Jones and Allen were the first two black Americans to receive formal ordination in any denomination.
“Set us free, heavenly Father, from every bond of prejudice and fear; that, honoring the steadfast courage of your servants Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, we may show forth in our lives the reconciling love and true freedom of the children of God, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, and now and for ever.” Amen.
In 1787, Absalom Jones, Richard Allen and others established in Philadelphia the Free African Society (FAS). The white membership of St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church met and decided that the black members should sit only in the balcony.
Two black Sunday worshippers, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, whose enthusiasm for the Methodist Church had brought many blacks into the congregations, learned of the decision only when, on the following Sunday, ushers tapped them on the shoulder during the opening prayers, and demanded that they move to the balcony without waiting for the end of the prayer.
They walked out, followed by the other black members.
Absalom Jones conferred with William White, Episcopal Bishop of Philadelphia (current), who agreed to accept the group as an Episcopal parish. Jones would serve as lay reader, and after a period of study would be ordained and serve as rector. Allen wanted the group to remain Methodist, and in 1793 he left to form a Methodist to form a new denomination, the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME).
Source: www.missionaries.com/; Biography written by James Kiefer