New Shiloh Baptist Church has stood at 2100 North Monroe Street in west Baltimore for more than a century. Founded in 1902, the congregation today numbers more than 4,000 active members and gathers under the pastoral leadership of Dr. Harold A. Carter, Jr., a third-generation preacher who has served the church since 1996. The address itself has been renamed Harold A. Carter Way in honor of his father, who led the church for nearly five decades and whose preaching brought New Shiloh regional prominence. Missions, Evangelism, and Christian Education are the church's three pillars, and the surrounding neighborhood shows the fruit of those pillars in housing for seniors and families built through the New Shiloh Village Development Project.
Four Pastors, Three Generations
The church was founded in 1902 by the late Dr. Whit W. Allen, who pastored the congregation for four decades until 1942. Dr. J. Timothy Boddie followed from 1942 to 1963. In 1965, Dr. Harold A. Carter began his pastorate, one that would last until his death in 2013 and that established the church as a regional force in ministry and community life. In 1996, his son, Dr. Harold A. Carter, Jr., joined him in a unique and mutual pastoral relationship. Since 2013, Dr. Harold A. Carter, Jr. has continued as sole pastor.
Dr. Harold A. Carter, Jr. is a third-generation preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, having been licensed and ordained in the New Shiloh Baptist Church where he grew up. He is a graduate of United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, where he earned the Doctor of Ministry degree, and he has been honored with the Doctor of Divinity from the Virginia Seminary and College in Lynchburg and the Doctor of Humane Letter from Cumberland College in Williamsburg, Kentucky. In 2006, he was inducted into Morehouse College in Atlanta as a Martin Luther King, Jr. Distinguished Preacher. He serves as Vice-President of the Hampton University Ministers Conference, was appointed by Maryland's Governor to serve as a Regent for the historically Black Morgan State University, and has co-mentored more than sixty doctoral students at United Theological Seminary. He previously served as Executive Secretary of the Global United Fellowship.
Dr. Carter's leadership on the public stage includes galvanizing more than two hundred pastors, activists, community, and political leaders at a press conference and subsequent March for Peace following the death of Freddie Gray, Jr. in Baltimore, an effort credited with helping to quell riots and looting and with forging positive relationships between local gang members and the faith community. His published works include The Power of God's Negatives, The Sacred Marriage: Getting Started in Pastoral Ministry, The Burning Bush (co-authored), and Harold's Hermeneutics, Volume One. He has also composed songs recorded and performed by the New Shiloh Music Ministry, including "You Will Know," "I Never Shall Forget to Praise Your Name," and "Always." He sees his call to the ministry as "the divine compulsion to do God's will."
Sunday Morning Worship
Worship gathers on Sundays at 11:00 AM, with Holy Communion observed on the fourth Sunday of each month. The service centers on the proclamation of God's Word by the pastor and is lifted by choral and congregational singing. Each gathering is a special time of spiritual refreshment in which the congregation together experiences God's presence. Services are livestreamed online, with archives available on demand for those who cannot attend in person.
Wednesday Bible Study and the Fervent Prayer Call
Midweek, the church gathers for Pastoral Teaching and Bible Study on Wednesdays at 7:00 PM. On Thursdays at noon, Rev. Monique T. Carter hosts the Fervent Prayer Call, a fifteen-minute prayer line that has expanded into a twice-monthly thirty-minute call specifically for women. The prayer line is hosted by phone, and participants dial in to intercede together.
Saturday Church School
New Shiloh launched its Saturday Church School in October 1973 under the leadership of Dr. Harold A. Carter, with Rev. Brenda Greene as Minister of Christian Education. The school meets every Saturday morning from 9:00 AM to 12:15 PM and uses the International Sunday School Lessons as its base curriculum. Classes are arranged for every age and stage, including infants, four- through nine-year-olds, middle and high school students, young adults, and separate men's and women's classes. The school's theme is drawn from II Timothy 2:15: "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
Through the years the Saturday Church School has grown to include a performing arts academy, a dance ministry, a bus ministry, a Saturday Church School choir, rites of passage for young misses, a boys' club for young men, and a new members' class where recent converts are nurtured through an eight-week course of study. Special programming for the youth includes their own worship and devotional hour led by a dedicated team of youth ministers and teachers. Rev. Damon West serves as superintendent, with Dea. Kieronne Hawkins and Dea. Melody Sullivan as assistant superintendents.
