A 200-Year Beacon at 16th and P
Foundry United Methodist Church has stood at the corner of 16th and P Streets NW in Washington's Dupont Circle neighborhood since 1904, but its story began nearly a century earlier on a different corner of the city. In 1814, Henry Foxall, a Methodist layman, Georgetown iron founder, and former mayor, decided to build a new church after his Columbia Foundry survived the British attack on Washington the previous summer. When asked about his unusual combination of forging weapons of war and building houses of worship, Foxall is said to have replied, "If I do make guns to destroy men's bodies, I build churches to save their souls." The first chapel, a simple brick structure at 14th and G Streets NW, was dedicated on September 10, 1815, and the name "Foundry" honored both John Wesley's London Foundery and Foxall's Georgetown ironworks.
Within three years, Foundry had organized its first Sabbath School, and a generation later its members had launched mission efforts to fund the education of a Shawnee Indian child named Henry Foxall and supported work among Cherokee peoples. The original building was remodeled, expanded, and replaced multiple times. In 1904, after the electric streetcars running along 14th Street made the old location untenable, the congregation moved to its present location on 16th Street NW, where it agreed the new building "will bear the old name of Foundry." That decision has shaped more than two centuries of prophetic ministry, with Foundry becoming a focal point of Methodist witness, mission, and social conscience in the nation's capital.
For more than 200 years, Foundry has welcomed presidents, members of Congress, and neighbors from every walk of life. President Abraham Lincoln became a Life Director of the Methodist Missionary Society at Foundry on January 18, 1863, and kept the framed certificate hanging in the White House until after his assassination. President Rutherford B. Hayes and First Lady Lucy Webb Hayes walked to Foundry most Sundays for four years, beginning in 1877. On Christmas Day 1941, days after Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill sat together in the pews for a Washington Federation of Churches service, with Churchill later writing of his appreciation for the hymns. President William Clinton and his family attended Foundry regularly from 1993 to 2001. Today, Foundry remains a place where the burdens and possibilities of the nation's capital are carried into worship, and where the church's work is shaped by the conviction that proximity to power carries with it a duty to speak for the powerless.
Where Radical Welcome Means Real Work
Foundry is a historic, progressive United Methodist Church that "welcomes all, worships passionately, challenges the status quo, and seeks to transform the world through God's love." The church's welcome is not rhetorical. Foundry became a Reconciling Congregation in 1995, voting 56 to 49 in favor of a Statement of Reconciliation that affirms people of every age, race, color, ethnicity, immigration status, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, economic condition, or physical or mental ability. Foundry's Statement of Reconciliation, revised in May 2017, proclaims: "To all, regardless of age, race, color, ethnicity, immigration status, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, economic condition, or physical or mental ability, we proclaim: God loves you, and we love you. We welcome you, and we invite you to join us on our shared journey."
That conviction flows from Foundry's core values. The church affirms belief in Jesus Christ as the foundation of all its work, commits to the hard labor of prophecy, insists that minds are great gifts from God to be exercised with intellectual honesty, and calls members to worship joyfully as an Easter people. Foundry has formally committed to racial justice and equity, naming its intention to "work to dismantle white supremacy, rectify systemic racial inequities and injustices, and commit to intersectional approaches in our anti-racist work." In September 2025, the church launched a new strategic vision, "Vision: Love Boldly, Serve Joyfully, Lead Courageously." Each of these commitments shows up in the church's daily life, from the wording of its welcome statement to the partners it chooses for its justice work.
Foundry operates within the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and acknowledges the tension that comes from being an LGBTQIA+-affirming congregation within a global denomination. Senior Pastor Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli, who in 2014 became the first woman to serve as Foundry's senior pastor, has been a leading voice for full inclusion. The church continues to host its LGBTQIA+ Advocacy team, which sends delegations to General Conference, staffs information tables at Capital Pride and TransPride, and supports local congregations considering becoming reconciling. A long-running LGBTQ+ Small Group and monthly LGBTQ+ Potlucks create additional community beyond Sunday worship.
