The Charleston District of the United Methodist Church invites all United Methodists to continue our pilgrimage of healing and hope. Our journey began in 2015 at South Carolina State University, the site of the 1963 Orangeburg Massacre. The journey continues in 2016 in Charleston at the site of the Mother Emanuel Massacre. On June 17, 2015 a lone gunman bent on starting a race war enter Mother Emanuel AME Church during Wednesday night Bible Study and murdered 9 saints, including the pastor, Rev. Clementa Pinckney.
On June 30, 2016, 6:00 p.m., the Charleston District of the United Methodist Church, will set out on a pilgrimage of prayer, reflection and remembrance.
- The pilgrimage will begin at the future site of the International African American Museum (IAAM), where enslaved Africans were brought to begin over 200 years in bondage
- Then the procession will proceed to Mother Emanuel AME Church (pause for reflections), the oldest AME congregation in the South and the site of the June 17, 2016 Massacre.
- Then the procession will proceed to Trinity UMC where African Americans were only permitted to worship on the balcony, not with the white congregation (pause for reflections),
- Finally, the processional will journey to the Centenary UMC, a congregation of African Americans aided in their formation over 150 years ago by white northern missionaries. Centenary UMC is an African American congregation of the UMC that was established as part on of 100 African American Methodist congregations to ensure justice and racial equality in worship and service among African American Methodist. This is the terminating point of the pilgrimage.
At Centenary UMC, the Charleston District will host a fellowship and conversation about the pain and sin of racism that continues to exist in Charleston, South Carolina, and the United States. Suggested facilitators of the conversation are Rev. Paul Harmon and Rev. Robbin Deas.
