Welcome to the AME India WEB PAGE. AME India is the fastest growing Conference in the Fourth Episcopal District of our denomination. Our Conference has grown from 20 Churches to 120 Churches in the last eight years. The Conference has two Presiding Elders, who are husband and wife, and are the first husband and wife Presiding Elder team in the 200 year history of the Church. AME India is further blessed to have dynamic and spirit filled ministers. Our Conference is very proud of our Lay Ministry, our Women's Missionary Ministry, and a vibrant and large Ministry of Young People. You are invited to log on to our Web Site and share with us as we share with you how the Lord is blessing all around our world.

SENIOR BISHOP RT. REV. BISHOP JOHN RICHARD BRYANT, PRESIDING PRELATE FOURTH DISTRICT AMEC.

Dear AME-India,
Grace and Peace from God the Father be yours in good measure!

It is with joy and praise that I send you greetings on the official launch of your website for AME-India. Your website is a welcome addition to the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a tremendous tool for sharing information of your works and ministry throughout AME-India. I trust and pray that in the days ahead that this website will be a beacon of light for all the world to become more aware of the great and wonderful work being done for the Kingdom in India. Your ministry is to be commended as you have grown from 20 congregations to 123 congregations since 2007. To God be the Glory! As you expand your technological footprint I hope you will also encourage the use of the AME Church APP that is available for download in your APP Store.

If I or my Office may be of any assistance to you as you continue to grow the Kingdom for Christ, please let us know.

Again, Congratulations on this major achievement and may God continue to bless you and your ministry.

Peace,

Dr. Jeffery B. Cooper
General Secretary/CIO

AME-India journey of Historical Significance 2003 to Present History By The Reverend Karla J. Cooper

I had just finished up my oral exams at Eden Theological Seminary in the Spring of 2003 when the committee shared that I needed to have a multicultural requirement completed before graduation. My graduation date was May 2004. I thought, how in the world am I suppose to have it done? The trip to Ghana had already occurred. I was enrolled in Dr. Damayanthi Niles class and she mentioned that a slot had opened up for the upcoming multicultural emersion in India for the summer of 2003 but there was a 24 hour window to get the $3000 in.

So, I prayed and called Rev. Brenda Hayes, who was my field supervisor for advice. She said, trust the Lord. With support from her and my family, I was able to secure my slot to India. Just about a week after I had turned in the deposit, I had traveled to St. Simon’s Island, Georgia after being nominated by Bishop John for the Order of the FLAME (Faithful Leaders As Mission Evangelist) through the World Methodist Council. While sitting at the dinner table with Bishop John, I mentioned that I was going to India in a few months, was a bit nervous, and solicited prayers. He told me that he had just gone to India a few months before and said it was a wonderful experience.

I had never been outside of the U.S. (other than the Caribbean) and I didn’t know I needed a VISA. So three days before flying to India, I had to drive 8 hours to Chicago to the India Consulate General’s office and wait for approval to travel to this place that seemed to be an act of God in the first place to go.

Soon the journey began and I received a crash course on culture and context. What I had was a theoretical application that soon turned from theory to praxis. I was paired up with a fellow seminarian from India who was a student at Gurukul Theological Seminary, which is part of the Missouri Synod Lutheran church. Already knowing what that stood for, I didn’t know how my being an ordained female would fair. And actually, I was the first ordained female that many had ever encountered. As soon as I saw the name of the student that I would be paired with, I thought, she has two first names. Minnie Sarah. When I saw Minnie Sarah, my heart leaped because she looked like she my family! Out of all the students I could have been paired with, God put Sarah and I together! We immediately bonded and shared our stories.

Sarah’s story struck a chord with me because there she was with all that she had to offer through gifts and graces, but would never be able to be ordained because she is female. Not only was being female a hindrance to ordination, but she was in a place that persecuted Christians. Any outward manifestation of Christianity would be a death sentence. So I asked her the question, how can you spread the Good News—when the laws of the land are in tension with the mandate of the kingdom? She said to me, that she does her work, one-on-one, with offering counseling and pastoral care in her home. And folks know that she is Christian not by what she says, but how she looks. That sentence never left my heart.