Two Services, Two Musical Worlds
Foundry offers two Sunday morning worship services, each with its own musical character and feel. At 9 a.m., the Worship Celebration is led by Jubalate, Foundry's contemporary ensemble, in a come-as-you-are atmosphere with creative preaching and liturgy. At 11:15 a.m., the Chancel Choir leads worship with traditional liturgy, accompanied by the 3-rank Casavant organ. The wider Foundry Choir combines both rosters, allowing singers to minister across a breadth of musical styles, including anthems, spirituals, classical oratorio, gospel, and world music.
Stanley Thurston, Director of Music and Worship Arts, leads a program that has grown to include a treble-voice ensemble called Seraphic Voices, instrumental soloists and ensembles, and a robust Special Music series that fills the sanctuary with oratorio-scale works throughout the year. Thurston, who is also Artist in Residence at Washington National Cathedral and founding Artistic Director of The Heritage Signature Chorale, has composed and arranged choral works performed by choirs across the country. The Casavant-Frères organ, first installed in 1984 and refurbished to modern digital standards in 2018, anchors the chancel of the 16th Street building. Foundry's larger music ministry also embraces the Black Composer Series, regular Gospel Mass celebrations, and a series of annual Concerts for Life that have raised tens of thousands of dollars for HIV/AIDS programs over more than two decades.
Both services are broadcast live via Facebook Live, YouTube, and the Foundry online church, with a dedicated ASL-interpreted YouTube channel for the 11:15 service. American Sign Language interpretation is provided at the 11:15 worship celebration and at all special services. The current Sermon Archive reaches back through years of preaching by Pastor Ginger, with series ranging from "Piece Us Together" and "Ignite the Light" to "The Power of So That" and "How Beautiful!" Worship guides and weekly announcements are available online so that those participating remotely can follow along at home.
The ID Ministry: Restoring Visibility, One Document at a Time
For more than 20 years, Foundry's ID Ministry has been a quiet but powerful force in the lives of neighbors who lack the basic documents that most people take for granted. The program, run by a dedicated team of volunteers, assists unhoused and low-income residents of Washington, D.C. in obtaining birth certificates, D.C. identification cards, and replacement Social Security cards. The ministry serves more than 1,000 people each year, paying the fees and providing the expertise to navigate the bureaucratic process; it does not issue the documents itself but removes the obstacles that keep them out of reach. A 2017 Washington Post feature titled "The Invisibles: The cruel Catch-22 of being poor with no ID" brought national attention to the ministry's work.
ID Ministry appointments are offered in person on Wednesday mornings between 9 and 11 a.m., and on the first and third Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to noon. Limited phone appointments are available for those unable to come to Foundry because of incarceration, in-patient treatment, a newborn at home, mobility or medical issues, disability, or advanced age. The ministry does not handle immigration matters. The Rev. Dr. Kelly Grimes, who served as Foundry's Minister of Congregational Life and previously directed ID Ministry, helped digitize the program's intake process, an initiative continued by Social Justice Programs Manager Jackie Wright. The ministry is funded through the church's general budget and supported by donations from the congregation, and it stands as one of the most tangible ways Foundry's theology of welcome becomes a practical blessing for thousands of D.C. residents each year.
From the Kitchen to the Pulpit: A Robust Justice Portfolio
Foundry's Social Justice Ministries operate through more than a dozen teams, all coordinated under the leadership of Rev. Ben Roberts, Associate Pastor and Executive Director of Program and Justice Ministries. Each team is designed to put faith into action at a specific level: feeding neighbors, advocating for systemic change, and accompanying those who are most vulnerable.
The cooking teams are some of the oldest expressions of Foundry's heart for service. Sandwich 1,000 gathers on the second and fourth Wednesday evening of each month to prepare sandwiches for Martha's Table, a ministry that has been running continuously for decades. The Christ House team prepares and serves lunch at Christ House on the first Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. until noon. Together, these teams deliver thousands of meals each year to neighbors experiencing food insecurity.
The Sacred Resistance team educates, organizes, and empowers the Foundry community for advocacy and public witness. Working with community partners such as the Washington Interfaith Network, The Way Home Campaign, and the Congregation Action Network, Sacred Resistance provides education on social justice issues, organizes Foundry members for rallies, lobby days, candidate forums, and rapid response actions, and helps congregants develop historically proven methods of community organizing. The team takes its name from a framework initially used at Foundry in response to policies targeting immigrants, people of color, and others on the margins, and it has become a way of life for the congregation: an orientation toward embodying God's love and justice in every sphere of public engagement.
