Our Beliefs

We are a United Methodist Church.  You may learn about the denomination’s history and beliefs at www.umc.org.

 

Our History

Mount Vernon Place UMC was founded in 1850 as a local church in Washington, D.C. for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. What started with 50 members quadrupled in size until the Civil War when membership dropped significantly. After the Civil War, the church experienced a steady period of growth.

The historic sanctuary was built in 1917 as the national representative church for the Methodist Episcopal Church South. The Methodist Episcopal South merged with the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Protestant Church in 1939, and we became Mount Vernon Place Methodist Church. In 1968, our denomination merged with the Evangelical United Brerthern Church, making us Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church.

During the 1940s and 1950s, the church became a center of spiritual and social activity in the center of Washington. The church employed a full-time social worker and had extensive outreach ministries to the people living around the church, especially the homeless. The church's membership roll continued to grow rapidly, making the congregation one of the largest Protestant congregations in the city. At its height, the congregation had 4541 members and three different buildings that were packed with people on any given day or night. When the landscape of the neighborhood began to change in the 1960s, MVPUMC also began to experience change – change that resulted in a drastic decline in both membership and attendance. At many points in our history, several people thought the church would soon close its doors and cease to exist. Thankfully, God had other plans.

In 1995, Mount Vernon Place created a shared ministry with the Chinese Community Church of Washington. For nearly twelve years, the two congregations served together at 900 Massachusetts Avenue, NW. The Shared Ministry was created in part due to the space supply and demand of the two congregations. It was also believed that the two congregations had a common vision for ministry that was grounded in the Lordship of Jesus Christ and that the two congregations could better serve the needs of the city by serving together. The Shared Ministry continued until August of 2006 at which time the Chinese Community Church moved to the corner of 5th and I Streets, NW.

In 2005, Mount Vernon Place embarked upon a unique partnership with a developer and Wesley Theological Seminary, one of the thirteen United Methodist Seminaries in the nation. The congregation voted to sell a portion of its property, using the proceeds of the sale to completely restore the historic building. This work was completed in 2008. At the same time, a developer built a twelve-story building. In October of 2009, the congregation closed on the purchase of 22,000 square feet of new ministry space in this building for a fellowship hall, classrooms, kitchen, gathering spaces and offices. Just above our offices, 15 Wesley students live in intentional Christian community, housed in eight dormitory rooms and three efficiency apartments. Wesley also uses the classrooms for seminary courses, making Mount Vernon Place its hub for urban ministry. The new ministry space was dedicated on October 25, 2009.

In the past few years, we have discovered again that the church is not the building but the church is the people. While we are grateful for our beautiful building, we believe that the congregation at Mount Vernon Place is what is really special – that the people here provide a glimpse of the Body of Christ and God’s Kingdom here on earth. In the past two years, our congregation has doubled in size and many new ministries have emerged. God has done and is doing something incredible at 9th and Massachusetts. We feel so fortunate to be a part of it. We pray that God will use us in a faithful and mighty way. And, we would love to have you with us on the journey! All people are welcome in this church.