Check.Church

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

Methodist · 1821 · United States; worldwide

Black Methodists of New York, organized from the Zion congregation of 1796, formed a separate denomination in 1821 with James Varick as first bishop, for the same causes as the AME.

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was formed in 1821. African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church continues today. African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church's institutional line runs back through Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodism, Church of England, Roman Catholicism to the post-apostolic church. No body on this tree is the assembly of Acts 2; where a body claims that, the claim appears in the claimed-lineage layer.

Between the post-apostolic church and African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church stand 4 divisions along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.

At a glance

Formed
In 1821
Family
Methodist
Region
United States; worldwide
Key figures
James Varick
Cause tags
Governance
Also known as
AME Zion; AMEZ

What it separated from

On the tree

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and its institutional line back to the post-apostolic churchAD 33The church at Pentecost: On divine groundThe church at Pentecost: on divine groundtoday10042443145110541534172917841821The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchDepartureChurch of the East (Church of the East)Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchDepartureThe Chalcedonian church (The spine)The Chalcedonian churchDepartureOriental Orthodoxy (Oriental Orthodox)Oriental OrthodoxyOriental OrthodoxEastern Orthodoxy (Eastern Orthodox)Eastern OrthodoxyEastern OrthodoxRoman Catholicism (Catholic)Roman CatholicismNot gatheredChurch of England (Anglican)Church of EnglandAnglicanMethodism (Methodist)MethodismMethodistMethodist Episcopal Church (Methodist)Methodist EpiscopalChurchMethodistAfrican Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (Methodist)African MethodistEpiscopal Zion ChurchMethodist

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2. Dashed gray boxes mark the institutional line after the apostles, shown as departure; no line of descent is drawn from Pentecost. A verdict appears on a box once its section is published.

Sources

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-31.