1815-1820
Old St. John’s Methodist Episcopal Church was built on Liberty Street. Through financial failure, the property reverted to Mr. John Clark, who not only held the mortgage, but was a liberal supporter of the church. Mr. Clark offered the church as a meeting place, and the property was later bought from him by the Associated Methodist Reformers.
April 17, 1828
Articles of Incorporation for the Associated Methodist Reformers was adopted.
Nov. 12, 1828
Members of the Methodist Episcopal Church who disagreed with the church’s refusal to grant voting rights to lay members formed the Associated Methodist Church (AMC) at a meeting in old St. John’s Protestant Episcopal Church on Liberty Street in Baltimore. Old St. John’s became the Mother Church of the AMC and the center of the Reform Movement of its day.
Having abandoned hope for the recognition of lay rights by the mother church, it became apparent to the Reformers who wished to continued as Methodists that a new organization was necessary. So a meeting was called on Nov. 12, 1828 for those in sympathy with Methodism as a democracy rather than an episcopacy.
Nov. 1830
St. John’s hosted a convention where the name was changed to The Methodist Protestant Church (MPC).
The origin of the MPC can be traced back to the publication of a semi-monthly paper, Mutual Rights. The editor was a layman, William S. Stockton. Its columns were devoted to a frank discussion of suggested improvement in the discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, including the discontinuance of the episcopacy and lay representation in the annual and general conferences. Soon thereafter, Union Societies were formed to promote more practical discussion of such questions. The MEC soon put an end to “such agitation”. Rev. Dennis B. Dorsey, “a frail, sickly young man”, but one of the most brilliant and courageous in the church, was tried and expelled from the MEC “for having engaged in the circulation of an improper periodical”, Mutual Rights, a paper read by Methodists who loved their church passionately and were honestly seeking through its columns to bring about changed of a democratic character in its polity. Soon thereafter, other ministers and lay people were charged with “inveighing against the discipline of the church” and expelled.
The constitution of the MPC provided for just one order of ministry, that of elder; the right or appeal from an oppressive appointment; no episcopacy; the election of church officers by the congregation; and lay representation in the annual and general conferences.
1843
St. John’s Methodist Protestant Church withdrew from the MPC in protest against the appointment, rather than the calling, of pastors and against arbitrary limits of a pastor’s service to his church. Changed name to St. John’s Independent Methodist Protestant Church of Baltimore.
St. John’s owned a burial ground on East Monument Street near the present site of Johns Hopkins Hospital. There was also a vault built in the cellar of the church and the sexton allowed “fifty cents for opening the vault to receive or deliver a coffin.”
1886
Rev. Klein, a Methodist missionary, established a congregation in Yokohama, Japan. St. John’s gifted a bell to the new congregation.
Dec. 18, 1899
With the encroachment of the business section, the work as a downtown church became very difficult, and with losses of membership through death and removal, the congregation decided to seek a new location. The property at 27th and St. Paul Streets was purchased for $12,000 and a contract for the new building, which cost $38,620. was signed.
Dec. 8, 1900
The present building was dedicated.
1908
St. John’s returned to the MPC and once more became St. John’s Methodist Protestant Church.
May 10, 1939
In Kansas City, Missouri, the elected representatives of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and the Methodist Protestant Church merged to form the Methodist Church.
1968
The Methodist Church merged with the Evangelical United Brethren to form The United Methodist Church. Our congregation became St. John’s United Methodist Church.
Dec. 16, 1981
Building seriously damaged in five-alarm fire. At the time of the fire, St. John's had a membership roster of 220 people and regular attendance of 50, and the church was also home to a second congregation called the Metropolitan Church, 100 people including many gays and lesbians. The congregations rallied along with the community to restore the
church. An insurance settlement allowed the reconstruction of the
roof, and a new, smaller worship space (appropriate for the size of
the congregation) was established in the Sunday room in the rear, West
end of the church building. Full restoration of the building is an
ongoing project today.
At the time, the UMC had considered closing the church, but in the end decided to support the strong community which had become a model of effective urban ministry under the leadership of Rev. Howard Nash. As the formerly all-white congregation left the city, Nash had integrated and grown a new congregation by recruiting a mix of people from the more affluent, more white Charles Village neighborhood, the poorer, white Remington neighborhood, and the largely-black Harwood neighborhood.
1985-1987
Nan McCurdy and Phil Mitchell organized the first trip to San Juan de Limay,
Nicaragua and founded Casa Baltimore Limay. In 1986 two delegations followed in January and October, including Joan Parr and three other St.
John’s members. Since 1985, at least
one delegation has visited each year, often including St. John's members, and the congregation has continually offered its financial support.
1987
Carol Berman and her late husband Rich Berman opened Heart’s Place Shelter with six ambulance-stretcher cots and a crock pot of turkey soup. In 2006, the shelter served well over 1900 bed-nights and worked with over 150 men, women & children.
Fall 1987
St. John's served as a “sanctuary church” to house undocumented persons from El Salvador.
October 1985
Became the 13th reconciling congregation in the UMC, openly accepting lesbian and gay people in the congregation.
1990s
Marched in gay rights parades in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and actively protested both Gulf Wars.
2005
St. John's, Dumbarton, Foundry, and Capitol Hill United
Methodist Churches founded the BWARM to network and support those
congregations and individuals who support full inclusion of LGBT persons in the
UMC.
December 1, 2006 and April 21, 2007
St John's held the first and second Harambee events, (Harambee means ''pulling together") to support SIDAREC, a mission in Nairobi, Kenya. The Harambee evenings included a live and silent auction, African dance, drumming, authentic Kenyan food, and a slide show and presentation by representatives from Kenya. The first Harambee supported the building of a clinic in the slums of Nairobi, and the second Harambee supplied the clinic with medicines and supplies.
2007
Began partnership with Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse to hold events in the Clark room under the 2640 Cooperative, breathing new life into the old sanctuary.
2002-2008
St. John's is led by the Rev. Drew Phoenix, the first openly transgendered minister in the United Methodist Church. Rev. Phoenix began his appointment as Anne Gordon and completed his transition during his appointment as minister. The United Methodist Judicial Council upheld Rev. Phoenix' appointment in 2007.