A.M.E. Church
Plainfield, New Jersey
MOUNT ZION
A Church in the Heart of the City, With the City at Heart
The African Methodist Episcopal Church
The African Methodist Episcopal Church began in protest, was born in prayer at the altar, and was shaped on the anvil of God in a blacksmith shop.
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In 1787, Rev. Richard Allen, Rev. Absalom Jones, and a band of followers withdrew from St. George Methodist Church in Philadelphia because of the "unkind treatment". and discrimination experienced. Rev. Allen and some of his followers then began to worship in a blacksmith shop. They founded the Free African Society, which was the beginning of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.) – the first African American denomination.
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The A.M.E. Church is a member of the family of Methodist Churches. Its founder and first active bishop, Richard Allen, felt that no religious sect or denomination would suit the capacity of his people as well as did Methodism; with its emphasis upon the plain and simple gospel, which the unlearned could understand, and its orderly system of rules and regulations, which the underdeveloped needed. He felt that Methodism had what the "African" needed to encourage him to make progress, to worship God freely, and to fill every office for which he had the capability.
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The mission of the African Methodist Episcopal Church is to minister to the spiritual, intellectual, physical and emotional, and environmental needs of all people by spreading Christ’s liberating gospel through word and deed.
Learn More About Our:
Pastor
Rev. Reginald McRae
Ministerial Associates
Rev. Edward White
Rev. Sydia Brivett
Rev. Archie Cummings, Jr.
Rev. Pamela Tarver-Tucker
OUR PASTOR
The youngest of 11 children, the Reverend Reginald McRae grew out of the bosom of Mt. Teman African Methodist Episcopal Church where the members of his family have been faithful parishioners and staunch supporters for five generations.
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Nurtured in the Church, from a young age Rev. McRae was active in the Y.P.D., Church Choir and the Usher Board. He accepted the call to preach under the pastorate of the late Rev. Millard Burt and was admitted on trial in 1980 and ordained an Itinerant Elder in 1984.
Prior to his appointment to Mt. Zion, Plainfield, his pastorates included St. Phillip A.M.E. Church, Bermuda (2 years), Heard Chapel, Bermuda (3 years), Trinity in Long Branch, NJ (3 years), Bethel in Harrisburg, PA (9 years), and Mt. Pisgah in Jersey City, NJ (16 years).
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Pastor McRae received his Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from The College of New Jersey (formerly Trenton State College, Trenton, N.J.), a certificate in Youth Leadership and Recreation Programming from New York University, and the Master of Divinity from the Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta, GA. He completed studies for the Doctor of Ministry degree in Metro Urban Studies at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, where his focus was Community and Transformational Leadership.
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Rev. McRae places strong emphasis on Christian education, strong community involvement, making disciples, equipping and training the congregation to actively minister within and outside the walls of the church, and improving the social and economic conditions of the community through civic engagement. A life member of the NAACP, he is the founder of Nehemiah Community Services (NCS)—a non-profit organization whose sole focus is to respond to key community challenges and address gaps in services in underserved communities. Pastor McRae formerly served as president of the Black Liturgical Churches Union of Jersey City and chaplain for the Hudson County Sheriff's Department. He was elected as the Democratic Organization Committee person for Hudson County Ward B and served as a member of the Jersey City Public Safety Review Board and, as a part-time aide to Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, served on his transition team for the Committee on Education. Following his appointment as interim director of Jersey City Recreation Department, in 2015 Rev. McRae was hired as Jersey City’s first chief diversity and inclusion officer. He served in this role for 2 years, promoting the protection and inclusion of all persons irrespective of race, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation or other protected characteristics. An honored member of the great noble Fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi, he currently as a chaplain for the City of Plainfield and was re-elected to the North Plainfield School Board.
Pastor McRae is married to Leslie Franks, formerly of the island of Bermuda. They are the proud parents of Keenan Renaud, a musician and music engineer who resides in New Orleans with their grandson Renaud, and Kanya Marie who is in her 2nd year of medical school.
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Rev. McRae strives to live out God’s call to charity and justice expressed by the prophet Micah, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8