The Carter School of Music
The Carter School of Music began September 15, 1994, under the leadership of headmaster Dr. Nathan Carter and dean Mrs. Alethia B. Starke, opening with one hundred students and a faculty of fourteen. The school's founding faculty included Dr. Augustine Braithwaite (violin), Mrs. Jean Carter (voice), Mr. Orlando Cotto (marimba), Mrs. Janice Johnson Jackson (voice), Mr. Aldo Laguetta (guitar), Mrs. Kristin Laguetta (piano), Mr. Eugene S. Leak (woodwinds), Mrs. Audrey Cyrus McCallum (piano), Mr. Cedric N. Meekins (piano), Mr. Victor W. Myrick (organ), Dr. Chinny M. N. Ohia (theory), and Clay A. Robinson (piano), with Ms. Phylis Lagree as receptionist and secretary.
Programs today include piano, guitar, percussion, voice, woodwind, violin, and theory. The school welcomes both children and adults and prepares graduates to continue their studies in a conservatory or university setting. The school operates year-round with fall and summer application cycles, and tuition and donations are accepted online through the school's contact at schoolofmusic@newshilohbaptist.org. The Community Concert Choir of Baltimore has been featured in performances at the church, including a recent live concert at New Shiloh.
The Biblical and Theological Institute
Alongside the music school, New Shiloh operates the Biblical and Theological Institute of Baltimore, a training ground for laity and ministry candidates. It is the institution from which both Dr. Carter, Jr. and Rev. Monique Carter have drawn teaching and credentials, and it stands with the Carter School of Music as a witness to the church's commitment to nurture the whole person. A baccalaureate service each year recognizes high school and college graduates from the congregation.
Missions, Evangelism, and Christian Education
Missions, Evangelism, and Christian Education, the church's three pillars, shape everything else. The church's own articulation is simple: Missions is the meeting of human needs, Evangelism is the meeting of spiritual needs, and Christian Education is the meeting of biblical knowledge needs. The Saturday Church School, the Carter School of Music, and the Biblical and Theological Institute are the most visible expressions of these pillars, but the same values shape pastoral teaching, weekly Bible study, and outreach beyond the church walls.
The Family Life Center and New Shiloh Village
In 1990, the congregation completed a modern, multi-faceted church and Family Life Center Complex on the North Monroe site, providing worship space along with rooms for concerts, retreats, and community gatherings. Beyond the church, Dr. Carter, Jr. chairs the board of the New Shiloh Village Development Project, a non-profit that has brought the New Shiloh Senior Living building, an 81-unit facility, and the New Shiloh Village Apartments, 73 units of housing, to the surrounding neighborhood. The Family Life Center hosts benefit concerts and is the venue for the church's annual Christmas at Motown holiday review and fundraiser.
The First Lady and Women's Ministry
Rev. Monique T. Carter, a Baltimore native and ordained minister at New Shiloh, leads the Women's Ministry and Ministers Wives and Widows circles. She delivered her initial sermon in August 2003 and was ordained at New Shiloh in 2015. A graduate of Archbishop Keough High School, she holds an Associate Degree from Catonsville Community College, extended studies at Coppin State University, a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, and a Master of Divinity from Lancaster Theological Seminary. She also received the Doctor of Humane Letter from the Determined Biblical and Theological Institute of Baltimore. A licensed cosmetologist, she was the first African-American woman to own and operate a business, a salon, in the city of Colonial Heights, Virginia.
Her ministry at New Shiloh includes the Debutante Program, a thirteen-week course of training in the Christian walk that has reached young women from the church and from Frederick Douglass High School. Under her leadership, the church has adopted Robert W. Coleman Elementary School for more than ten years, providing coats, boots, shoes, toys, and school supplies to students each year. These gifts are funded largely through Christmas at Motown, the holiday review show held at the Family Life Center. She has also organized the painting and beautification of the school's cafeteria and hallways with the help of young adults and the Men's Ministry volunteers from the church. Over more than thirty-eight years of marriage, she and Dr. Carter, Jr. have ministered together at Zion Baptist Church in Reading, Pennsylvania; First Baptist Church in Petersburg, Virginia; and, currently, New Shiloh Baptist Church.
Connecting with New Shiloh
First-time visitors can join any Sunday morning worship or Wednesday Bible study, or sit in on Saturday Church School classes from 9:00 AM to 12:15 PM. Tithes and offerings can be given online through Givelify, and prayer requests are accepted through a form. Those considering membership can complete a "Become a Member" form that walks through four options: accepting Jesus Christ as savior and being baptized, rededicating one's life to Christ, becoming a member on Christian experience, or simply learning more. The church stays connected with members and the wider community through Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and X.