Anonymous group to meet and spearheads a program called “Can we talk…” to give the community a platform to share sources of grief.
Pastor Whitley said the church aims to “meet people where they are,” without judgment, and use the resources they have to help where they can.
“We’re not forcing anything down anyone’s throat, but it’s available for those who are interested,” Reverend Whitley said.
This past year, the church worked to put together profiles to honor past members with significant roles in the congregation. Different events and initiatives bring visibility to the church and increase opportunities for people to get involved, Pastor Whitley said.
“[The Church is] coming alive it seems,” she said. “[There’s] more movement, [there’s] camaraderie. People are coming out so connected.”
Reverend Whitley said the church is also a part of the Black culture, particularly education. Prior to other educational opportunities for Black people, he said the minister would read the words of a hymn to the congregation and members would learn to sing the hymn that way.
“Everyone could not afford to get an education, but communities would come together to make sure that their leadership, their clergy, received some type of education,” he said.
Joan Henderson Beaubian, a lifelong parishioner, attended the Bethel A.M.E.C. until she moved to New York after high school. She became involved with the church years later when she moved back to New Bedford.
Growing up, Beaubian said the church was where she made close friends. When she returned to New Bedford, she still had these friends.
“It’s been amazing that this church has stood tall throughout all the tribulation the neighborhood has gone through,” she said. “It’s right there where [the community] needs them. It’s good to know that there are friends and family that are available to me.”
Anniversary events
Pastor Whitley said people are coming from all over to celebrate the 200th anniversary. This includes church members from as close as Chelsea — her former parish — Rhode Island and Connecticut, and as far away as Pennsylvania and Bermuda.
The celebrations will begin with an anniversary banner raising and plaque dedication at the church’s former location on Kempton Street on Friday, July 25, at 2 p.m. On Sunday, July 27, it will host its weekly worship service at 3 p.m. The service will include the Bethel A.M.E. Church Boston Worship and Praise Team and keynote preacher the Right Reverend Samuel L. Green Sr., presiding prelate of the First Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
There will also be an invitation-only meet and greet with the mayor, elected officials and community partners.
“This 203rd year anniversary [commemorates] the leaders in New Bedford,” said Dannie Mae James Green, whose husband served as the pastor from 1998-2007. “Maybe there was a time when there was a full group of people here, but the church continues to strive and thrive.”
Bethel A.M.E.C.’s future
Bethel A.M.E.C. faces problems of decreasing engagement like many churches in the 21st century, particularly in the younger generations.
Drayton said the number of people attending over the past few decades has dropped from about 30 members who regularly attend Sunday services to about half of that.
“People just don’t go to church like they used to,” Drayton said. “I can remember when people used to walk to church and you’d see people walking all over the area.”
Since the pandemic, options like watching live streaming services at home have become more popular and people “don’t have to show up necessarily,” she said.
“You can cook Sunday dinner. You can get ready to go out,” Drayton said. “You can do whatever and keep the service going while you do that, rather than showing up in person, which is kind of disheartening.”
James Green said she has seen more involvement and commitment from members since 1998, but she is still concerned.
“If there were only three members in this church remaining, whatever needed to be done, somehow would be done,” she said. “They all just come together and just embrace whatever seems to be the needs [of the community]. It’s a strong church. I am just concerned as the membership is aging, who is going to follow?”
Beaubian said congregants used to stay “until they were too old or they died.”
“They went to church in wheelchairs,” she said. “They went to church however they could.”
The parish is hoping to raise $2 million for major repairs to “bring the building into the 21st century,” Pastor Whitley said. It aims to renovate and upgrade the building by making it handicapped accessible and updating the electrical system, which is 110 years old. Pastor Whitley said she is currently seeking out grants and funds and working with the city to achieve these goals.
“I’m praying that the next [celebration] will be a gala,” she said. “And the bishop comes back, and we are having a celebration that we raised our [money].”
Crystal Yormick, a journalism student at Boston University, is a summer intern at The New Bedford Light. She can be reached at cyormick@newbedfordlight.org.
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Informative, historically accurate and extremely well written piece.
I approached Bethel AME some fifteen years and five Pastors ago in search of a downtown venue for a Thursday night meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, Rev Irma Thibodeaux and the whole congregation welcomed us and have sheltered us ever since. Thank You Bethel, from the thousands of us who have been afforded the chance of recovery through your commitment to Christianity.
Thanks Crystal for showing the Bethel Church that we know and love.