Church History
The history of Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church is one rooted in FAITH. Since moving from the Georgetown section of Washington, DC, to Allentown Road in Fort Washington, Maryland, we have taken many steps of faith, and God has blessed us exceedingly and abundantly. Ours is a great story. Some people call it "The Miracle on Allentown Road."
Our beginning is reminiscent of the beginning of the A.M.E. Church. In 1856, thirteen "colored members" left Mt. Zion Methodist Episcopal Church in Georgetown because of discrimination and segregation. As written by one of the founding members, they wanted to "establish a church by colored folks with colored pastors," where they would worship in dignity, spirit and truth. For a while, they worshipped in the home of Mrs. Beckett, calling themselves Beckett's Mission. Shortly afterwards, they erected a church at 2727 "O" Street NW, not far from Mt. Zion. They named it "Ebenezer," meaning "stone of help," found in I Samuel 7:12. Thus began our journey of faith.
We worshipped and praised God in our historic Georgetown location for well over a century. During that period, we were blessed to have many distinguished pastors, including Rev. Charles H. Wesley, Rev. John T. Bailey, and Rev. Dr. Walter L. Hildebrand, and three pastors - Rev. Benjamin T. Tanner, Rev. James A. Handy and Rev. Alexander W. Wayman - who later became Bishops in the A.M.E. Church. By 1983, black families started leaving Georgetown for economic and political reasons. Church membership fell to less than 30 people, with a Sunday offering of only $200 per week. The time had come to execute the next phase of our faith walk.
With the vision, leadership and support of Bishop John Hurst Adams (the Presiding Prelate Second Episcopal District at that time), Rev. Howard C. Wright as Pastor, Dr. Joseph C. McKinney as the A.M.E. Church Treasurer and the Washington Conference Board of Trustees, 17 faithful members moved to Fort Washington, MD as the church in Georgetown was sold. Like Abraham, we moved to a land we knew not, in the midst of a people we knew not, and into an edifice that logic suggested we could not afford. But we did so in faith.
One month following our move to a 500-seat sanctuary with a $3,500 monthly mortgage note and a $300 weekly offering, our Pastors, the Reverends Drs. Grainger and Jo Ann Browning were called to serve the Ebenezer family. We soon outgrew this church and began holding worship services at the Friendly High School auditorium in 1986. In 1994, having outgrown the 1,500-seat auditorium at "Friendly Ebenezer," we carried our faith pilgrimage to "Ebenezer the Beautiful," a 2,600-seat sanctuary on 33 acres of land.
"The Miracle on Allentown Road" now nurtures over 10,000 members and 100 ministries with meetings, Bible studies and activities every day of the week. Ever mindful of the multitude of spiritual and human needs, not just within our church family, but also throughout our community, our future plans include a school, family life center and senior citizens' complex.