Sarah proudly invited me to her home which was on campus to meet her husband and two children. Ironically enough, her husband’s name was Abraham and she had a son named Isaac and a daughter named Beverly. I thought, “this is crazy!”

Still struggling, with the levels of oppression so apparent with my new soul sister and what she could offer to ministry, I shared the story of Richard Allen and African Methodism as a parallel to the caste system and the oppression in India. I was proud to say that I know of a church that would welcome and honor your gifts to ministry and be ok with your gender.

Sarah and I promised to stay in touch and exchanged e-mail addresses.

The experience from India is what I wanted to wipe out of my mind. It was hard both emotionally, physically but most of all spiritually. I even tucked away Sarah’s e-mail address, hoping to wipe it and her out of my heart and mind. It took me four months to unpack what I didn’t throw away.

And in December 2003, I ran across Sarah’s e-mail and I remember falling asleep. I had a dream about a large delegation of folks from India coming to our General Conference in their saris and other indigenous attire. And I woke up sweating, cause I knew what this meant. God has always gotten my attention through dreams.

I was scared. And called Rev. Hayes who encouraged me to talk with Bishop John. Really?! What would it look like for me saying to Bishop John, I had a dream about India?

After a series of conference calls, Bishop John, Rev Cee and Rev Brenda J. Hayes traveled with me in 2006 to watch the dream become reality to meet Sarah and Abraham on the subcontinent of India as see the prayer cells become churches.

Had it not be for the providential pairing with Minnie Sarah in 2003 at Gurukul; had it not been for the encouraging words from Reverend Brenda J. Hayes; and had it not been for the visionary and humble leadership of Bishop John and Reverend Cecelia Williams Bryant who stood on faith and not on orthodoxy, and with the overwhelming support of the 5th Episcopal District, the African Methodist Episcopal Church in India would have never been a reality.

What a mighty God we serve who would allow us to bear witness to the ethereal of the imaging of a Divine Configuration of heaven.In Perfect timing,when the conditions were right in the cosmos of creation,the essence of African Methodism conversed with the oppression of the cast system and liberating Gospel Of the Jesus Christ was released in a new way of the subcontinent in India.All who know this story can stand in awesome wonder-overwhelmed with this move of God and God's selection of human agency for this ministry

Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye Heavenly Host; Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost!

Presiding Elder Sarah and I, are grateful to God and to our leaders Presiding Prelate Senior Bishop John Richard Bryant and Senior Episcopal Supervisor Reverend Cecelia Williams Bryant for allowing us the opportunity to serve the church in this part of the world. We are delighted to welcome you to this newly designed website of the India Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. This is designed to serve as the central source of information from India Conference for the AME family around the world. It is indeed a wonderful privilege to connect with you all through this website in this age of communication. As you can see that this website is still under construction, we invite your valuable suggestions to improve it as time goes by, in order to strengthen our connectional church.

Your Co-worker in the Vineyard,

Minnie Sarah & Abraham Peddiny
For AME-India

Pastor Brian Warren led a team from The Hope Center (THC), Canada to come and minister to the people in India. They ministered to the widows, destitutes, Leprosy patients. A Sports Day was organised for 350 children, the THC team interacted with them and helped them dream for their future. They also interacted with the Pastors and encouraged them to continue to be on fire for the Lord as they serve God and people in their own respective areas. Pastor Warren was passed on his special anointing to the Pastors for greater and more fruitful ministry. The team also engaged in some physical labor helping cleaning up a church and its baptismal tank. As a result of the ministry of the team many people were delivered from spirit possessions, from their own burdens and addictions, there were healings and many were added to the Kingdom of God. All praise and honor to God for such wonderful ministry.