The public is invited to join the congregation at Flat Rock AME Church Sunday, Aug. 18, at 2:30 p.m. to celebrate the church’s 165th Anniversary. Bishop Reginald T. Jackson will bring the message.

For one hundred and sixty-five years, Flat Rock AME Church has been a witness and participant to history in Fayette County. Slaves on the Spears Plantation were led to establish their first designated place of worship in 1854. The church’s founding fathers called the church Rocky Mount.

Rocky Mount relocated to land that is now the present-day site of Ebenezer United Methodist Church and changed its name to Scufflefield. In the early 1900s, Scufflefield and Ebenezer exchanged sites. Scufflefield changed its name to Flat Rock AME and its address to 148 Old Chapel Lane.

Fayette County Board of Education assisted in the building of Flat Rock because the church would also serve as the first school in Fayette County to educate blacks in the county. Flat Rock could accommodate as many as 100 elementary pupils initially. Today Flat Rock continues to support the educational endeavors of its youth and young adults.

The Rev. Edward J. Johnson is pastor. Visit flatrockamechurch.org or call 770-681-0708 for additional information.