Capitol Hill Baptist Church

Capitol Hill Baptist Church
Location	Washington, D.C.
Denomination	Baptist
Associations	Southern Baptist Convention
Website	www.capitolhillbaptist.org
History
Former name(s)	Metropolitan Baptist Church; Capitol Hill Metropolitan Baptist Church
Founded	1878
Clergy
Senior pastor(s)	Mark Dever

Capitol Hill Baptist Church is a Baptist church located on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., six blocks from the United States Capitol. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Mark Dever serves as the senior pastor of the church, where he also runs his ministry 9Marks teaching principles of "healthy church" practices.

History

Pre-formation (1867-1878)

Talks to establish a church on Capitol Hill can be traced back to November 1867, when Celestia Anne Ferris, a member of E Street Baptist Church, called friends to her A street home to pray that a church be established on Capitol Hill.

In 1871, they started a Sunday School at the corner of Seventh and A Streets NE. The goal of Sunday School was not to provide child-care so that parents could attend church services in peace. Their goals were philanthropic and evangelistic. Capitol Hill was littered with “Alley Dwellings” where lower-class immigrants and African Americans resided in decrepit conditions. Volunteer Sunday School teachers literally went “in the byways and the hedges [to] compel the people to come so that the Lord’s house might be filled.” Echoing a widely used expression from the day, they referred to “The Sabbath School [as] the Nursery of the Church."

In 1874 they formed the Metropolitan Baptist Association, for the purpose of raising funds and purchasing a lot on 6th and A Streets NE on which they could erect a building. The completion of the building in 1876 was due, in no small part, to the efforts of Celestia Ferris’s Sunday School students. The story goes that Mrs. Ferris suggested to the Sunday School children that each child bring to the lot any bricks that they could find on the street or some vacant lot. Enthused by Mrs. Ferris’s instructions, two Sunday School girls visited a brickyard in the southeast section of the city and asked for a few bricks, which they received. Later returning to the same brickyard, the owner asked what they needed the bricks for. When they explained what they were doing, the brickyard owner sent a whole load of bricks by cart, free of charge. Encouraged by their success, the two girls proceeded to visit two other brick yards, telling them what the first man had done.

Formation and foundations (1878-1882)

By 1878, with 31 members of various Baptist churches committed to the work, a growing Sunday School ministry, they were ready to covenant as a church. So on Sunday, February 27, 1878, at 7:30 PM, after reading the church covenant, the Metropolitan Baptist Church was formed.

Between 1878 and 1882, the church grew from 31 to 98 members under pastor Joseph W. Parker.

At the time of the church's formation in 1878, Parker was semi-retired and living on a farm in Maryland while serving as interim pastor at E Street Baptist Church in downtown DC. He was induced to pastor Metropolitan Baptist because “it seemed to me a church should be formed as the Metropolitan had been.” Not “out of division and quarrel” but as a “legitimately formed.” Moreover, Parker feared that unless he helped the church, they would probably not make it. So he came.

Parker served as pastor for three and a half years, resigning on October 15, 1882 due to his failing health. He was known for his longer-than-typical sermons and laying a solid foundation for the church to build on in the following decades.

Debt crisis and split (1882-1890)

With a goal of growing the church and acquiring a larger building, church treasurer L.E.F. Spofford (a former Union soldier who had lost his arm at Antietam) and pastor Wilbur Ingersoll convinced the church to take on $7,400 in debt to buy a lot on East Capitol Street for a second, larger building. As collateral, they agreed to surrender the deed to their full-paid-off church building. Failure to meet the rather high interest payments would result in the forfeiture of their building.

When the loan payments proved too burdensome, most in the congregation wanted to sell the building. But Spofford and Ingersoll remained insistent. Church meetings began to get ugly. When Rev. Ingersoll called a church council of Baptist ministers to resolve the dispute—against the express will of the congregation—60 members, including Celestia Ferris, signed a letter demanding his immediate resignation. On October 23, 1884, Rev. Ingersoll resigned, along with Spofford and over fifty other members–nearly half of the congregation—and organized a new church, a block and a half away, at 4th and A Streets SE, which they called “East Capitol Street Baptist Church.”

