Greetings in the name of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Our Pastor, Dr. William B. Cowherd, Sr. welcomes you to our website and inivites you to worship with us at our new church home at 204 Sunset Road, Burlington Township, NJ 08016.
The traditional date for the founding of the Wesley A. M. E. Zion Church is 1845. It was founded by a group of African-American citizens living in a section of what is now Westhampton called Timbuctoo, making it among the oldest African-American churches in Burlington County. Timbuctoo was a community of freed slaves and a refuge for runaway slaves and was named for a famous city in West Africa. The current records indicate that the first land purchase was in 1854. The deed for the land was recorded by the clerk of Burlington County on May 31, l858. This document records that the Trustees of the “Zion Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal African Church of Timbuctoo” purchased from one Peter Coppuck, Et. Ut. A parcel of lands and buildings for the sum of $300. The Trustees of record at the time were David Parker, Noble Johns, Adam Gibson, JacobColwell, James Pinion, Richard Christy and William Chase. These individuals were, in all probability, free men.

At some time during the next ten years, the church was relocated to Burlington, New Jersey and became the “African Methodist Episcopal Zion Wesley Church of Burlington.”A deed dated March 2, l864 and recorded April 28, 1864 documents that the former site at 618 South High Street in the city of Burlington was acquired for $200. The property was purchased from one Jacob Sluby Et. Ut. The Church, at its former site, served the Burlington community for nearly 140 years.