Foundry United Methodist Church

Last updated
Foundry United Methodist Church
Foundry United Methodist Church July 2020 - 2.jpg
front entrance, 2020
Foundry United Methodist Church
38°54′36″N77°02′12″W / 38.910028°N 77.036804°W / 38.910028; -77.036804 Coordinates: 38°54′36″N77°02′12″W / 38.910028°N 77.036804°W / 38.910028; -77.036804
Location1500 16th St. NW
Washington, D.C.
Country United States
Denomination United Methodist Church
Previous denomination Methodist Episcopal Church
Website www.foundryumc.com
History
Founded1814
Founder(s) Henry Foxall, Francis Asbury
DedicatedApril 10, 1904
Architecture
Functional statusActive
Architect(s) Appleton P. Clark Jr.
Architectural type Church
Style Gothic Revival
Completed1904
Administration
DivisionBaltimore-Washington Conference
Clergy
Bishop(s) Rev. LaTrelle Easterling
Senior pastor(s) Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli

Foundry United Methodist Church is a historic congregation of the United Methodist Church, located on 16th Street NW, Washington, D.C., and founded in 1814.

Contents

History

Foundry Church built in 1866 Foundry Methodist Church - Washington, DC - 1864 - Adolf Cluss.jpg
Foundry Church built in 1866

Henry Foxall, the prominent owner of the Columbia Foundry (besides the church, also namesake of the Foundry Branch), contributed the land and funds for the construction of the first church in 1814. By tradition, he made the contribution in gratitude for divine intervention after a thunderstorm prevented British soldiers from destroying the foundry during the Burning of Washington. [1] Foxall, who later served as mayor of Georgetown, was an associate of Francis Asbury, the founder of American Methodism, and became a lay preacher himself.

A simple brick church was constructed at 14th and G Streets, Northwest, and Stephen G. Roszel became its first preacher, in 1815. The name "Foundry Chapel" was first used in 1816, and the community became an independent charge in 1817. [2]

President Abraham Lincoln attended a January 18, 1863 service at Foundry, where visiting Bishop Matthew Simpson, raising funds for missionary work, proposed that Lincoln be made a life director of the Methodist Missionary Society. [2] His successor Andrew Johnson is also known to have attended. [3] In 1877, President Rutherford B. Hayes became a member of the congregation, and he and his wife Lucy attended services regularly for the next four years. Lucy Webb Hayes was a devout Methodist and known for her support of the temperance movement, and later nicknamed "Lemonade Lucy" as she did not serve alcohol at White House events. [3]

In June 1872, the church purchased land at 15th and R Streets NW, which was developed into the Fifteenth Street Methodist Church. Foundry and the Fifteenth Street church merged in 1903. Around this time, the church leaders sought to build a bigger church, and acquired the current parcel on 16th Street NW. The new church opened for worship on February 28, 1904, and was dedicated on April 10 of that year.

In 1924, Frederick Brown Harris was appointed pastor, a position he would have for more than 30 years, during which time he also served as the Chaplain of the Senate, and became the longest-serving holder of that title.

Sanctuary Foundry United Methodist Church - interior 01.jpg
Sanctuary

Attendance reached an all-time high during World War II. Early in the American involvement in the war, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill attended a special interfaith service at Foundry on December 25, 1941.

J. Philip Wogaman, previously of Wesley Theological Seminary, became senior minister in 1992. In 1993, Foundry welcomed President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton as members; the Clintons would attend services there about half the weekends they were in Washington. [2] On June 7, 1995, the church voted to become a "Reconciling Ministry" for LGBTQIA+ members, an effort which continued under Wogaman's successor, Dean Snyder. [4] The church voted overwhelmingly in 2010 to allow same-sex marriages, placing it in conflict with the larger United Methodist Church. [5]

In 2014, Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli became the first woman to serve as senior pastor. [6]

Music

Some of the pipes of the pipe organ. Foundry United Methodist Church - interior 03.jpg
Some of the pipes of the pipe organ.

Foundry is known for its strong music program, which includes a children's choir, contemporary choir, and the 55-voice Foundry Choir. The Foundry Choir was selected to lead the opening communion service of the 1984 UMC General Conference, marking the bicentennial of Methodism in America. [7]

The church organ is a Casavant of 3,364 pipes and 60 ranks installed as part of the church's 1984 renovation. [8] A committee led by organist Eileen Guenther supervised its design and installation, choosing spots and voicing to reflect a focus on Classical and Romantic French literature. [7] Guenther gave its first performance in February 1985. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelicalism. The present denomination was founded in 1968 in Dallas, Texas, by union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley in England, as well as the Great Awakening in the United States. As such, the church's theological orientation is decidedly Wesleyan. It embraces liturgical worship, holiness, and evangelical elements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Asbury</span> Methodist bishop in America

Francis Asbury was one of the first two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. During his 45 years in the colonies and the newly independent United States, he devoted his life to ministry, traveling on horseback and by carriage thousands of miles to those living on the frontier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African Methodist Episcopal Church</span> Predominantly African American Protestant denomination

The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexional polity. The African Methodist Episcopal Church is the first independent Protestant denomination to be founded by black people; though it welcomes and has members of all ethnicities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">16th Street NW</span> Road in Washington, D.C.

16th Street Northwest is a prominent north–south thoroughfare in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. Part of Pierre L'Enfant's design for the city, 16th Street begins just north of the White House across Lafayette Park at H Street and continues due north in a straight line passing K Street, Scott Circle, Meridian Hill Park, Rock Creek Park, and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center before crossing Eastern Avenue into Silver Spring, Maryland, where it ends at Georgia Avenue. From K Street to the District line, 16th Street is part of the National Highway System. The Maryland portion of the street is designated Maryland State Highway 390. The entire street is 6.4 miles (10.3 km) long.

