Another AME Church this week is celebrating its 125th Anniversary. This time it is St. John's AME Church on Wilkinson Avenue, Hamilton Parish, where the Rev. Mrs. Mrs. Ruth Van Lowe Smith is the pastor.

The celebration at St. John comes nearly a month after St. Paul AME Church, Hamilton marked its 125th with a week-long programme. And before the end of this year, two more churches, Bethel AME in Crawl and Richard Allen, St. George's will reach their 125th milestones. They formed the Bermuda Annual Conference, when the AME Church evolved from the British Methodist Church based in Nova Scotia, Canada.

While St. Paul was hailed as "the cathedral" of African Methodism in Bermuda and the epicenter of black intellectualism in the country, St. John is correctly cited as "the Mother Church" in the Bermuda Annual Conference. Just how those four churches came into being a century and-quarter ago, was put in sharp perspective by Pastor Van Lowe Smith.

During the forum at St. Paul on "The Impact of the AME Church on Bermuda's Religious and Political Development", it was noted that a mere 35 years after Emancipation of Slavery in 1834, three far-sighted Christian men, Benjamin Burchall of St. George's, William B. Jennings of Devonshire and Charles Roach Ratteray of Somerset, demonstrably dissatisfied with the racial conflicts stemming from the policies of the former slave-owners, set the wheels in motion that brought the AME Church to Bermuda.

Mr. Roach Ratteray, a shipbuilder and successful entrepreneur who was the son of a Bahamian-born slave mother, recalled in his memoirs that severe reconciliation conflicts between black members of the BME Church and their white counterparts caused him to break away from the local BME's after he had been instrumental in the building of the Methodist Church on Long Bay Road in Somerset. He eventually donated the land where Allen Temple AME Church now sits.

It was noted elsewhere that at the time of Emancipation, blacks had no infrastructure of their own, no shops, churches, schools, etc. They were mainly penniless, by and large possessing only the clothes on their backs, and their indomitable spirits. So they set about building their own infrastructure.

One of their places of worship was the home of John Benjamin Burchall. Every Sunday that makeshift congregation would meet to worship.

As usual, after the "service" the men would get together to discuss business and current events. Contact had been made with Bishop Willis Nazery of the British Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada, and a committee comprising Burchall, Jennings and Ratteray was formed to invite him to come from Nova Scotia to Bermuda and study the possibility of establishing the BME here.

The Bishop arrived in Bermuda in April, 1870 and was very impressed by the island and its inhabitants. During his stay, Rev. Temple Tuttle and Rev. Rogers of The Wesleyan Churches opened their churches and pulpits to Bishop Nazery.

In 1871, Bishop Nazery returned to Bermuda with Rev. R. Morris. The latter was appointed 1st BME minister in Bermuda. Thus the BME was established in Bermuda. The first session of the Annual BME Conference was convened at St. John's BME Church in Baileys Bay, presided over by Bishop Nazery.

On October 13, 1877, Mr. Daniel Richardson and Mr. Nathaniel Richardson gave the property (where the old St. John's Church stands) to the original trustees. Almost immediately, steps were taken to erect an edifice on the property. Its corner stone was laid October 16, 1879. In 1881 the building was completed and became the first church dedicated.

In May, 1885 Bishop Campbell and Bishop Disney of the USA attended the Annual BME Conference and the AME and BME were merged. It was the 1st AME Annual Conference and BME's last. That Conference was convened at Temperance Hall, Crawl where the Bethel congregation, under Bishop Dorsey, worshipped. On May 7, 1885, The Bermuda Annual Conference became affiliated with the AME Church of the USA and by the Clergy Act of 1885, St. John's Hall, became St. John's AME Church. As a matter of interest, 1885 was the year after the birth of Henry Lowe, father of deceased former St. John's pastor, the Rev. Wilbur Lowe, sr.

The first session of the AME Annual Conference convened at St. John in 1890.

In any case, Rev. Ruth Van Lowe has shown how St. John AME Church is rightfully the "Mother Church".

The current week-long celebration of St. John's 125th Anniversary culminates this Saturday, October 16 with the dedication of the Cripple Gate Park; and on tomorrow when the guest preacher at the 11 a.m. service will be the pastor of Allen Temple, Somerset, the Rev. Howard Dill.

On Wednesday, a special service was held, where the preachers were Pastor Van Lowe Smith and the Rev. Charles (Alex) Smith. He, as a matter of interest, is the great grandson of the original property owner, and great cousin of Rev. Austin Richardson.

St. John is the only church in the Bermuda Conference that has had three female pastors, Rev. Gwendolyn Onley, Rev. Betty Furbert Woolridge, who is now the first of her gender to be a Presiding Elder of the Conference; and the Rev. Ruth D.VanLowe Smith.