About Us

Mission Statement

The Lay Organization of the African Methodist Episcopal Church is commissioned to teach, train and empower its members for lay ministry, global leadership and service following the tenets of Jesus Christ.

The Purpose

The purpose of this organization is to organize and train the laity of the African Methodist Episcopal Church so that lay persons may maximally utilize their God given abilities, and skills to improve and extend the kingdom, to create happiness, peace, and harmony among its members.

The Objectives

The Objectives of the 20th Episcopal Lay Organization are:

1. To instill in the membership of the church a love for, and an appreciation of the history, traditions, principles and development of African Methodism by encouraging, motivating, and educating all lay persons,
2. To keep forever alive the sacred memory of Richard Allen, the illustrious founder of the AMEC.
3. To advocate respect and loyalty at all times to constituted authority and leadership.
4. To encourage the laity to support the total program of the church in the local congregation, in the community, and throughout the Connection.
5. To foster a systematic and regular study of The Doctrine and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and parliamentary procedure, to the end that greater knowledge and information may be disseminated among the laity, and with the further purpose of encouraging lay members to participate more largely in the general functioning and supervision of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
6. To foster, influence, and support all constructive and progressive legislation for the church that promotes the teachings of Jesus Christ.
7. To encourage development, recognition, and utilization of the most appropriate operational practices and modern technology in conducting the activities of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
8. To promote the spread of personal evangelism through activities designed to prepare lay members for appropriately conveying God’s Word.
9. To provide training in Christian stewardship, which causes lay members to recognize that the connotation of stewardship addresses more than giving money.
10. To increase the circulation of church periodicals.
11. To provide for the orderly and systematic training of lay persons, especially officers, in order that they might more effectively perform their service responsibilities. page 472
12. To promote activities which will result in harmonious fellowship for lay persons throughout the Connection.
13. m. To help in the support of the AME educational institutions.
14. To give financial assistance to the Connectional Lay Economic Development Corporation (CLEDC) in support of Connectional programs.

Achieving the lay organization’s mission and purpose the nehemiah way

With the Nehemiah Way, we envisage to achieve the mission and the purpose of the lay organization and improve its visibility in this 20th Episcopal districts by:

1. Rebuilding the broken systems of the church
2. Instilling prayer as a habit and a new normal
3. Encouraging members to be sacrificial in their giving for the rebuilding process.
4. Continuous engagement in need assessment in the church for reconstructive works
5. Enlisting the cooperation of men and women by building a vibrant organization that is responsive and productive to the needs of our church.

Four Pillars Of The Nehemiah Way

1 Skills identification and utilization

we are geared at embarking in the process of identifying skills within our church and initiate the utilization of the same. In our four countries of Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe; there is no doubt that God has blessed us with individuals with talents in Accounting, Business, IT, Theology, Technical skills that have not been tapped to benefit the church

What We Do not Use We Lose!

We have lost best men to other churches because as a church, we have turned a blind eye to what God had deposited in the lives of those he calls into our fellowship.

2 Partnership development for growth

We desire to develop a relationships with other Episcopal districts to gain deeper knowledge on how to attain growth by benchmarking from their rich experiences and best practices in our pursuit of excellence and growth. As a global and connectional church, we cannot attain growth operating in isolation.

It is when a tree is watered that it grows

Together we stand, divided we fall.

3 Rebuild through technology

While Nehemiah was using wood and stones for the rebuilding of the broken walls. We cannot ignore the use of technology, if we are to rebuild a church fit for this century, in these hard times of economic or pandemic challenges, where movement is restricted by cost of transport or government bans (as it was with COVID-19). The church should still thrive with the use of technology.

We are visualizing a time when at a click of a button one should be able to read training materials, that will build our church and members in enriching our spiritual lives. That time is now.

4 anchoring with co-operation and team building

Stepping into this calling, we are not ignorant of the many challenges that come with disunity as in chapter 3 of Nehemiah. We will endeavors in enlisting all classes of people in building an entity that is fit to rebuild. Prayer and fasting was the binding agent in their quest for the rebuilding

Conclusion

We have been called to look into the future with a sense of purpose and determination being mindful of He who calls us. We are but a vessels in the hands of our creator. We do not call ourselves for we are not masters but servants in God’s vineyard.