Perseverance (1890-1903)

Against all odds, Metropolitan pulled through, and with the help of a young pastor named William H. Young, completed their second larger building in 1888, right next to the original one on the corner of 6th and A Street NE. He served as pastor for five years that were marked by fruit and growth. When he resigned, Metropolitan secured its fifth and most famous pastor of all-time: a native of Kentucky and avid teetotaler, whose once presidential aspirations had been eclipsed by a call to the pastorate: General Green Clay Smith.

Green Clay Smith

Smith’s lively career before entering the pastorate in 1869 included serving as a military leader during the Mexican-American War, Union Brigadier General during the Civil War, a Congressman from Kentucky, Governor of Montana, and serving as an honorary pallbearer at Lincoln’s funeral. But at the end of his life, he wanted to return to Washington one last time, to pastor Metropolitan Baptist Church. As pastor, Green Clay Smith was deeply political, embodying what historian George Marsden has called “innovative conservatism.” “The Word of God,” he declared in his inaugural sermon as pastor of Metropolitan, “is the foundation of all that is good in human laws.” “We put a penalty on our statute books for murder,” he explained, “but it was God who said: ‘thou shalt not commit murder.’” So it was “with the other earthly laws.” As a force for good and the foundation of civilization, he believed Christianity could not and should not be separated from politics but should be “carried into every calling among men and into the halls of legislation.” Anything less constituted direct disobedience to the Great Commandment to love God and neighbor. Members of Metropolitan church embodied Smith’s vision of Christian political engagement by participating in the District’s Anti-Saloon League, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and on occasion, even signing petitions requesting Congress to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages in the District. Smith died on June 29, 1895, marking the end of his pastorship of the Metropolitan Baptist Church.

From 1895 to 1903, the church was pastored by Granville S. Williams, under whom the church would emphasize doctrine, establish membership expectations, and fully pay off the church's second building in 1901. He would resign in 1903 after 7 years of service.

Growth (1903-1944)

Owing to migration patterns at the turn of the century, the church once founded by a largely northern congregation had become a predominately southern church. It also grew consistently in membership, due in part to the expansion of the federal government in Washington.

1903 marked the arrival of new pastor John Compton Ball, who would serve as pastor for 41 years, growing the church from 361 members to over 3,000 by the time of his retirement in 1944.

Ball's pastorship would see several major events both in the history of the United States and the Metropolitan Baptist Church—including both World Wars, the Spanish Flu pandemic, the sinking of the Titanic (after which the congregation would conclude that Sunday's service by singing "Nearer My God to Thee"), the Great Depression, and the completion of the church's current building in 1912.

Reform (1944-1961)

By the time John Compton Ball retired in 1944, the church had become quite insular, idiosyncratic, and unduly attached to their pastor of 41-years, making it all but impossible for Ball’s successor—K. Owen White—to succeed.

Dr. White was not the candidate originally presented to the church by the Pulpit Committee. The Pulpit Committee had recommended the church call Dr. Ralph Walker, a Northern Baptist Convention pastor from Oregon. But Mrs. Agnes Shankle, a long-time Sunday School teacher, spoke up and “questioned the soundness of Dr. Walker’s preaching, stating there were considerable rumors that he was compromising in his dealing with controversial questions between Fundamentalists and Modernists.” Instead, the members of the church motioned and then unanimously agreed that the church call Dr. K. Owen White, a recent graduate of Southern Seminary, and a well-known conservative.

One of White's first actions as pastor was to reform the church's membership practices. Despite boasting a membership roll of over 3,000, White suspected that no more than 500 members showed up on any given Sunday. In response, White and the church instituted a five-week "new members class" and dropped 480 names of members who had stopped attending. Another change under White was a closer alignment with the Southern Baptist Convention. Like all historically white Baptist churches in DC, Metropolitan, from the beginning, was dually aligned with both Northern and Southern Baptist Conventions—contributing both money and delegates. After 1947, however, many conservative churches left the Northern Baptist Convention over its increasing ties to the liberal Federal Council of Churches. Under White, Metropolitan stopped contributing financially to the Northern Baptist Convention.

