Bridge Street AME Church is rooted in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, at 277 Stuyvesant Avenue. Its motto is “The Church in the Heart of the Community with the Community at Heart.” From origins in 1766 and a historic role as a stop on the Underground Railroad, the congregation has carried social justice into ministries that feed, clothe, teach and support people in Bed-Stuy. People from diverse backgrounds and denominations are welcomed, and Bridge Street’s ministries deliberately span generations.
A Stop on the Underground Railroad, Still Working for Justice
Bridge Street traces its history to missionary beginnings in 1766 and requested its first preacher from Bishop Richard Allen in 1818. Its history includes serving as a stop on the Underground Railroad, a role the church calls a catalyst of freedom. It also includes speaking out against injustice on local and national issues and acting as what the church describes as “a voice of consciousness for the underrepresented in society.” That work has continued through the pastor’s close collaboration with the 81st Precinct Clergy Council, where church and community leaders work to make the neighborhood more desirable for families to live.
The congregation’s public life has long extended beyond the sanctuary. Bridge Street organized “Family Unity Day,” a street gathering that brought more than 1,000 people together for food, fun and fellowship. Its annual Family and Friends Day has drawn more than 500 attendees for food, jazz, face painting and conversations about health and community, with support from elected officials. These gatherings reflect the same social ministry that drives the feeding, clothing, prison, youth and family programs active in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Sunday at Ten, Where Traditional and Contemporary Meet
Sunday worship begins at 10:00 a.m. at Bridge Street. The church describes its worship as intergenerational, with people ranging from age five to 95. Music is explicitly blended: the worship ministry includes a Praise Ensemble, a Youth Choir and a Mass Choir. A mime and liturgical dance ministry also takes part on the fourth and fifth Sundays of each month. This mix gives visitors a service that includes established AME expressions and active participation by younger generations.
Bridge Street asks visitors to dress comfortably. Jeans or slacks are common, but dressy suits, hats and business-casual clothing are equally at home in the congregation. Church School serves youth and adults, while Youth Church focuses on ages 6 to 20 and teaches biblical stories and how to apply them in daily life. The church also makes audio sermons and Bible studies available for those who want to continue learning beyond the service.
For a first visit, the essentials are simple: come to 277 Stuyvesant Avenue on Sunday at 10:00 a.m., expect blended music and a warm welcome, and choose clothing that lets you settle in for worship.
Fifty Small Groups That Keep Faith Personal
Membership at Bridge Street is organized around the Bridgecare Class Leader Ministry, a pastoral arm made up of 50 small groups. Each new member is assigned to a class with a leader; groups range from a few people to nearly 25. Class leaders call members weekly, help the congregation remain connected and share pastoral concerns with the pastoral team. They also help with new-member intake and organize two church-wide fellowship gatherings each year, in spring and fall, centered on shared food, fun and conversation.
The Class Leader Ministry links Sunday worship to the life of the congregation between services. Its purpose is both spiritual growth and the creation of social connection, and that combination is central to how Bridge Street understands fellowship. The church describes fellowship as “second nature,” rooted in sharing lives, faith and resources with people inside and beyond the church.
Those joining the church begin with a four-week New Member Class. The class covers Methodist doctrine, spiritual gifts, stewardship of time and talent, and Bridge Street’s ministries. At its conclusion, new members are expected to join at least one ministry. The expected next step is service: each believer is encouraged to discern the spiritual gift and talents God has given and to use them in the work of the church and community.
Meals, Clothing and Care in Bedford-Stuyvesant
The feeding program provides clothing and more than 15,000 meals each year to people in the community who face disenfranchisement. At Thanksgiving, Bridge Street assembles food baskets for families with children. At Christmas, youth, missionary and women’s ministry teams visit ill and homebound members and bring gifts. These seasonal efforts are extensions of year-round ministries organized through the church’s feeding, missionary, women, class leader and prayer teams.
The church’s prison ministry conducts worship at Rikers Island and has provided more than 1,500 pairs of white socks to inmates at Christmas. Bridge Street also hosts an Angel Tree Christmas party for children whose parents are incarcerated. Children submit gift wishes, congregants purchase the requested gifts and the church presents them at the party. These ministries make the church’s concern for people beyond its own membership concrete and sustained.
Health and education are also part of the community work. The Health Commission and Nurses Unit provide information about health and wellness, and the Awakened Women’s Ministry participates in Reading Partners by tutoring young people. The Social Action Commission keeps the congregation informed about social issues, while the Prayer Ministry intercedes locally and globally. Together, these ministries extend Bridge Street’s concern beyond immediate relief into health, learning, public awareness and prayer.
