What is 30-for-30?

There was a time when the Western New York Annual Conference consisted of 20 churches within a single Presiding Elder District. Today, that structure has evolved into two districts—the Buffalo-Rochester District and the Albany-Kingston District—comprising 11 churches. 

Prior to the formation of the Western New York Annual Conference as a distinct body, the Buffalo-Albany-Rochester District was part of the New York Annual Conference. 

Western New York was more than a region—it was a network. Churches across Buffalo, Rochester, Niagara Falls, and beyond functioned as coordinated “stations” along the Underground Railroad, providing food, shelter, and direction to freedom seekers moving north toward Canada. 

Rochester served as a critical final stop before freedom in Canada. Through the leadership of Frederick Douglass and the support of Black churches, the city became a launching point where many made their final crossing from bondage into liberty. 

Before securing a permanent home, Agape A.M.E. worshipped wherever space could be found—members’ homes, the Michigan Avenue YMCA, and the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. The church existed first as a people, long before it became a place. 

Bethel A.M.E. Church traces its roots to 1831, when the “Colored Methodist Society” of Buffalo was formed with approximately 300 Afro-American residents—establishing one of the earliest organized Black religious bodies in Western New York. 

Originally named after Judge J. Waites Waring and Rev. Joseph DeLaine, Delaine Waring A.M.E. Church in Buffalo temporarily changed its name to St. Matthew A.M.E. Church in 1962 before a resolution restored its original name a few years later.

Despite having their KIDSPACE program building completely stripped by thieves—who even stole the alarm system and furnaces—Mount Zion A.M.E. Church in Buffalo persevered, paid off its mortgage in 2003, and proudly adopted the motto "the little church that could.

After an exploding boiler destroyed their fellowship hall in 1972, the congregation of St. James A.M.E. Church in Utica was miraculously able to purchase a new building from the Emmanuel Baptist Church for the grand total of just one dollar.

Because Bethel A.M.E. Church in Lackawanna established such strong roots and connections, it affectionately adopted the nickname "Baby Bethel," after the larger Bethel A.M.E. Church located on Michigan Avenue in Buffalo.

When St. John A.M.E. Church in Niagara Falls built its new sanctuary in 1961, it was erected over a historically significant site featuring a cave where runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad were once hidden before crossing into Canada.

Baber A.M.E. Church in Rochester survived two devastating fires; a 1968 fire tragically destroyed many of the church's historical records, and a 1976 fire rendered the building temporarily uninhabitable 

Bright Chapel A.M.E. Church was organized in Syracuse in 1965 after a group of believers split from the People’s A.M.E. Zion Church.

During the Great Depression, Bethel A.M.E. Church in Lackawanna fed the community by operating a soup kitchen that served over 200 people daily. 

When St. John A.M.E. Church in Niagara Falls built its new sanctuary in 1961, it was erected over a historically significant site featuring a cave where runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad were once hidden before crossing into Canada. 

On August 21, 1844, Lyman A. Spalding, a wealthy landowner, and his wife generously gifted the land on South Street where First A.M.E. Church of Lockport still stands today. 

Baber A.M.E. Church in Rochester survived two devastating fires; a 1968 fire tragically destroyed many of the church's historical records, and a 1976 fire rendered the building temporarily uninhabitable. 

Bright Chapel A.M.E. Church was organized in Syracuse in 1965 after a group of believers split from the People’s A.M.E. Zion Church. 

When Bethel A.M.E. Church in Schenectady was first received into full connection in 1952, it was named "Nichols Chapel" in honor of Bishop Decatur Ward Nichols, before being officially rededicated as Bethel in 1961. 

Famous abolitionist Harriet Tubman is recorded to have slept against the east wall of Israel A.M.E. Church in Albany as she supported the fight against slavery. 

After the Ku Klux Klan burned down Payne A.M.E. Church in Chatham during its construction, the pastor bravely took out a newspaper ad telling the Klan that the fire would not stop God's program, and the congregation successfully rebuilt the structure. 

Founded in 1853 with a building constructed in 1856 on donated land, Bethel A.M.E. Church of Coxsackie holds the proud title of the oldest Black church in Greene County. 

In 1954, a bishop from a rival denomination challenged Saint Mark's Chapel A.M.E. in Kingston for ownership of their property, but the Supreme Court of Ulster County ultimately ruled that Saint Mark's Chapel was the rightful owner. 

St. Andrews A.M.E. Church in Buffalo, founded in 1982, successfully operated a self-help organization called the "Rainbow Center" before the church eventually closed its doors. 

While Bethel A.M.E. Church of Kinderhook is no longer in existence and few records remain, documents show that this church actively helped Payne A.M.E. Church raise funds to build its edifice before closing.

In 1890, after the Bethel A.M.E. Church in Olean sat unused for years, a white minister named Bro. Woodruff Post took charge, bringing the church back to efficiency and eventually placing it in the Pittsburgh A.M.E. Conference before the church later closed in the 2000s. 

Grace Community A.M.E. Church was uniquely located at the State University of New York at Buffalo Student Union Chapel, where it operated from 2000 until it officially closed its doors in 2006. 

Rev. Ernestine Ward became the first female Presiding Elder in the Western New York Annual Conference, and Rev. Dr. Faye Banks Taylor continued that legacy when she became the second, serving the Albany-Kingston District beginning in 2019.

In 2026, Sis. Alexandria Carver-Noi was appointed First District YPD Director after faithfully serving as the Western New York Conference YPD Director and the YPD Director of Israel A.M.E. Church in Albany; she also made history as the Conference’s first-ever Youth of the Year. 

Several years ago, Sis. Florence Hargrove Curtis chronicled the history of the Western New York Annual Conference in her book, A Historical View of the Churches in the Western New York African Methodist Episcopal Conference, documenting the journeys of 20 churches through 2007; much of this 30-for-30 is made possible through her work, now accessible at WNYAC26.com → 15th Anniversary.