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VOL. 15, NO. 13

NEWS

Historic church moves to limited service

By Melissa Lauber
UMCONNECTION STAFF

Stone Chapel UMC, one of the oldest churches in American Methodism, was recently declared a limited-service church and the congregation adopted by Pleasant Hill UMC.

Stone Chapel UMC has been in ministry since 1786.

In 1785, he said, William Lyon, a medical doctor, leased an acre of land for 99 years to the church trustees at a cost of one peppercorn a year. The church was dedicated by Richard Owings, the first American-born Methodist preacher. Owings was described as 'a man of respectable family, of good natural parts, and of considerable utterance.'

Before 1926, when the Baltimore circuit was dissolved, more than 200 men preached at Stone Chapel, among them William Ryland, who was chaplain to Congress six times and pastor to President Andrew Jackson.
These stories delight Wagener, but so too do the stories of everyday grace and celebration experienced by the most recent generations of Stone Chapel, which he describes as 'a family church.'

There is a deep sorrow at the church's new status.

As a limited-service church, it will hold at least two worship services a year and the building, which is a registered historic landmark, and cemetery will be maintained, explained the Rev. Edwin Ankeny, superintendent of the Baltimore North District.

According to Baltimore-Washington Conference records, Stone Chapel UMC becomes the ninth limited-service church in the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

Ankeny is 'pleased' with the decision the congregation made. 'It is the healthiest thing the church could have done,' he said. 'Throughout the process they were never negative.'

The congregation wrestled with its decision for the past few years, even conducting a large outreach mail campaign to attract visitors, he said.
The Rev. Douglas Hays was appointed to Stone Chapel last September.

When he arrived, Hays said, the congregation had dwindled to a core group of 15 to 20 people. With a few exceptions, almost all were in their 70s.

'They are wonderful, warm, great people,' he said. 'But they are not of the age or energy to pull something like this off.'

In addition, Hays said, the church faced a number of other obstacles.

'It is,' he said, 'the best hidden church in a city. People have to really want to find the church and when they do, they take their lives in their hands turning in and out of the driveway.'

The facility was also troublesome. The evangelism campaign was successful, but because of the building's limitation, a lack of air conditioning and limited parking, 'people were coming in one door and out the other,' Hays said.

A few years ago the church sold its parsonage and was using the money to pay for operating expenses. Church leaders realized that before too long, that money would be completely gone. Becoming a limited-service church allows the money to be invested and interest to go toward upkeep and maintenance, Hays explained.
Hays is now serving as pastor of Mays Chapel UMC in Timonium, which itself was a limited service church for 40 years. 'It's now an active, viable congregation,' he said.

' That's what the people of Stone Chapel are hoping for,' he said. 'They hope to keep the flame alive and someday, in God's time, the church will come back.

Wagener, who is not one of the lifelong members of Stone Chapel, gets teary-eyed when he remembers attending for the first time five or six years ago. 'Everyone made me feel so welcome,' he said.

While many will be transferring their memberships to Pleasant Hill UMC in Owings Mills, the congregation also plans to continue to meet socially as a fellowship. 'Our hope and fervor,' said Wagener, 'is that down the road Stone Chapel will go back to being a full-service congregation.'