Goodwin Memorial Church to Host Historic Unity Service
Goodwin AME Zion Church, Woodside Avenue. Photo: Hetty Startup
Source: Goodwin Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church
As public discourse grows increasingly fractured across the nation, Goodwin Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church has announced it will unite in August with the two other historic African Methodist Episcopal Zion congregations of Western Massachusetts for a day of worship and call to unity.
Gardner Memorial, Springfield, and Price Memorial, Pittsfield, will partner with Goodwin Memorial on Sunday, August 30 at 11 a.m. for a worship service at 41 Woodside Avenue, located in proximity to the campus of Amherst College.
The three local churches aim to strengthen ties between faith communities across Hampden, Hampshire, and Berkshire counties. The A.M.E. Zion Church collaboration is part of a larger effort by the New England District of the A.M.E. Zion Church to bring local Black churches together to share resources and launch ministries that more effectively help people in need across their respective regions.
“Our heritage as the Freedom Church means we cannot separate spiritual healing from community service and social justice,” said Rev. Janet Davenport, the newly appointed pastor of Goodwin Memorial.
“True unity is not the absence of differences or conflict, but a passionate commitment to one another.”
She said, “These are complicated times, but we want people to know that even though we are a small church and the sole A.M.E. Zion church in town, we are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our neighbors to ensure Amherst remains an anchor of safety, dignity, and equity for everyone.”
The original chapel was built in 1869 on land owned by Amherst College. Officially affiliated with the national A.M.E. Zion Church in 1907, the congregation raised funds with the help of supporters like Booker T. Washington to purchase the land from the college and build the current church. The church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Known as “The Freedom Church” for its legacy of justice and abolition, with early activists such as Frederick Douglas, Harriett Tubman, and Sojourner Truth, the A.M.E. Zion Church continues to support underserved and under-resourced missions both domestically and globally.