correction

       A previous version of this article spelled mistakenly spelled Shirley Timashev’s name as Shirley Timasher, and said the church began in a copper shop. It began in a cooper shop. This version has been corrected.

       As the Rev. Rachel Cornwell stood in front of the lectern to address Dumbarton United Methodist Church’s congregation during their weekly Sunday service, dozens of small quilts calling for D.C. to become the country’s 51st state were displayed behind her. A barrel was positioned in front of her, which represented the church’s first meeting nearly 250 years ago in a cooper shop off what’s now known as 28th Street in the Georgetown neighborhood.

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       The church has been celebrating its 250th anniversary since January, and will continue to do so throughout the year. It began in 1772, and later moved to its present site off Dumbarton Avenue in 1850, according to the church. Its leadership says it’s one of the oldest Methodist congregations in the United States.

       “We started out with a study of our history book,” Cornwell, the church’s pastor, said. “Kind of looking at, from the beginnings of our church, what’s the story of our congregation been and who are we called to be now?”

       Members of the congregation said Sunday that the church historically has been an inclusive space. The past 40 to 50 years have been focused on social justice issues, Cornwell said. She pointed to how the church became a sanctuary church in the 1980s for immigrants, and how it’s their 35th anniversary of being a LGBTQ-affirmative church.

       A Long Road to Sanctuary

       D.C. statehood was another issue with which members of the congregation have been engaged. Sunday’s service featured nearly 60 small quilts around the building from more than 40 makers from 14 states and D.C., also in celebration of its anniversary. The quilts were a part of the Quilts4DC Statehood Challenge, a project of the League of Women Voters in the District of Columbia. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D. C.) was scheduled to speak at the service, but had to cancel because of a conflict.

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       Other celebrations are planned throughout the year before the church’s official founding date of Dec. 24. A big “homecoming” is planned for October, where the church plans to invite back several former seminarians and pastors, Cornwell said. A special hymn is being written for the church by a retired clergy member. Last week, the congregation honored its anniversary year by celebrating the anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln visiting for a service on March 8, 1863. A member shaved his mustache so he could look and dress like Lincoln and sit in the church’s pews.

       Dozens of people sat in the church’s pews on Sunday, but about two-thirds were watching via Zoom because of the coronavirus pandemic. The church has always been a “destination church,” said Shirley Timashev, the church’s coordinator of adult education. Two-thirds of its members drive in from Virginia and Maryland to attend services. Some of its members have watched virtually from as far as Colombia in South America.

       “A lot of people who come here haven’t found another church where they are that works for them, and now they can join us on Zoom, which is really nice, and which was not an option a few years ago,” Kelly Dickinson, 34, said.

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       “And then there are people like me who walked in the door on Palm Sunday 1971 and never left,” Debbie Woodcock, 73, added.

       Washington’s oldest African American congregation turns 200

       The church follows traditional orders of worship through singing hymns, reading scripture and designating prayer time through the service, Cornwell said, but there is a special sense of community at Dumbarton. The church’s pews have cushions that were sewed together by members years ago to make people feel comfortable. Everyone wears a name tag so it’s easy to identify who is who.

       “I think to the extent that people share here, the depth at which people share here, the amount of time we spend on it in the service — those are unique to Dumbarton,” Cornwell said. “Part of what I think is so important about the culture here is that people feel known, people feel connected, people feel safe to bring all of who they are.”

       A previous version of this article incorrectly spelled Shirley Timashev’s name as Shirley Timasher. It has been corrected.