Women Leading, Young People Serving, Music Leading the Room
The Awakened Women’s Ministry has its roots in the Women’s Club organized in 1952 by Romayne Portlock, wife of Bridge Street’s pastor from 1952 to 1958. Her work made Women’s Day an annual celebration with a spiritual and financial purpose, organized under a central theme and scriptural text. The Awakened ministry organizes a four-month Women’s Season that leads to the Women’s Day culminating service. Its activities include morning Lenten meditations, monthly Bible study, a women’s conference, a young girls’ retreat, a prayer breakfast, empowerment luncheons, youth worship and support for a local women’s residential facility. Outside that season, women gather for book discussions and silent retreats. The ministry’s goal is to develop women for spiritual leadership in the church, guided by the motto “Empowering women by inspiring, supporting and awakening the culture of unity in our church and community.”
Young people have a substantial organizational role. The Young People’s Department develops youth and young adults from ages 6 to 26 for leadership in church and society. Youth officers are elected annually, practice team building and learn Robert’s Rules of Order. Youth Church shares biblical stories and helps young people place those stories within their lives for God. Youth and young adult ushers are trained in welcoming people, seating them and handling offering plates with order. The Next Youth Generation Choir teaches ages 6 to 18 sectional parts, vocal tone, music reading and solos.
Bridge Street’s music ministry is led in part by Sis. Meryl Williams for the Hanifah Youth Choir and Bro. Nerva Altino for the broader Music Ministry. Sis. Marilyn Morris leads the Liturgical Dance and Mime Ministry. These teams, along with the Praise Ensemble and Mass Choir, are central to a worship style that deliberately makes room for intergenerational participation.
A Faith Rooted in Methodist Discipline
Bridge Street presents the Apostles’ Creed as one of two basic foundations of Methodist belief. The church explains that the Creed is often recited in Sunday School or worship and taught during baptism or new-member classes so members can understand and contextualize their faith. The 25 Articles of Religion are the other foundation. Adapted by John Wesley from the Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles, they address religious authority, justification by grace through faith, the nature of the church, the rejection of purgatory, services in Latin, the nature of the sacraments, the rejection of the Mass and the rejection of a celibate clergy. The church summarizes the Methodist inheritance as an orderly system of rules and regulations with emphasis on a plain and simple gospel.
Its mission is “to minister to the social, spiritual, and physical development of all people.” New-member teaching expands that commitment to spiritual, intellectual, physical, psychological and environmental needs. “African” in AME identifies the African descent and heritage of the people who organized the denomination; it does not mean the church was founded in Africa or that it serves only people of African descent. “Methodist” places Bridge Street in the family of Methodist churches, while “Episcopal” describes governance by bishops.
Bridge Street belongs to a connectional structure in which local AME congregations are joined through doctrine, governance and liturgy. It is part of the Brooklyn Westchester District of the New York Annual Conference in the First Episcopal District. The presiding bishop is the Rt. Rev. Gregory Gerald McKinley Ingram, and the presiding elder is Rev. Melvin Eugene Wilson. This structure joins the local congregation to a wider episcopal and conference leadership.
Pastoral Leadership Rooted in Care
Rev. David B. Cousin Sr. has served as Bridge Street’s pastor since 1997. His pastoral record includes service in New Jersey and at Emanuel AME Church in Harlem, where he worked with neighborhood block associations, established community meetings and helped create Bible study and rap sessions for young men. At Bridge Street, community well-being remains central to his leadership.
Rev. Valerie E. Cousin serves as executive minister and oversees administration, policies, worship and the church calendar, while also helping guide its work with class leaders, weddings, funerals, baptisms and new members. The ministerial team extends that care: Rev. Charles Griffin serves men and teaches the New Member Class; Rev. Dr. Georgianna Land leads the ministry to ill and homebound members; Rev. Monique Wheeler directs Christian education and young-adult work; and Rev. Bruce Williams leads prison and community outreach. Their roles make the congregation’s social ministry a shared responsibility rather than a single-program effort.
Joining, Serving and Giving
Bridge Street has clear pathways for joining and participating. The four-week New Member Class leads into membership and service, baptism candidates complete a required lesson before the baptism class, and the church provides guides for weddings and funerals. New members are expected to join at least one ministry, while a broad roster of ministries supports worship, teaching, fellowship, health, prayer, missions, youth, music, social action and community care.
Giving is treated as an act of worship and as part of a stewardship plan of tithe, time and talent. The church defines tithing as committing ten percent of one’s income. Donations can be made by mail to 277 Stuyvesant Avenue or through Givelify or Zelle. These practices reflect the same whole-person mission that shapes the congregation: members are expected to use their time, talent and financial resources in service to the church and community.
Bridge Street AME Church’s identity is visible in both its long memory and its daily work. From the Underground Railroad to small groups, meals, music, leadership development and prison ministry, the Bedford-Stuyvesant congregation continues to place community at the heart of its calling.