A challenging aspect of his pastorship was the continued involvement of "pastor emeritus" John Compton Ball, who still exercised considerable influence over the church—attending deacons' meetings, maintaining 75% of his salary, and even insisting that he be recognized publicly during services. White later recalled, "My hair turned gray within the first six months, I have to say, in all frankness, that he didn't make any great effort to make it easy for the new pastor."

During his pastorship of five years, White baptized 848 new members, saw a total of 1,969 additions to the church, and more-than doubled the church budget.

Metropolitan's next pastor would be Walter J. Carpenter. Under Carpenter, from 1950-1955, Metropolitan continued to grow in the wake of World War II and served as the host-church for Billy Graham’s evangelistic crusade in Washington DC in 1952, of which Carpenter served as Crusade chairman. Members of Metropolitan sang in the choir and served as counselors at the month-long crusade held at the National Guard Armory down East Capitol Street, from January 13 to February 17, 1952.

In 1956, two theologians moved to Washington DC from California. Carl F.H. Henry moved here to establish Christianity Today. Walter A. Pegg moved here to pastor Capitol Hill Baptist Church. “Those of us who study the movings of God’s Spirit sense that something significant for evangelical Christianity may be in the making in the Washington area,” Carl Henry wrote to the members of Metropolitan on September 3, 1956, a day after becoming a member. “To the pulpit of Metropolitan, has come Dr. Walter A. Pegg,” Henry continued, “who could well lift the strategic witness of this church in the city in such a way as to multiply its impact upon the life and thought of the nation’s capital.” Pegg continued the work of K. Owen White by dropping 995 names from the membership roll on May 15, 1957, reducing the number of members by one third. “What does church membership mean?” Pegg asked the church in 1958, “What should it involve? A place where the name is inscribed? A place associated with pleasant memories? The Epistle to the Hebrews urges, ‘Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more as ye see the day approaching’ (10:25).”

Suburbanization and decline (1961-1980)

Despite Pegg’s faithful labors, there were factors at work outside of his control. The 1950s were a difficult time for cities and inner-city churches. Rising urban prices coupled with rising crime led members of Metropolitan to retreat to the suburbs in droves as part of "White flight." In 1941, 83% of church families resided in the District of Columbia. By 1951 that number had dropped to 74%, and would continue to drop until leveling out, in 1970, at 39%. Despite the church's efforts, attendance declined throughout this demographic shift.

From 1961 to 1966, the church was pastored by R.B. Culbreth, under whom the church would construct its two parking lots to accommodate suburban members. He resigned in 1966 after frustrations with declining membership and racial tensions.

Not all outcomes of this shift were negative, however. The now less expensive property values in the area allowed the church to buy surrounding properties at low costs, many of which are still owned by the church today.

Additionally, Metropolitan’s new pastor in 1967, John Stuckey, saw the changing landscape of Washington as an opportunity: “Our church is in a small enclave where the population shift in recent years has been from white to black,” he wrote. “What an opportunity this church has to create a real fellowship of believers crossing racial and national lines!” Stuckey’s hopes were partially realized in 1969 when the first African-American member joined the congregation: Mrs. Margaret Roy.

Margaret Roy

Margaret S. Roy was born on June 17, 1909 in Broad Run, VA. She came to DC at age 10 and worked as a teacher in Prince William County and later as a school principal. Mrs. Roy explained that she began attending CHMBC because she had heard its hymns on the radio. Her reasons for attending were multifaceted. On the one hand, she wanted to disprove those who thought “it was a church that didn’t want Negroes.” She explained that “she wanted whites to know that there were blacks that weren’t all bad.” On the other hand, there were worship preferences. As Mrs. Roy recounted in 1996 “while some blacks like lots of clapping,” she preferred “quiet,” believing “it’s more important to listen and learn the gospel.” One month after she began attending, she explained, she received a letter from Rev. John Stuckey inviting her to join the church, which she did. Not everyone was pleased with this. John Stuckey recounted that four white families left the church when she joined. But despite experiencing some serious unpleasantness, Mrs. Roy resolved “that she would treat people right regardless of how they may treat her.” At a women’s Bible study, “one woman [rudely] turned her back on her,” but through her persistent efforts, “that woman later became a friend.” Another way she built friendships in a nearly exclusively white church was by making a point of visiting elderly women who were members of the church. They were often surprised to be visited by Mrs. Roy but she “didn’t think it mattered what color they were.”

