What Kind of Church Is UAMEZ? A.M.E. Zion, Explained

UAMEZ stands for University African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. We are a Methodist church, part of a denomination founded by Black Christians in New York in 1796, and we have been in Palo Alto since 1918. You do not have to be Black or Methodist to come. Here is what all of that means.

Where the name comes from

In 1796 a group of Black Christians walked out of John Street Methodist Church in New York City. They did not leave over doctrine. They left because the communion rail was segregated. The bread was being broken by hands that had decided which bodies counted.

They started their own congregation, and it became the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. African, because of who founded it. Methodist Episcopal, because of what they believed and how they organized. Zion, the name of their first church building.

The denomination earned a nickname: the Freedom Church. Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Sojourner Truth were among its members. It was a church of abolition before abolition was popular, and it has been a church of civil rights ever since. That legacy runs directly through our congregation.

Where we come from

In 1918, Black families arriving in Palo Alto during the Great Migration gathered in a living room on Cowper Street to start an A.M.E. Zion church. In 1923 they bought property on Ramona Street and built a sanctuary in a city that was writing racial covenants into its property deeds. When the Great Depression threatened that little church with foreclosure, Palo Altans of every background helped burn the mortgage. In 1965 we broke ground at 3549 Middlefield Rd, where we have been ever since.

We are a church in Palo Alto since 1918. In 2026 the National Trust for Historic Preservation named us a Preserving Black Churches grantee. You can read the full story of that grant elsewhere on this site.

What Methodist means on a Sunday

Methodism comes from John Wesley, an eighteenth-century English preacher who cared about two things: a personal relationship with God and holy living in community. If you visit, you will notice the Methodist parts without a label.

We say the Apostles’ Creed together. We take communion on the first Sunday of every month, and anyone who loves Jesus is welcome at the table. Baptisms are on the second Sunday. We talk about grace in three movements: the grace that reaches you before you know God is working, the grace that forgives you, and the grace that changes you from the inside out over a lifetime. If you have ever heard me preach, you have heard those three.

We also have small groups during the week, which Methodists have done since Wesley called them classes. Some of our leaders still carry the old title, class leader.

Is UAMEZ non-denominational?

No, and people ask because of what they are hoping for when they type that phrase. They want a church with no pressure, current music, and nobody stuffy. We can offer that. On Sunday you will hear classic gospel and hymns mixed with new songs and contemporary Christian music. There is no dress code. Nobody checks whether you know the words.

What is different is that we belong to something larger and older than ourselves. We are connected to A.M.E. Zion churches across the country and the world, under bishops, with a shared history. That connection is a strength. It means this church is not one pastor's project. It was here before me and it will be here after me.

Do I have to be Black to come?

No. We are a historically Black church that is genuinely multicultural, and that is not a slogan. It comes from Genesis 1, which says every person is made in the image of God. That is the reason the church stood against slavery, marched in the civil rights movement, and opposed apartheid. It is the reason this building is open to every culture, background, and gender.

On a typical Sunday you will sit near families with small kids, Stanford students, young adults new to the Bay Area, and members who have been here fifty years. You do not have to be Black to belong here, and you do not have to be anything else either.

Do I have to be Methodist?

No. Most people who join us did not grow up Methodist. Some grew up Baptist, Catholic, Pentecostal, or nothing. Some are exploring whether they believe any of this. You can come as you are and stay as long as you want without joining anything.

If you do decide to make this your church, we will walk you through what membership means. But that is a conversation for later, over coffee, not a condition for walking in the door.

We meet Sundays at 10:00 AM at 3549 Middlefield Rd, Palo Alto. Come once. See how it feels. Plan your visit.

Pastor Kaloma Smith