“C” is for Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

“C” is for Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. One of the seven largest African American denominations, the CME church was originally titled the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church. Organized in 1870 it amicably emerged from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1954 the church title was changed from “Colored” to “Christian.” The smallest of the three Black Methodist groups, the CME has close to 1,000,000 members in the United States and abroad especially in the Caribbean and Africa. The Charleston- Columbia district has 42 churches. Its polity basically mirrors that of other major American Methodist denominations featuring an Episcopal governance with general, annual, and quarterly conferences, and board focused on various aspects of church life. It also shares Methodist doctrines, theology, and rituals. While a national and international body, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church is strongest in the American South.