Fair Havens
African Methodist Episcopal Church
"Sharing the love of Christ with each other."
Mission
To minister to the spiritual, intellectual, physical, emotional, and environmental needs of all people by spreading Christ's liberating gospel through word and deed.
Vision
To be the place in Brooklyn Curtis Bay where every resident receives God’s love, experiences the power of Jesus’ resurrection, and reaches their greatest potential through the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
Core Values
We are a community committed to transformation through the Holy Spirit; displays of love to God, others, and self; service to meet the spiritual, emotional, physical, and cognitive needs of all segments of society; consistent sharing of the love of God found in both visible and invisible relationships; Bible study that is relevant to our current lives; and celebration for the gift of Jesus in our worship and praise. Fair Havens anticipates:
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Excellence in Praise and Worship
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Consistent involvement in Bible Study
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Culturally Relevant Community Service
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Family centered intergenerational ministry
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Evangelism
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Stewardship (time, talent, resources)
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Discipleship
Following and Implementing God’s Vision
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Prayer: We recognize the power and absolute necessity of prayer. “We will pray without ceasing.”
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Faith: Our church launch requires us to deepen our faith beyond our level of belief and moving into the realm of the impossible for us and into all things are possible for God.
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Fasting: we express our total dependence upon God through individual and collective partial and total fast as an extremely valuable and important facet of the Christian life in preparation for going out, selecting leaders, and to increase service to the Lord.
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Envisioning: We will write the vision down and anticipate that God will do exceeding, abundantly, more than we ask or think.
The Motto
“God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, the Holy Spirit Our Comforter, Humankind Our Family” is a great summary of what the African Methodist Episcopal Church believes.
Also known as the A.M.E. Church for short, the denomination is Methodist in terms of its basic doctrine and order of worship. It was born, through adversity, of the Methodist church and to this day does not differ in any major way from what all Methodists believe. The split from the main branch of the Methodist Church was not a result of doctrinal differences but rather the result of a time period that was marked by man’s intolerance of his fellow man, based on the color of his skin. It was a time of slavery, oppression and the dehumanization of people of African descent and many of these un-Christian practices were brought into the church, forcing Richard Allen and a group of fellow worshippers of color to form a splinter denomination of the Methodist Church. To find the basic foundations of the beliefs of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, you need look no further than The Apostles’ Creed and The Twenty Five Articles of Religion:
Apostles' Creed
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead; and buried. The third day he arose from the dead’ he ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Church Universal, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen.
Bishop James L. Davis, Presiding Prelate
Second Episcopal District AME Church | www.ame2.com
Arelis B. Davis, Episcopal Supervisor
The Reverend Dr. Ronald E. Braxton, Presiding Elder, Potomac District
The Reverend Dr. Linda E. Mouzon, Pastor