 The next Sunday in 1787, white ushers attempted to forcibly drag a black member of the church, Absolem Jones, to a different pew.They were unsuccessful in removing him, but Allen, Jones, and the other black worshipers walked out of St. George's in a body at the end of the service and refused to return.This led to the formation of the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, with Jones as the first pastor, and Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, with Allen as its first pastor, and eventually to the formation of the AME denomination.