Adams Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church was borne out of the desire of the Baltimore Annual Conference, presided over by Bishop John Hurst Adams, to expand the A.M.E. Church in the Conference boundaries. Adams Chapel was established as a mission church on Palm Sunday, April 4, 1982 and it was the first new A.M.E. church in Baltimore in 32 years.
Adams Chapel A.M.E. Church was also the vision of the young Rev. Michael O. Thomas, a Deacon at Bethel A.M.E. in Baltimore, to establish a mission in the Liberty Heights community. Along with Rev. Michael Thomas and his wife, Rev. Debyii Thomas, came one hundred charter members. The members were former parishioners of Bethel A.M.E. in Baltimore, then under the Pastorship of Rev. Dr. John R. Bryant, who can be credited for spearheading this major effort of the Church. Because Rev. Thomas would not be ordained an Itinerant Elder until the next Annual Conference, the first communions were consecrated and served to the new congregation by Rev. Mary Henry Whitehead of Bethel A.M.E. Church, Rev. Edward C. Wilson, Presiding Elder of the Eastern District, and Bishop Harrison James Bryant. In the tradition of the itinerancy of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Adams Chapel has been blessed with the leadership of several dynamic pastors. In addition to Rev. Thomas, former pastors include Rev. Robert M. Pritchett, Jr., Rev. J.R. Williams and Rev. Raymond E. Banks, Sr. In April of 1995, Adams Chapel A.M.E. Church reached another milestone when Bishop Frederick C. James appointed our first female pastor, Rev. Marie Phillips Braxton. In April 1998, Bishop Vinton Anderson appointed Rev. Johnnie Branch, the sixth and longest serving pastor in Adams Chapel's history. Also in 1998, we were blessed with the 2nd renovation of the sanctuary and retired our mortgage in December 2005. In April 2007 Adams Chapel celebrated 25 years of kingdom building and embarked upon the next quarter of a century of Christian witness and service. On Palm Sunday 2011, Adams Chapel celebrated its 29th anniversary and welcomed our seventh pastor, Rev. David Young and his wife, Sis. Berneda Young. And in April 2014 we welcomed back home one of our original members as our 8th pastor, Rev. Rosalyn Crosby and her husband, Bro. Ezell Crosby. To God be the Glory, great things He has done! |
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