National City Christian Church, located on

Thomas Circle Thomas Circle is a traffic circle in Northwest Washington, D.C., in the United States. It is located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue NW, Vermont Avenue NW, 14th Street NW, and M Street NW. It is named for George Henry Thomas, a Un ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, is the national church and cathedral of the

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...

. The denomination grew out of the

Stone-Campbell Movement The Restoration Movement (also known as the American Restoration Movement or the Stone–Campbell Movement, and pejoratively as Campbellism) is a Christian movement that began on the United States frontier during the Second Great Awakening (179 ...

founded by Thomas Campbell and Alexander Campbell of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

(then

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

) and Barton W. Stone of

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. National City Christian Church is currently led by The Rev. Stephanie Kendell, the church's first woman called to be their Senior Minister and President.

History

The congregation that eventually became the National City Christian Church was organized in 1843.

James Turner Barclay James Turner Barclay (born May 22, 1807 in King William County, Virginia, † October 20, 1874 in Wheeler, Alabama) was an American missionary and explorer of Palestine. Life James Turner Barclay was one of four children of Robert Barclay and Sa ...

(1807-1874), a physician and pioneering

missionary, helped to organize the congregation. Prior to the erection of this building the congregation was known as Vermont Avenue Christian Church, previous building is now the home of Mt. Olivet Lutheran Church. In the 1950s and 1960s, the church had a congregation of some 800 regular Sunday worshipers. Attendance declined over time, however; in 2011, Sunday attendance was about 125, with mostly older congregants.Del Quentin Wilber
In crisis, National City Christian Church’s members find strength
''Washington Post'' (November 22, 2011). Over the years, National City has housed and supported numerous justice seeking ministries most notably the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival. In 2023, the church called their first female senior pastor and president, The Rev. Stephanie Kendell. Pastor Stephanie, who previously served as the first Executive Minister at

Park Avenue Christian Church The Park Avenue Christian Church is located at 1010 Park Avenue at 85th Street, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The building houses the Park Avenue Christian Church (The Park) congregation of the Disciples of Christ and United Church of Christ ...

and who served as the First-Vice Moderator of the

from 2019 to 2023, is a dynamic preacher, profound justice seeker, leading podcaster, and published author.

Architecture and surroundings

The neoclassical church building was designed by

John Russell Pope John Russell Pope (April 24, 1874 – August 27, 1937) was an American architect whose firm is widely known for designing major public buildings, including the National Archives and Records Administration building (completed in 1935), the Jeff ...

and completed in 1930. The church is very large in size and has a "monumental character" typical of Pope's style and seen in his other works, such as the

Jefferson Memorial The Jefferson Memorial is a presidential memorial built in Washington, D.C. between 1939 and 1943 in honor of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, a central intellectual force behind the A ...

. The church's design was partly influenced by

James Gibbs James Gibbs (23 December 1682 – 5 August 1754) was one of Britain's most influential architects. Born in Aberdeen, he trained as an architect in Rome, and practised mainly in England. He is an important figure whose work spanned the transi ...

St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...

church, built at

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson comm ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, in the early 18th century. The building is built of

Indiana limestone Indiana limestone — also known as Bedford limestone in the building trade — has long been an economically important building material, particularly for monumental public structures. Indiana limestone is a more common term for Salem Limestone, ...

.Tweed, p. 337. Scholar Thomas A. Tweed writes that the building's facade, "high on a terrace overlooking Thomas Circle, a prominent location in the city ... demands the attention of motorists and pedestrians." The church "features

stained glass window Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

s commemorating the two presidents associated with the denomination, James Garfield and Lyndon Johnson." The church is a contributing property to the Greater Fourteenth Street Historic District. Across the street from the National City Christian Church is the Luther Place Memorial Church, which is also a historic church. Luther Place Memorial Church's

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style sharply contrasts with the Neoclassical style of National City Christian Church. Other historic churches nearby include the

Universalist National Memorial Church Universalist National Memorial Church (UNMC) is a Unitarian Universalist church located at 1810 16th Street, Northwest in the Dupont Circle vicinage of Washington, D.C. Theologically, the church describes itself as "both liberal Christian and ...

. Image:National City Christian Church 2.JPG Image:National City Christian Church 1.JPG

Notable Members

Lyndon Baines Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

, the 36th

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

, occasionally attended National City Christian Church during his time as president. His state funeral was held here in 1973. James Garfield, the 20th President of the United States, was a member of National City Christian Church in one of its previous buildings. Jane L. Campbell, the first female Mayor of Cleveland. Current President and CEO of the United States Capitol Historical Society. The Rev. Dr. Amy Butler, served as the interim senior minister from June 2020-Jan 2023. Lawrence P. "Lon" Schreiber, organist and choirmaster.

Past Leadership Issues

In 2004, the church's senior pastor, the Rev. Alvin O. Jackson, resigned following a heated acrimonious dispute. The ouster of Jackson followed the resignation or firings of some two dozen church staffers, and the development of a deep intra-congregational dispute. Jackson was replaced as senior pastor by the Rev. Stephen Gentle, "a soft-spoken pastor of a Florida church." Subsequently, the church's chief financial officer, Jason Todd Reynolds, was discovered to have

embezzled Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

$850,000 in church funds from 2003 to 2008. In 2011, Reynolds was convicted of 12 fraud-related charges. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.Del Quentin Wilber
Prison for former church CFO who stole $850,000
''Washington Post'' (November 9, 2011). The losses from Reynolds' embezzlement scheme caused serious damage to the church's financial health. The

2011 Virginia earthquake On August 23, 2011, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit the Piedmont region of the U.S. state of Virginia at 1:51:04 p.m. EDT. The epicenter, in Louisa County, was northwest of Richmond and south-southwest of the town of Mineral. It was an ...

caused structural damage to the church building, causing financial troubles for the church.

References

External links

National City Christian Church
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