Round
Hill
Community Church
History
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In
1921, a group of neighbors in Round Hill, seeing the need for a community
church that would welcome and include people of all Christian denominations,
formed the Round Hill Community Church. They were thus among the first
to embrace the concept of what later came to be known as ecumenical worship.
Services were held at the corner of Round Hill Road and John Street in
the then inactive Round Hill Methodist Episcopal Church. The church building
was completely renovated and the property down Round Hill Road, on which
the present church stands, was acquired. The first two ministers were
Harold Wilson and John Prince. Early on, members wrote the Church Creed
and Prayer, still being used today. When the Methodist church sought to reestablish itself with a new minister,
part of the congregation, wishing
to maintain its nondenominational, independent, and unaffiliated status,
broke off to form Round Hill Community Church in the early 1970s.
Services were held in the Community House, which had been built in 1926
by neighbors for use by the community. Worshipping in a makeshift sanctuary and working tirelessly
to plan for the building of a new church brought everyone closer together.
It became a period of deeper spiritual and community renewal.
The Reverend Walter Wagoner was called to be our minister in 1979 and
it was under his leadership that Willis N. Mills Jr., of SMS Architects,
was commissioned to design the new sanctuary and church school. Construction
began in 1982 and through the enormous generosity of church members, an
award-winning, debt-free structure was completed in time for Christmas
Eve Services on December 24, 1983. In 2009 we celebrated 25 years in this beautiful sanctuary.
Following Dr. Wagoner's retirement, the Rev. Dr. Ralph E. Ahlberg was chosen to be our
minister in September 1987, and upon Dr. Ahlberg's retirement in 1999, the congregation was
fortunate to find Pastor Bob Culp who served until 2010, when he made the decision to move back to Maryland.
The Reverend Douglas Miller currently serves as our Interim Minister.
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