A Reconciling Congregation on Old Georgetown Road
North Bethesda United Methodist Church sits on Old Georgetown Road, just north of the Capital Beltway (I-495) in Bethesda, Maryland. The congregation has served the surrounding neighborhoods since 1956 and, in 2011, became the first United Methodist church in Montgomery County to be recognized as a Reconciling Congregation through the Baltimore-Washington Area Reconciling Ministries. Its statement of welcome, adopted that same year, affirms people of every age, race, gender, ethnic background, sexual orientation, physical appearance, physical or mental ability, socioeconomic status, educational background, and marital status as full participants in the life and ministry of the church.
The congregation describes itself as a growing, service-oriented faith community, with friends, neighbors, and ministry connections spread across the wider world. Members worship, serve, advocate, study, ask questions, eat, play, and grow together, and visitors are welcomed into all of it.
Sunday Worship at Ten
One Sunday worship service gathers the congregation each week, beginning at 10 a.m. in the Sanctuary. The service typically runs about an hour. An organ prelude leads into the gathering, followed by music, prayer, Scripture reading, and a response to the Scripture that is usually a sermon. The shape of the service varies from week to week: prayers may be spoken aloud one Sunday and silent the next, and visitors are never singled out or asked to speak.
Scripture follows the Revised Common Lectionary on many Sundays, while other seasons are organized around themed sermon series. Past series have explored "Strong Women in the Bible," "National Parks," "Gospel Boat Stories," and "Almost Sacraments: Everyday Ways We Encounter God's Grace." Any collective response to the reading or sermon, such as writing or a simple art project, is invitational rather than required.
The choir, which takes the summer off, provides musical leadership for congregational hymns and special music throughout the rest of the year. Most songs come from the United Methodist Hymnal and contemporary supplements, with music chosen to reflect the diversity of the congregation. Communion is celebrated together on the first Sunday of every month. The table is open, and the gifts of God are available to all who desire them. Worshippers are offered cubes of bread or gluten-free crackers by volunteers who place them rather than hand them off, followed by individual cups of grape juice. Servers may say, "The body and blood of Christ, given for you," to which a response of "Thanks be to God" is welcome.
Arriving, Parking, and Getting Oriented
The church is reached easily from the Beltway, and protected bike lanes run along Old Georgetown Road in the immediate area. The J1 and J2 WMATA bus lines stop within steps of the building. The lot offers ample parking, and the easiest doors for visitors are the ones just off the parking lot. Ushers and greeters stand just inside to point the way to the Sanctuary and answer questions.
Dress is whatever makes a person comfortable. Jeans and t-shirts sit alongside dresses, slacks, ties, and Sunday hats in the pews. Visitors arriving late will be in good company.
Children and Youth at NBUMC
Children are welcome in worship and have a part built especially for them. The "Word for All Ages," near the beginning of the service, speaks to the youngest in the room. After that, children through elementary school are invited to head with the Children's Ministers to "Prime Time," where they spend the rest of the worship hour in song, dialogue, and activities that help them grow in their own faith and love.
A staffed nursery is available for babies and toddlers. Parents may stay with their child and listen to the service from the nursery, or leave their child in the care of staff and volunteers and join the Sanctuary.
Youth ministry is led by Suzanne Smedberg, a physics teacher at Poolesville High School who also sings in the chancel choir and created the Faith 101 curriculum for new youth members. Tsitsi Sithole, a long-time member of the church, serves as Director of Children's Ministries, drawing on more than twenty years of experience in early childhood education and a master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
A Church of Music and Song
Music has been central to North Bethesda United Methodist Church for as long as the building has stood. The congregation dedicated a Memorial Allen Organ to the Glory of God in December 1975, and in February 2017, after a two-year capital campaign, the church dedicated an Allen Bravura Digital Hybrid Organ with an inaugural concert. The Parlor was renamed Benedict Parlor in 2001 in memory of Henry Benedict, Director of Music from 1981 to 2001.
Simon Charette directs the adult choir and accompanies worship on both organ and piano. A conductor, collaborative pianist, and vocal coach based in Washington, D.C., Charette has worked with artists from the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Opera. He also serves as Associate Artistic Director of the Washington Opera Society, assistant conductor of the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra in Annapolis, and artistic director of the Choir of the Embassy of France in Washington and the French Choir of Washington, D.C. He holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the Université de Montréal.
