Online Archives

BY MELISSA LAUBER
UMCONNECTION STAFF

Many growing churches take pride in their ability to think outside the box. But at Queen's Chapel UMC they blew the box up years ago and used it to build a new kind of space, where even the most faithful are often surprised at how God's spirit is at work in their midst.

Ten years ago the congregation was bursting at the seams of their sanctuary, and moved into an area middle school for worship. They didn't know what the journey ahead would hold, but they never dreamed they'd wander and worship away from the Murkirk Road facility in Beltsville for more than a decade.

Actually, the congregation ended up growing while it was away. But when the members returned to their new $6 million facility Sept. 4, during the course of the first worship service, the more than 600 people present realized they hadn't moved into the Promised Land. They created a new frontier for their faith – and they wouldn't have had it any other way.

"On the frontier," explained the Rev. B. Kevin Smalls, "there are no precedents. We're starting from scratch. It's like we've arrived in a new land, we're pilgrims, if you will. It's not just the building that's new. It's the culture, the worship, everything. We're meeting new people we've never met before and we are aware we can not be the same.

"We're going to build on the past, but we're not going to live in the past. Our next step is to make sure that everybody – all the people we encounter and who encounter us – gets a dose of the love of God."

With the new building, church leaders like Sharon Conway said, the journey hasn't ended. It's just begun.

In addition to the two-level sanctuary, the old sanctuary was transformed into a chapel flanked by eight meeting rooms. The facility also has a new industrial kitchen, a fellowship hall that will seat 250 people at tables, an administrative suite and a café lounge with a stage to host small spoken word services and other gatherings, said Yvonne Caughman, the church's communications and public relations coordinator.

Skorpa Design Studio Architects redesigned the church's complex and Triongo Builders Inc. was the building contractor.

"We shout hallelujah for what God has done here," said the Rev. Ianther Mills, superintendent of the Washington East District as she welcomed the church into their new sanctuary.

"Queens Chapel has a longstanding vital and effective ministry in the Beltsville community," said Mills. "Their new facility will mean an opportunity to provide greater outreach to the community. They will be one of two large capacity churches in Beltsville. (The other is non-denominational.) Given their excellence in ministry and locally renown music ministry, I believe Queens Chapel has the potential to be one of the most significant churches in Prince Georges County."

One of the things that make Queen's Chapel significant, Caughman said, is the diversity of people who gather for worship. While there is no one "type" of Queen's Chapel member, during the first worship service, an altar call was held for young adults, who made up about a third of the people sitting in the pews.

Ensuring that young adults find a voice and a home at Queens Chapel is important, said Caughman. One program that attracts this group is the "Radical Sunday," a worship experience on each fifth Sunday, which features innovative, contemporary and non-traditional praise through the liturgy, music and dance.

In addition, said Smalls, a young adult is always up front during worship, often in the person of Kevin Lewis, the church's youth and young adult minister. Something has to happen in every worship service that connects to their lives, otherwise they're disengaged, Smalls said. And, in a church that is young-adult minded, everything has to be different – from the worship to the group engagement, to the Bible study, even the times when things are done need to be chosen with young adults in mind.

"But you can't box it in," Smalls warned. "You can't be too quick to define it. It will grow into its own. You can't manage or control it. The principle is not how many, the principle is how do we minister."

At the close of the worship service, Adrian Lewis, a student at Morgan State University, came forward to join the church. A baritone, he serenaded his new congregation with a verse of "Yes, Jesus Loves Me." And you knew it was true.