The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church grew out of the Free African Society (FAS) which Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and others established in Philadelphia in 1787. When officials at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) pulled Black parishioners off their knees while praying, FAS members discovered just how far American Methodists would go to enforce racial discrimination against African Americans. Hence, Richard and Sarah Allen, Absalom Jones, and other Black members of St. George’s made plans to transform their mutual aid society into an African congregation. Although most wanted to affiliate with the Protestant Episcopal Church, Richard Allen led a small group who resolved to remain Methodists. In 1794 Bethel AME was dedicated with Allen as pastor. To establish Bethel’s independence from interfering White Methodists, Allen, a former Delaware slave, successfully sued in the Pennsylvania courts in 1807 and 1815 for the right of his congregation to exist as an independent institution. Because Black Methodists in other middle Atlantic communities encountered racism and desired religious autonomy, Allen called them to meet in Philadelphia to form a new Wesleyan denomination – the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The African Methodist Episcopal Church was the first denomination to be formally organized in the United States.

The word AFRICAN means that the church was organized by people of African descent and heritage. It does not mean that the church was founded in Africa, or that it was or is for persons of African descent only. The roots of the church are of the family of the METHODIST churches. Methodism provides an orderly system of rules and regulations and places emphasis on a plain and simple gospel. EPISCOPAL refers to the form of government under which the church operates. It means that the members of the denomination are governed by the bishops. The chief executive and administrative officers of the African Methodist Episcopal denomination are the Bishops of the church.

Established in 1862, St. John is the oldest African American church west of Chicago. As the congregation grew, the congregation obtained a church at East and Main (Galena). Continued growth induced the congregation to relocate again to its Fourth Street location in November of 1984. In 1999 the congregation voiced the need for a larger edifice that would provide enough off street parking, access to the I-88 expressway, and would allow the church to remain in Aurora. The initial parcel of land purchased for such a campus was situated at the corner of Eola and Liberty. These 26 acres of land were sold to the DuPage Forest Preserve for expansion of wildlife preservation. The proceeds of this sale allowed the congregation to purchase 80 acres of land on Eola. Yet again, God’s favor was actualized for the congregation, as Superintendent Dashner and the board of District 204 decided that a high school was needed on the north end of Aurora. Purchasing the land from the congregation, allowed for District 204 to erect the Metea Valley High School and gave St. John the resources to acquire the 25 acres of land on Bilter Road, where the church is currently located. The congregation, church and community leadership marched into the new church building in September 2010. In addition to the beautiful campus which includes an expansive view of wildlife preservation from each direction, the state-of- the-art church facility itself exceeded the congregation’s expectations. The sanctuary comfortably holds 900 persons, has a media booth, and a pipe organ. We also have a chapel with full scale technological capabilities, a children and youth wing, a dance studio, a commercial kitchen, and a fellowship hall. In 2018, the church expanded its name to Cathedral of Grace | St. John in recognition of the God’s grace and the desire for all persons to walk in that same grace. Although we are indeed a faith community which is committed to and firmly entrenched in the uplift of the African diaspora, we are nonetheless a church that welcomes all.