Celebrating Richard Allen

Richard Allen’s story began in bondage, but it would become a beacon of hope not just for a church, but for a movement rooted in faith, freedom, and dignity.

Born into slavery in 1760, Allen came to faith in Jesus as a teenager, and that changed everything. He eventually purchased his freedom and began preaching, often waking up at 4 a.m. to deliver sermons to Black and white congregations alike.

But racism didn’t disappear at the church door. One Sunday, while praying at the altar of St. George’s Methodist Church in Philadelphia, Allen and other Black worshipers were forcibly removed for kneeling in the “wrong” place. That moment was a turning point. In 1794, Richard Allen founded Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first independent Black denomination in the United States. He believed the church should be a place of worship, dignity, and freedom for all people regardless of color.

He wasn’t just a preacher he was a leader, an abolitionist, a writer, and a champion for education and equality. During a yellow fever epidemic, while many fled the city, Allen and members of his church stayed, caring for the sick and burying the dead. He once wrote, “Our only wish is that we may be free from slavery and be acknowledged as men.”

Richard Allen died in 1831, but his legacy lives on in every AME church, every pulpit he paved the way for, and every believer who chooses the way of Jesus over comfort and silence.

He turned pain into purpose and oppression into opportunity because he knew true freedom is found in Christ alone.

Follow along this month on-air and online as we journey through history and celebrate the rich legacy of those who answered God’s call during Christian Heritage Month on BRIGHT-FM.