Connectional Lay Organization

What Connectional Lay Organization does

The Connectional Lay Organization (CLO) is the lay ministry arm of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME Church), a religious nonprofit headquartered at 1134 11th St NW, Washington, DC. Founded in 1946 in Little Rock, Arkansas (evolving from the 1912 Laymen's Missionary Movement and the 1916 Connectional Lay College), the CLO coordinates lay ministry activities across 20 Episcopal Districts spanning the United States, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, and multiple African countries including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Nigeria, and Ghana. Its stated mission is to create appreciation for the history and principles of African Methodism while ensuring lay representation in AME Church governance, a status formalized between 1928 and 1944.

The organization's core products are informational and educational rather than commercial. The ameclay.org website serves as the central communication hub, supplemented by the YouTube channel for event recordings and video content. Publications include the 'We Speak' quarterly magazine managed by the Director of Public Relations, the CLO Historical Journal documenting organizational history and presidents, and the 'CLO Study Guide - Make it Make Sense' used for member training. The CLO Membership Database tracks over 10,000 members. Distribution leverages the existing AME Church hierarchy — from connectional level through Episcopal Districts (1-20), Annual Conferences, and local churches — to disseminate programming and resources.

The business model is nonprofit and event-driven. The CLO generates revenue through tiered convention registration fees ($135 USD/CAD in-person with two meals, $70 virtual, $50 clergy, $40 out-of-district guests), member donations ('Ways to Give'), and merchandise sales through the CLO Shop. External scholarship funding flows in via partnerships with the Sebastiantunis Foundation and the Church Mutual Insurance Company CM CARES program, which provides $2,500 scholarships to religious scholars. The CLO meets biennially at conventions (39th Session held in Atlanta, Georgia; 2027 Biennial planned) and holds Executive Board Meetings in winter and spring, with no paid SaaS, licensing, or advertising revenue disclosed.

Name

Connectional Lay Organization

Legal name

Connectional Lay Organization of the African Methodist Episcopal Church

Website

https://ameclay.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1946

Operating status

Operating

Short description

The Connectional Lay Organization coordinates lay ministry activities across 20 Episcopal Districts of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, providing publications, educational resources, biennial conventions, and digital communications to over 10,000 lay members in the United States and internationally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Religious Nonprofit Services

NAICS

Religious Organizations (8131), Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Denominational & Ecclesiastical Governance Bodies (Dioceses, Synods, Conferences) (BPAGAJAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Continuing Education (CE/CPD) & Provider Accreditation Bodies (EDADACAF)

Keywords

• Lay ministry coordination
• Religious nonprofit services
• Church district communications
• Convention event management
• Membership database management

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Connectional Lay Organization coordinates lay ministry activities across all 20 Episcopal Districts of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, providing educational resources, publications ("We Speak" quarterly magazine), historical documentation, study guides, and membership support services to over 10,000 lay members. It serves as the institutional voice of the laity within AME Church governance, organizing biennial conventions, executive board meetings, and global communications infrastructure that reaches from the connectional level down to individual local churches.

Product overview

The Connectional Lay Organization operates primarily as an informational and administrative platform for the African Methodist Episcopal Church's lay ministry. The core offering is the ameclay.org website, which serves as a central hub for communication across 20 Episcopal Districts worldwide. Supporting publications include the "We Speak" quarterly magazine published by the Director of Public Relations, the "CLO Historical Journal" documenting organizational history, and the "CLO Study Guide - Make it Make Sense" for member training. The organization also maintains a membership database system and produces various PDF-based resources including legislation packets, historiographer reports, and educational materials.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CLO Biennial Convention A recurring biennial convention event for AME Church lay members across all 20 Episcopal Districts, available in-person and virtual formats with tiered registration fees (in-person $135 USD/CAD, virtual $70 USD/CAD, clergy $50 USD/CAD, out-of-district guests $40 USD/CAD). Includes two meals for in-person attendees.
• "We Speak" Quarterly Magazine The official quarterly publication of the Connectional Lay Organization, published by the Director of Public Relations, covering news, articles, and updates from around the connectional organization. Published in both electronic and hard-copy formats, with the stated goal of becoming a periodical of the entire African Methodist Episcopal Church.
• CLO Membership Program Membership program for AME Church lay members with a managed database that surpassed 10,000 members at the 39th Biennial Session. Includes recruitment initiatives such as the Membership Explosion Day with 1,223 total participants across Zoom (648), Facebook (432), and 15th District in-person (143).
• CLO Study Guide - Make it Make Sense An educational study guide for lay members of the AME Church used for training and development purposes, covering AME Church history and lay ministry principles.
• Executive Board Meetings (EBM) Recurring governance meetings of the CLO Executive Board, held in Winter and Spring sessions each year, bringing together elected officers from across the 20 Episcopal Districts for organizational planning and decision-making.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• AME Church Women's Missionary Society (WMS): The Women's Missionary Society is the parallel women's auxiliary of the AME Church, operating connectionally across the same Episcopal Districts with membership, conventions, publications, and education programs — directly comparable to CLO's structure and mission.
• AME Ministers' Alliance: The clergy counterpart to the CLO within the AME Church — a connectional organization of ordained ministers coordinating across the same 20 Episcopal Districts with conventions, communications, and representation rights analogous to CLO.
• United Methodist Women: An analogous denominational lay organization within the United Methodist Church, with a similar model of membership-driven programs, publications, regional structure, mission education, and advocacy for lay women/men within the parent denomination.
• Presbyterian Women: The lay women's organization of the Presbyterian Church (USA), running comparable programs — mission education, publications, conferences, district/presbytery structure — using a similar membership and governance model within a mainline Protestant denomination.
• Episcopal Church Women: The lay women's organization of the Episcopal Church, coordinating across dioceses with retreats, publications, and educational ministries — a structurally similar denominational lay auxiliary whose governance and engagement model mirrors CLO's connectional structure.

Emerging players

• Church Women United: An ecumenical Christian women's organization operating across denominational lines with state and local units, programs, and an annual celebration day — comparable to CLO in mission, membership-driven structure, and educational focus, though non-denominational in scope.

Broad incumbents

• National Council of Churches: A higher-level ecumenical governance body of which AME is a member — operates on a wider portfolio (advocacy, justice work, common worship) than CLO, but illustrates the connectional religious-body model CLO participates in at a different stratum of the same ecosystem.
• Catholic Laity, Family and Life Ministry (USCCB): The USCCB sub-committee addressing lay formation and family life in the Catholic Church — runs comparable initiatives (lay leadership formation, education, parish-level resources) but under a much larger denomination with a vastly different institutional scale.

Regional players

• Baptist Women in Ministry: A denominational/auxiliary organization supporting women's ministry within Baptist traditions — overlaps with CLO's mission of developing laity within a Protestant denomination, though Baptist structures are more congregational than connectional.

Others

• Disciples of Christ – Lay Ministry Programs (DOC General Ministries): A denominational body coordinating lay formation and Christian education across regional units in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) — a thematic analog to CLO's lay-ministry education focus, though structurally lighter and operating in a different Protestant stream.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@ameclayorg
• Facebookfacebook.com/layorganization
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/connectional-lay-organization

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Connectional Lay Organization