The 130th session of the Bermuda Annual Conference of the AME Church was held last week under the theme, “First Things First”.

The five-day conference was hosted by the AME Ministerial Alliance, which includes all AME churches in Bermuda, and led by its presiding elder, Betty Furbert-Woolridge.

The Ministry of Evangelism Day and Women’s Missionary Society Day were involved in Thursday’s opening worship and communion service.

A host of local and visiting dignitaries were also present, including the prelate of the First Episcopal District, Gregory Ingram, and his wife, district supervisor Jessica Ingram.

Rev Furbert-Woolridge’s welcome highlighted the 130 years of service the AME church has provided to its members and the local community. She said the church would remain steadfast, immovable and always abounding in the word and work of the Lord, knowing that their labour of love would not be in vain.

One of the visiting dignitaries was Sylvester Beaman, pastor of Bethel AME Church in Wilmington Delaware.

He was once pastor of St Paul AME Church, which is considered the cathedral of African Methodism in Bermuda.

Rev Dr Beaman is now running as a candidate for the office of bishop; nominations will be made in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in July, at the 50th Quardrenial General Conference and Bicentennial Celebrations of the church.

One note of historical vintage is the mentioning of the late Vernon Byrd, who also served as a pastor of St Paul in Hamilton.

He was a champion of civil rights and was instrumental in quelling labour disputes and civil unrest that occurred in Bermuda in the mid 1960s.

In dedication to his public service, he was granted an honorary MBE by Queen Elizabeth.

The AME church has always been at the forefront as proponents of civil rights and justice for all Bermudians, and there have been a host of local pastors who played a pivotal role — the late Vinton Monk, RH Tobitt and Rufus Stovell are among them.

As a champion of civil rights in the 1960s, there was former Allen Temple pastor John Brendon. Others included a former Member of Parliament, the late Wilbur “Larry” Lowe, and former senator Leonard Santucci, now pastor of Vernon Temple.

Foremost and most immediate is the current pastor of St Paul AME, Nicholas Tweed. The current leader of the People’s Campaign is the son of lifelong social activist Kingsley Tweed, an AME pastor in London England.