The Clergy Family Information Center began as "A Special Project of The President" in 1999 and grew from a minuscule grouping of email recipients receiving communications containing service arrangements of deceased family members of organizational officers to a global email communication network in the pass few years that post email notices to several thousands from Episcopal Districts 1-20, inclusive of clergy families, non clergy families, offices of Episcopal Districts, offices of presiding elders, offices of AME Church institutions of higher learning, offices of chaplains and local churches.
Original rationale: Pastors and other ministry leaders carry some of this world’s heaviest burdens comforting and guiding the spiritual lives of hundreds, if not thousands, as well as providing and caring for their families; and likewise the families of ministers are called upon to make many sacrifices. Yet, here-to-fore, when those who had given so much made their earthy transitions, many only learned of their transitioning when their presence was missed at an AME Church gathering, or when names were lifted at the next session of the annual conference.
In early 2004, during the winter meeting of the Council of Bishops, Bishop Richard Franklin Norris, then serving as Chair of the Commission on Social Action, shared with the organization president, that the Bishops of the Church meeting in Council, were anxious to see the ministry, ” Special Project of the President" continue past the July 2005 term of office, with the ministry being given a different name, and the organization president, continuing the ministry with another title; not as an officer of CONN-M-SWAWO + PK’s, but as a component part of the Commission on Social Action; reporting to the Commission on Social Action.
Humbled and honored by the request, an affirmative answer was given. In July of 2004, Bishop Carolyn Tyler Guidry became the Chair of the Commission on Social Action and in July of 2005 created the ministry name, “The Clergy Family Information Center” and the position title, “Administrator”. Bishop Guidry also suggested the addition of the congratulatory component which involved the posting of congratulatory announcements on Friday of each week.
Bishop Guidry worked tirelessly to secure operational funding for the ministry. Dr. Richard Lewis, Chief Financial Officer of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was a blessing to the office operation of the ministry. The email address database expanded drastically from a few hundred e-mail recipients to several thousand from 2005 through 2007. At the June 2007 Session of the General Board Meeting of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, under the esteemed leadership of Social Action Commission Chair, Bishop Carolyn Tyler Guidry, funding was approved for The Clergy Family Information Center; funding ramification; an equitable distribution of the allocation for Social Action, among the principals.
At the 2008 General Conference, under the leadership and guidance of Social Action Commission Chair, Bishop Carolyn Tyler Guidry, Mrs. Jackie DuPont Walker, Consultant/Director of Social Action submitted a bill for the ministry of The Clergy Family Information Center. The Bill was referenced as Bill MN-08. Intent: To add the Clergy Family Information Center and the duties of its Administrator to the Commission on Social Action; to add the Administrator as a Connectional Officer. Reference: PART VII – Section III; The General Board, Connectional Departments and Commissions; Commission on Social Action, page 200 (addendum to the Commission on Social Action) and Connectional Officers; Section III, page 588, Doctrine and Discipline of the AME Church, 2004 edition. Bill MN-08 passed.
The Clergy Family Information Center is included in The Book of Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Church 2008, Page 203, item #7.
In January of 2010, the administrator of the Clergy Family Information Center, constructed a web site.
- To make available necrology information, especially bereavements occurring within the Episcopal families and deceased General and Connectional Officers for annual conference statisticians who compile annual necrology reports.
- To provide a medium “Message Board” for persons who wish to extend public words of thanks for kindnesses shown during their bereavement.
- To spread the ministry message to a global audience via cyberspace.
- Also, the ministry became a part of social networking, Facebook, Twitter and a Ministry Blog. In September 2010, the AMEC Clergy Family Information Center secured its own domain, "Amecfic.net" to better serve the growing ministry and also secured a business Telecommunication account.
“Step out on faith, embrace the impossible. Walk in the vision of God, and be assured that when God gives you a vision, He also has provisions which are already waiting for you”.