From Barracks to Sanctuary: A Brief History
North Bethesda United Methodist Church was founded in September 1956. Dr. Asbury Smith, Superintendent of the Washington West District, appointed the Reverend Richard Irvin to begin the work with the aid of the Board of Missions and Church Extension of the Baltimore Annual Conference. Fourteen interested persons met with Irvin that July, and on September 9, 1956, the first worship service was held in a National Guard armory off Ashburton Lane, with eighty-six worshipers present.
By November, 118 charter members had united with the church, and the congregation soon moved to Grosvenor Elementary School, then to Walter Johnson High School. The first building on the present site, now called Johnson Hall, was consecrated on March 15, 1959. A parsonage followed in 1960. Ground was broken for the Sanctuary on August 23, 1964, and the Sanctuary was consecrated to the Glory of God on December 19, 1965, with Bishop John Wesley Lord preaching.
The fellowship hall was renamed Johnson Hall in February 1986 in memory of the Reverend Harold G. Johnson, Jr., who had served the church from 1981 until his death. The mortgage was burned the following May. The Potomac Korean United Methodist Church shared the building from 1982 through about 1986. In May 1995, Loyse and Warren Hardin bequeathed their estate to the church, creating the Endowment Fund. The Enabling Ministries Fund followed in 2006, established by Marvin and Joy Burt.
The church marked its fiftieth anniversary in September 2006. On June 28, 2011, after a long educational process driven in large part by the youth of the church, sixty members gathered in Johnson Hall and voted to become a Recognized Reconciling Congregation. The Reverend Jeffery Jones was appointed in 2014, and the Reverend Kara Scroggins, the current pastor, was appointed in July 2021.
The Pastor and Pastoral Care
Rev. Kara Scroggins has served North Bethesda since July 2021, after three years at Glenmont UMC and five at Bethesda UMC. A Washington, D.C. native, she studied math and English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, taught math in Cape Town, South Africa, and went on to earn a Master of Divinity at Yale Divinity School, where her favorite studies were environmental theologies, global sacred music, and pastoral care with refugee populations. She is a competitive runner and triathlete.
Linda Thompson has served as Minister of Visitation since 2006, collaborating with the pastor to maintain connections with members who are sick, homebound, or in nursing homes. She also coordinates a shawl and greeting card ministry that reaches out to members and friends for occasions of joy and need, and helps coordinate special events.
Mission, Beliefs, and Values
The mission of North Bethesda United Methodist Church is to nurture the faith community and connect with others as a reflection of Christ in their lives. The congregation commits to growing faith and spiritual lives through worship and study, extending God's unconditional love and acceptance to all, building multi-generational ministries, and listening carefully to one another.
The church states its shared beliefs plainly and directly. It believes that God's grace is freely available to all, that God's love sustains and calls believers to extend that love to neighbors and the world, that "Open Hearts. Open Minds. Open Doors." is the shape of unconditional acceptance in God's family, and that faith in God, service to others, and respect for all go together.
At the core of all that the church does are values such as cherishing the diversity of the congregation and the wider community, valuing the life-changing experiences faith provides, encouraging Christian education and spiritual development, intentionally sharing the life of the community in ways that draw others in, and striving to serve others, do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.
The Coffee Hour and the Rhythm of the Week
Sunday worship at North Bethesda does not end at the benediction. A Coffee Hour follows in Johnson Hall, just down the hall from the Sanctuary, with coffee, tea, and snacks prepared by an excellent team of volunteers who often decorate the tables to match the sermon series or the season. Members and visitors gather there for a grab-and-go snack or a longer conversation. It is widely regarded as one of the best coffee hours in town.
The church office is open Monday and Wednesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and on Sunday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon. The office is closed on Tuesdays. Giving is available online through the church's Breeze platform, and a sermon archive with much older material is kept on the church's YouTube channel for those who cannot be present on Sunday morning.
For nearly seventy years, North Bethesda United Methodist Church has gathered in Bethesda to sing, to pray, to study Scripture, to welcome newcomers, and to be sent back out as agents of healing and hope in a hurting world. The doors remain open.