In Touch With The Outreach Peace Academy

By Betty Miller Buttram
FWIS Contributing Writer

A teaching day occurred on Thursday, July 7, 2022, at the Historic Turner Chapel

A.M.E. Church located at 836 E. Jefferson Blvd. College students from the Fort Wayne community found themselves at the church for a history lesson. They were led by Chris Lahr who works closely with Rev. Angelo Mante, Alive Community Outreach Peace Academy. The students or Peacemakers are focused on the communities within Fort Wayne and are working on building their understanding of culture in the neighborhoods. Chris wanted the students to learn about the reason for the founding of the African Methodist Episcopal denomination and about the history of Turner Chapel.

Rev, Kenneth C. Christmon, Pastor of Turner Chapel A.M, E. Church, greeted the Peacemakers with a spirited welcome, encouraged them to further their education, to continue with their leadership in the community, and to remember that people need to work together. Judy Lindsay, a member of Turner Chapel A.M.E. Church, gave them information about the African Methodist Episcopal church and its beginning.

The source of the history of the African Methodist Episcopal church began with Bishop Richard Allen who was born of slave parents in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 14, 1760. He managed to obtain his freedom in 1780. He attended Methodist classes and meetings while still a slave and surrounded himself with those of a like faith. One Sunday in November 1787, Richard Allen and other Black worshippers who attended St. George’s Methodist Church in Philadelphia were refused a request for a prayer room. They were pulled from their knees while praying. They were asked to leave the church which they did in body, however, Richard Allen did not lose faith in Christianity. Instead, he began to organize a new congregation, The African Methodist Episcopal Church. The founding of the Turner Chapel A.M.E. Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana was in 1849. This was the first church building erected by a Black congregation in Fort Wayne. Turner Chapel was named in honor of Henry McNeal Turner, the first Black Chaplain during the Civil War. Turner later became a Bishop in the A.M.E. church. The African Methodist Episcopal Church has a global membership of two and a half million people. There are churches in Africa, England, India, and the Caribbean. The mission of the A.M.E. church is to teach, train and empower members to follow the tenets of Christ. The A.M.E. Church was involved with the Underground Railroad in Fort Wayne. The station stop was at the Rankin House which was located on Lafayette Street between Berry Street and Wayne Street and the passengers went north to Angola, Indiana and then into Michigan. There are numerous A.M.E. churches around the country named for Bishop Richard Allen and Bishop Henry McNeal Turner.

The students were given additional information about the UBUNTU Learning Lab which will begin conducting classes in the Fall of 2022, Thursday from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The Learning Lab is a Family-Centered for adults to learn with their school—age children. The Learning Lab will be teaching Afrikan History and Culture, Afrikan American Experience, and the Afrikan Diaspora. UBUNTU MEANS HUMANITY:  I Am Because We Are. This is Bishop Desmond Tutu’s theology of UBUNTU:  an African concept recognizing that persons and groups form their identities in relation to one another.

After the oral history and the information about UBUNTU, the students were escorted downstairs of the church to the Richard Allen Cultural Center which also includes the Henry McNeal Turner Library. There they saw African American history of persons in the past and in the present, artwork, and visual equipment. The Learning Lab classes will take place in the Cultural Center.

The students were also provided with lunch. While lunch was served, Linda Durril, a member of Turner Chapel, provided the students with information on social justice issues.

The meeting with the youthful Peacemakers and the matured generation at Turner Chapel A.M.E. Church was a teaching opportunity for all.