Edwin Holt Hughes was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1908.

Boston University School of Theology (STH) is the oldest theological seminary of American Methodism and the founding school of Boston University, the largest private research university in New England. It is one of thirteen theological schools maintained by the United Methodist Church. BUSTH is a member of the Boston Theological Institute consortium.

Titus Lowe was an English-American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and The Methodist Church, elected in 1924.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Swann</span> American organist and choral conductor (1931–2022)

Frederick Lewis Swann was an American church and concert organist, choral conductor, composer, and president of the American Guild of Organists. His extensive discography includes both solo organ works and choral ensembles he has conducted.

J. Philip Wogaman is former Senior Minister at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. (1992–2002), and former Professor of Christian Ethics at Wesley Theological Seminary Washington, D.C. (1966–92), serving as dean of that institution from 1972–83.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Towson United Methodist Church</span> Church in Maryland, United States

Towson United Methodist Church is a large United Methodist Church in the historic Hampton subdivision of Towson, a suburb in Baltimore County, Maryland. Its past, rooted in 19th-century America and subsequent growth in the two centuries since then, has closely paralleled the nation's political and sociological trends. It was a congregation split asunder in 1861 on the eve of the American Civil War in a border state of divided loyalties, which eventually reunited and built a church in the post–World War II era of the 1950s, a time of reconciliation and rapid growth by mainline Protestant denominations, especially in the more affluent suburbs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Presbyterian Church</span> Church in D.C., United States

The National Presbyterian Church is a Christian congregation of approximately 1,500 members of all ages from the greater metropolitan Washington, D.C., area. The mission statement of the church is "Leading People to Become Faithful Followers of Jesus Christ Together in God’s World"

University United Methodist Church, Austin, Texas, is a United Methodist Church belonging to the Rio Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Located at the corner of 24th Street and Guadalupe Street, UUMC has been a fixture near the University of Texas at Austin campus for more than 120 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shiloh Baptist Church (Washington, D.C.)</span>

Shiloh Baptist Church is a Baptist church located in Washington, D.C.. 20001 in the historic Shaw District. The church was founded in Fredericksburg, VA in 1804.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Brown Harris</span>

Frederick Brown Harris, a Methodist clergyman has the distinction of the longest service record as Chaplain of the Senate, in a term of service interrupted by the chaplaincy of Peter Marshall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washington Street United Methodist Church</span> Historic church in South Carolina, United States

The Washington Street United Methodist Church is a historic church at 1401 Washington Street in Columbia, South Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broad Street United Methodist Church (Cleveland, Tennessee)</span> Historic church in Tennessee, United States

Broad Street United Methodist Church is a historic Methodist church located at 155 Central Ave NW in Cleveland, Tennessee, United States.

<i>Plaque Commemorating First Formal Religious Service, Indianapolis</i> (Howard Petty)

Plaque Commemorating First Formal Religious Service , is a public artwork by American artist Howard Petty, located on the Indiana Statehouse, in Indianapolis. It was created in 1923 and set in the statehouse in 1924. It commemorates the first religious services held in Indianapolis in 1819 and the first organized church in 1821. The plaque is made of bronze and depicts a walnut tree in the foreground with a log cabin in the background. It is approximately 22 inches (560 mm) wide by 35.5 inches (900 mm) high and has a depth of .75 inches (19 mm).

Cynthia Fierro Harvey is an American bishop in the United Methodist Church and president of its Council of Bishops. She is the first Hispanic woman to lead the Council of Bishops. Harvey is the Resident Bishop of the Louisiana area, and oversees the Louisiana Annual Conference.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Singleton T. Jones</span>

Bishop Singleton T. Jones was a religious leader in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. When he was ten years old, he was apprenticed to a lawyer and worked for him for four years, after which he found positions at an inn, as a hod carrier, and on a riverboat on the Ohio River. He became a pastor in the 1840s, serving churches throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. Although he had little education, the taught himself to be an articulate orator. Besides being a pastor to churches, he also edited AME Zion publications, the Zion's Standard and Weekly Review and the Discipline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Foxall</span> American politician, industrialist and preacher (1758–1823)

Henry Foxall was an English-born American politician, industrialist and Methodist preacher. He is considered the first United States defense contractor because he supplied the U.S. Navy during the Quasi War, First Barbary War and the War of 1812 with cannons and cannonballs from his iron foundries in Philadelphia, Georgetown and Richmond, Virginia. He also served as Mayor of Georgetown and helped found the Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C.

References

  1. Carter, Elliot (October 30, 2016), Henry Foxall Was Washington's First Defense Contractor, Architect of the Capitol, retrieved 2019-03-30
  2. 1 2 3 Timeline, Foundry United Methodist Church, retrieved 2019-03-30
  3. 1 2 Many US presidents have Methodist ties, United Methodist Church, February 15, 2019, retrieved January 17, 2020
  4. Rosenstein, Peter (June 3, 2015), "Foundry celebrates 20 years as reconciling ministry", The Washington Blade
  5. Brocklebank, Christopher (October 8, 2010), "Washington DC Methodist Church approves same-sex marriages", Pink News, retrieved January 17, 2020
  6. "About Pastor Ginger". www.foundryumc.com.
  7. 1 2 Foundry United Methodist, American Guild of Organists, District of Columbia Chapter, retrieved December 3, 2019
  8. 1 2 Mattos, Ed (February 25, 1985), "Eileen Guenther", The Washington Post, retrieved December 3, 2019