Foundry's LGBTQIA+ Advocacy team, the Racial Justice ministry, the Books 2 Prisons program (founded in 1999 and now an independent 501(c)(3) providing free books to prisoners and prison libraries), and the Reading Mentorship ministry through Project Transformation and Everybody Wins DC all fall under the same umbrella. The Great Day of Service, held twice a year, brings the entire congregation together for a day of service; recent projects have included packaging meals with Rise Against Hunger, removing invasive plants along the Anacostia River with local conservancies, and supporting DC Central Kitchen. Twice a year, Foundry also gathers for a Green Day of Service focused on environmental stewardship, with recent activities in parks near the church and along local waterways.
The free English as a Second Language program, offered on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:45 to 8:30 p.m., serves adult learners 17 and older with the help of dozens of volunteer teachers. Classes are held in the Community Commons, with registration open at the start of each semester and a rolling welcome for new students throughout. No prior English is required.
A Sanctuary Built for the Whole Family
Family Ministries at Foundry is organized around four interlocking areas: Kids (birth through fifth grade), Youth (sixth through twelfth grade), Parents, and Generations (intergenerational ministry). The work is overseen by Director of Family Ministries Natalie Harvey, supported by a team of clergy, staff, and trained volunteers.
During both Sunday services, clergy offer a special Kid's Message designed for children, and Kids' Worship is offered for pre-K through fifth grade during both the 9 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. services, beginning at the sermon time. The Foundry Childcare Center is open to children from six weeks through age four from 8:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. each Sunday. All Childcare staff and volunteers are required to be vaccinated, and the center observes CDC and DC Health regulations for sanitization and safety. For families who prefer to worship together, the Family Zone in the sanctuary is a dedicated space with extra sanitation, kid-friendly activities, and additional distancing to keep the youngest members safe. The Family Ministries team is reachable at families@foundryumc.org.
Sunday School for pre-K through fifth grade is offered at 10:10 a.m., between the two worship services. Each age level has caring, trained small group leaders whose joy is to provide age-appropriate lessons, fellowship, and fun. Youth@Night, the Sunday evening program for middle and high school students, meets at 5:30 p.m. in the Norman & Frances Prince Fellowship Hall; dinner is provided, no registration is required, and visitors and friends are always welcome. The Youth Ministry has long partnered with the Appalachia Service Project, taking groups each summer to repair homes in rural Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, and it sponsors an annual Youth Local Mission Week in the District. Foundry Parents offers two Sunday morning small groups (for parents of kids 0-3 and parents of kids pre-K and up), periodic Saturday forums on topics such as supporting gender-diverse children, and an online community for parents of infants through age five.
Discipleship, Small Groups, and a Library of Formation
Discipleship at Foundry is a sprawling ecosystem of classes, small groups, fellowship groups, retreats, and resources designed to help people grow as disciples of Christ. The work is led by Rev. Dr. Yongchi Rhie, Associate Pastor and Director of Discipleship, who oversees pathways that include short-term and long-term Bible studies, book studies, topical studies, lecture series, and more. Adult offerings have included Disciple Bible Study, A Disciple's Path (a new-member course), classes on Scripture, theology, the CEB Women's Bible, the CEB Women's Bible, and seasonal studies for Advent and Lent.
Small groups gather at regular intervals across the region for theological reflection, prayer, service, and fellowship, organized by location and topic. Fellowship groups meet in person and virtually throughout the year for friendship and fun, with a range of special-interest groups including the LGBTQ+ Small Group, the LGBTQ+ Potlucks, an intergenerational Generations ministry, and the Social Studies group for young adults. Retreats range from half-day workshops to weekend-long events designed to help people go deeper in their spiritual growth. The annual Lenten Devotional, a long-standing Foundry tradition, invites members and friends to contribute meditations, poetry, and art for a printed booklet that accompanies the congregation through Lent.
