We don't know an awful lot about James Varick; his importance is as the first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. There were other leaders who came after him, but he is the first.
The AMEZ Church came out of some of the same pressures that led to the AME church; blacks did not feel welcome in the growing segregationist-minded America. While they may have been able to come up with some way of staying in the white Methodist structure, there was worry about what would happen if they did not have control of their property.
What's interesting is how the white church provided initial leadership, including white bishops setting up the organization and helping to ordain new leaders. James Varick was one of the first two elders of the new church.
The early black Methodists had to rely on white preachers until they could ordain their own preachers. James Varick, even though we know little about him, must have been a man of character and integrity to be the first ordained in the new church, and to be elected their first bishop.
I wish I had better resources and more time to give, because I am very surprised by the cordial relations between black and white Methodist leaders, in spite of what I perceive to be difficult times.
And I have to say that in my heart, I hope that the various Methodist bodies can reunite. I suspect that black Methodists do not want to deal with some of the foolishness in the United Methodist Church. I think, thought, that maybe they could reinfect us with real zeal for the work of the Lord.
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