Stuckey would resign in 1971, frustrated with a lack of support for his community engagement efforts.

From 1971 to 1981, the church was pastored by C. Wade Freeman. During his pastorship, the church constructed another parking lot at the corner of 5th and East Capitol Streets NE. This involved the demolition of a historic neighborhood eatery then owned by the church, Mary's Blue Room. From August 4-7, 1972, a group of protestors blocked the church from demolishing the building, but the building would eventually be demolished, despite the protestor resistance and the building's designation as a historic property. This demolition would help spark the passage of the Historic District Preservation Act in 1978.

Pastor Freeman would resign on November 8, 1981, to take a position in the Reagan administration.

Further decline and controversy (1980-1994)

On January 5, 1982, Walt Tomme was installed as the church's new pastor, taking over a church in steep decline.

In 1983, the church opened a Child Development Center, in an effort to engage the local community.

Conflict arose when in 1986, pastor Tomme discipled and baptized a homeless man, whom he allowed to stay overnight in the church as a night watchman. A deacon in the church objected to this, and Tomme requested that the deacon be disciplined by the church, leading to internal conflict. In 1988, Tomme resigned from the church, citing difficulties in leadership. Tomme's resignation sparked an exodus of young families from the church.

From 1990-1993, the church was pastored by Harry Kilbride, after two years of unstable leadership from 1988-1990.

This stability was compromised when in 1992, Kilbride was found to have had an improper relationship with a church member he was counseling. The church accepted his resignation in January 1993.

Revitalization, Mark Dever (1994-Present)

On December 8, 1993, Capitol Hill Metropolitan Baptist Church formally called Mark Dever to be the new pastor.

On December 7, 1994, the church voted to change their name from Capitol Hill Metropolitan Baptist Church to Capitol Hill Baptist Church (CHBC), as it is known today.

During the early days of Dever's ministry, the church underwent many changes to its organization, programs, and constitution. This included the introduction of a plurality of elders, another purge of inactive members, a new church constitution, the establishment of 9Marks, the introduction of topic-based "Core Seminars" instead of age-based Sunday School, and many other reforms to existing church activities.

Under Dever's leadership, the church has experienced significant growth—growing to several hundred active members for the first time in several decades. The church is active in supporting missions both domestic and abroad, planting churches and supplying pastors in underserved communities locally, throughout the United States, and the world.

In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the church was forced to meet outdoors at nearby Franconia Baptist Church to comply with gathering restrictions. In early 2021, the church filed a lawsuit against the District of Columbia challenging worship restrictions—which was later settled in April 2021—allowing the church to meet indoors after 14 months of outdoor services.

Pastors

Joseph W. Parker (1879-1882)
Wilbur H. Ingersoll (1882-1884)
William H. Young (1885-1890)
Green Clay Smith (1890-1895)
Granville S. Williams (1895-1903)
John Compton Ball (1903-1944)
K. Owen White (1944-1949)
Walter Carpenter (1949-1955)
Walter A. Pegg (1956-1961)
R.B. Culbreth (1961-1966)
John Stuckey (1967-1971)
C. Wade Freeman Jr. (1971-1981)
Walt Tomme Jr. (1982-1988)
Harry Kilbride (1990-1993)
Mark Dever (1994-Present)

Affiliations

CHBC is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, and has been described as the "epicenter of the new Calvinism."

Beliefs

CHBC emphasizes the need for a regenerate church membership, and has implemented a church covenant to that end.

Although conservative, Capitol Hill Baptist Church supports the practice of having female deacons.

Further reading

• White, James R. (1977). A Living Legacy: A History of the Capitol Hill Baptist Church. Capitol Hill Baptist Church.

External links

• Official website