Foundry's pastoral care and support ministries are organized by Director of Connection and Care Ed Crump. A list of counselors for referral is available from the front office. Support groups currently meeting at the church include Loss & Transition, SMART Recovery (a secular alternative to Al-Anon meeting every Thursday at 6:30 p.m.), and the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. Stephen Ministers provide one-on-one lay caregiving, and prayer requests submitted through the church are shared with the Care Team and pastoral staff. The church's Hospitality & Care team, in partnership with the social justice team, also maintains a prayer ministry that lifts up the needs of the congregation and the wider community.
How the Building Welcomes You
Foundry occupies a 20th-century building at 1500 16th Street NW, just one mile north of the White House and easily accessible by public transportation. The Bell Tower Lobby entrance on 16th Street is ADA-compliant, with all-gender and family bathrooms located at the front and back of the Sanctuary. Doors open at 8:40 a.m. for the 9 a.m. service, with worship beginning promptly at the scheduled hour. Masks are optional but encouraged within worship spaces, and the sanctuary and common spaces feature enhanced air filtration with regular deep cleaning.
Sunday parking is available on a first-come, first-served basis at Vital Voices, located at 1509 16th Street NW, directly across the street from Foundry. Vital Voices has generously shared 17 spaces for Sunday use (7 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and for special holiday services. Foundry does not assign specific spaces or provide parking passes. Office hours are Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon, and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.; the office is closed Mondays and Fridays.
Baptisms are celebrated for people of every age, generally on the fourth Sunday of each month at the 9 a.m. or 11:15 a.m. services, following participation in a Baptism Orientation. Couples preparing for marriage at Foundry, including interfaith and LGBTQIA+ couples, are required to attend Pre-Cana, a virtual day-long retreat held on Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The church also offers its sanctuary for funerals and memorial services, and a Columbarium on site is available for the interment of ashes. The Hospitality Staff can be reached at events@foundryumc.org to coordinate weddings, baptisms, or funerals.
Giving, the Foxall Society, and Sustaining the Mission
Foundry is supported financially by the generous giving of its members and friends. Online giving, including one-time and recurring gifts, is available through the church's giving portal. Annual stewardship is a key season in the life of the congregation, with members invited each year to submit an estimate of giving as an act of faith and planning. The annual stewardship booklet gathers reflections from Pastor Ginger and members of the congregation around a chosen theme; recent years have used themes like "Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow" and "Beauty at Foundry." Audited financial statements going back to 2019 are published for transparency.
For those who wish to make a longer-term impact, the Foxall Society offers planned-giving options including bequests, donations of appreciated securities, charitable remainder trusts, retirement plan beneficiary designations, and gifts of life insurance. The society takes its name from Henry Foxall, Foundry's original benefactor, and continues the legacy of his generosity more than two centuries later. For more information on any aspect of giving, the church's Director of Operations or finance committee can be reached through the contact form at foundryumc.org/contact.
A Church with a Long Memory and a Forward Gaze
Foundry's story is one of a congregation that has continually asked what it means to be a progressive, justice-oriented United Methodist church in the heart of the nation's capital. From the laying of the first cornerstone in 1815, through the long tenure of Dr. Frederick Brown Harris, who served as Foundry's pastor for over three decades while also serving as the longest-serving Chaplain of the United States Senate, to the ministry of Dr. J. Philip Wogaman, who counseled President Clinton during the late 1990s and helped lead the church to its 1995 vote to become a Reconciling Congregation, Foundry has held fast to the conviction that the gospel calls for both worship and work.
Under Rev. Dean Snyder's leadership, the church adopted a Policy for Marriage Equality by a 367-8 congregational vote in 2010 and committed to ongoing work for racial justice, LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and an end to chronic homelessness. Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli, who arrived in 2014, has continued to expand that work, launching the "Opt-In: Engaging Faith for Racial Justice" initiative, founding Foundry's Sacred Resistance Ministry Team, and publishing Sacred Resistance: A Practical Guide to Christian Witness and Dissent. Today Foundry continues to ask the same question it has asked for 200 years: how can a community of faith, located in one of the most powerful cities in the world, be a place where the love of God is made visible in the lives of all people, especially those whom the world too easily forgets?