The Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler, of Philly’s Mother Bethel AME church, is running for election in the AME Church
If he wins, he will step down as pastor in Philadelphia
The Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler, pastor of Mother Bethel AME Church, who is a delegate to the upcoming Democratic National Convention, was all set to attend the rally for Vice President Kamala Harris at Temple University on Tuesday.
But there’s another national election on the horizon for Tyler.
Tyler is running in the election to become one of nine general officers of the African Methodist Episcopal Church on Aug. 26.
Specifically, he’s running for the office of historiographer and executive director of the church’s Department of Research and Scholarship. The office he is running for requires him to resign as pastor of Mother Bethel in Society Hill. He has been pastor there since 2008.
Tyler said he will attend the DNC in Chicago, which starts Aug. 19. After a couple of days, he will leave for the General Conference of the AME Church, which runs from Aug. 21 to Aug. 28 in Columbus, Ohio.
“History has been my passion forever, but it went from a hobby to something more serious when I was working on my [doctorate] degree,” Tyler said.
Tyler completed his dissertation for a doctorate in educational leadership at the University of Dayton on the life of AME Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne, who was the first Black person to attend United Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg, from 1835 to 1837. Payne later became the first Black president of Wilberforce University.
“History has been my passion forever, but it went from a hobby to something more serious when I was working on my [doctorate] degree.”
Tyler said that, while researching Payne’s life and career, he “learned the professional skills of a historian. Now I have the skills and ability to dig deeper.”
The pastor, who has already produced several documentary films for the AME Church, has worked with Henry Louis “Skip” Gates as an on-air expert on the PBS documentary The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross. He wants to continue making documentaries and other films.
“If I get elected, I hope to do a major documentary with the help of PBS. I’ve already done five documentaries through the AME Church. But I’m hoping to do something for a bigger audience, and Skip Gates has made the soil fertile for that.”
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If he wins, he will probably remain at Mother Bethel for at least two months until another lead pastor is assigned.
The AME Church was founded in Philadelphia by Bishop Richard Allen in 1794. Mother Bethel, the church at Sixth and Lombard, is the oldest AME church in the world, thus the “Mother” in its name. The AME Church has 20 Episcopal districts in 39 countries across five continents, the church’s website said.
Working to archive and preserve history
Tyler, 58, originally from Oakland, Calif., is the 52nd pastor at Mother Bethel, and was assigned there in 2008 after serving as senior pastor of Macedonia AME Church in Camden. He has a bachelor’s degree in religion from Clark Atlanta University and a Masters of Divinity from Payne Theological Seminary, in addition to his doctorate.
Tyler has also been active as an organizer for social justice issues. Mother Bethel is one of the founding congregations of POWER (Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower, and Rebuild).
“It’s been a great and exciting 16 years for us,” Tyler said. “I’ve prayed about it. I don’t want to leave Mother Bethel. It’s a great congregation. I can stay another 15 to 18 years and be just as happy. But being the historiographer opens up a lot of different opportunities.
“I want to help all the local churches figure out how to do what Mother Bethel has been doing, that is to create an archive, where they can keep things and preserve them.”