About Wesley A.M.E. Zion Church

Greetings in the name of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus – whom we call the Christ! Our Pastor of Wesley welcome you to our website and invite you to worship with us at our church at 204 Sunset Road, Burlington Township, NJ 08016 where we entered these hallowed grounds under the leadership of the late Reverend Dr. William B. Cowherd, Sr. who served us from 1991 – until his demise on May 26, 2013!

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The traditional date for the founding of the Wesley A.M.E. Zion Church is 1845. It was founded by a group of African-American citizens living in a section of what is now Westampton, formerly called Timbuctoo, making it among the oldest African-American churches in Burlington County. Timbuctoo was a community of freed slaves, a refuge for runaway slaves and was named for a famous city in West Africa. The current records indicate that the Trustees of the “Zion Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal African Church of Timbuctoo” purchased (from one Peter Coppuck, Et. Ut.,) a parcel of land and buildings for the sum of $300. The Trustees of record at the time were David Parker, Noble Johns, Adam Gibson, Jacob Colwell, James Pinion, Richard Christy and William Chase. These individuals were in all probability, free men.

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At some time during the next ten years, the church was relocated in Burlington, New Jersey and became the “African Methodist Episcopal Wesley Church of Burlington.” A deed dated March 2, 1864 and recorded April 28, 1864 documents that the former site at 618 South High Street in the city of Burlington was acquired for $200. The property was purchased from one Jacob Sluby Et. Ut. The Church, at its former site, served the Burlington Community for nearly 140 years.