On the corner of West Second Street and Bentz Street in historic downtown Frederick, Maryland, Calvary United Methodist Church has gathered for more than two and a half centuries as a community of welcome, affirmation, and love for all. The Methodist presence here traces back to 1770, when Robert Strawbridge accepted an invitation to preach in "Frederick Towne," making this one of the oldest continuous Methodist gatherings in America. Today the church is known for its historic downtown sanctuary, its English peal bells, a newly installed pipe organ, and a busy week of ministries that includes children, youth, adults, and an accredited weekday school.
A Methodist Congregation Since 1770
Calvary's story begins in 1770, when Robert Strawbridge, one of the great early Methodist preachers in America, accepted an invitation to preach in "Frederick Towne." His visit established the congregation now called Calvary United Methodist Church. Two years later, in November 1772, Francis Asbury, who would be consecrated in 1784 as the first Methodist bishop, came to "Frederica" and began organizing the Methodists into classes for men and women, giving the young gathering order and structure.
Around 1792, a log building went up on the corner of West Church Street and Bentz Street, serving the growing congregation for decades. In 1841 a lot was purchased on the north side of East Church Street, and a new Methodist church was dedicated there on August 1, 1842. The congregation grew so quickly that by 1865 the building was torn down and replaced with a larger one, which was expanded in 1910 and remained the Frederick Methodists' spiritual home until 1930.
The original pipe organ was built in 1930 by the M.P. Moller Company of Hagerstown, Maryland, and served the congregation for nearly a century. By the early 2010s, age and outdated technology made further overhauls impractical. In 2013 a research committee convened and recommended a full replacement. In March 2024 a new four-manual, forty-six-rank instrument built by Cornel Zimmer Organ Builders of Denver, North Carolina, was installed. The new organ incorporates "heritage" pipes, refurbished to like-new condition, from the original 1930 instrument and from each of its overhauls. New casework was built in the chancel to house the Great division, and the organ was dedicated in April 2024 with an inaugural concert by internationally renowned organist Nathan Laube.
A unique feature sits in the bell tower: a set of eight full-circle peal bells cast by the John Taylor Bellfounder of Leicestershire, England, was installed in 2004. Calvary's peal bells are part of Frederick's distinctive standing as possibly the only place in the world where all three Western bell instruments can be heard within earshot of one another, alongside the Carillon at Baker Park and the chime set at Trinity Chapel. In 2006, in commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the Tour of Historic Houses of Worship, all three sets rang at once.
Worship on Sunday Mornings
The congregation gathers for worship every Sunday at 10:00 a.m., either in person in the sanctuary or online via Facebook Live and YouTube. The service is traditional, with a full music program, Scripture readings, prayer, preaching, and the sacraments of the United Methodist Church. Visitors are invited to come as they are; attire ranges across the spectrum, and the only expectation is a willingness to join in.
For those watching from home, livestreams are broadcast on the church's YouTube channel and on Facebook at @CalvaryUMCFred. Sermon archives stretch back through years of recorded messages, with series on themes such as "More Than Enough," "Life 2.0," and "Reckless Love," along with topical preaching through Advent, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and Reformation Sunday. Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Beth Hutton preaches most weeks, while Certified Lay Servant Karen Gebhart and a rotation of guest preachers fill other Sundays, including an annual Youth Sunday led by the student ministry.
Worship bulletins are made available online each week. A Children's Resource Center just outside the sanctuary offers coloring books, paper, crayons, and age-appropriate bulletins so that children can engage with the service alongside their families. Children in kindergarten through third grade are invited to attend Children's Church in the chapel after the children's message, where leaders share a story tied to the morning's sermon and teach elements of traditional worship before the children rejoin their families for the remainder of the service.
Weddings, Funerals, and the Sanctuary
Calvary's historic sanctuary is available for weddings both to members and to non-members, as the calendar allows. Members are able to schedule at reduced rates. Every ceremony is a service of Christian worship held in keeping with the United Methodist Book of Worship, and Calvary is a Reconciling Congregation that celebrates and blesses all couples who come to be married there. Couples meet with Rev. Dr. Beth Hutton, a certified Prepare/Enrich facilitator, for an introduction to the church and an inventory, followed by two or three sessions, which can be virtual, to review results and plan the ceremony.
Weddings are scheduled on Saturdays between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., must be confirmed at least six months in advance, and are not held from Thanksgiving through January 1 or during Holy Week. A $100 deposit reserves the date. For those who would prefer a different setting, Dr. Hutton is also glad to officiate weddings off-site at a favorite venue, a family home, or another meaningful location.
Funerals and memorial services are supported with care. A Guide for Time of Death and a Funeral Planning Guide help families walk through both the immediate steps after a loss and the longer planning process, and the pastoral team is available to assist with services in the sanctuary.
Calvary Weekday School
Tucked into the education building behind the main church in historic downtown Frederick, Calvary Weekday School has been a ministry of the congregation since 1964. The school provides a safe, stimulating, and inclusive learning environment for children ages three through five, with all teachers holding college degrees and participating in the Maryland State Department of Education credentialing program. The Maryland State Department of Education has approved the curriculum, and the school is MSDE accredited.
Programs include a three-day, three-year-old class (Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Monday, Tuesday, Thursday), a three-day four-year-old class (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday), a five-day four-year-old class (Monday through Friday), and a state-accredited half-day kindergarten (Monday through Friday). In addition to the core Frog Street preschool curriculum, children receive instruction in Music, Spanish, Art, and Media, with physical activity on the playground or in the indoor activities room. Class ratios are kept low: sixteen children with one teacher and one assistant in preschool, and eighteen children with the same adult ratio in kindergarten. The school does not discriminate when registering children based on race, religion, sex, national origin or color, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression.
Children's Ministries and Sunday School
The children's program is built around three overlapping rhythms: Sunday School on Sunday mornings, Children's Church during the worship service, and Mission Possible Kids one Sunday evening a month. Sunday School for children ages three through fifth grade meets from 9:00 to 9:45 a.m. in the Activities Room of the Education Building from September through June, with Bible learning, games, crafts, and songs, plus special events throughout the year including the Christmas Pageant in December, Bible Sunday for third graders, and Vacation Bible School in June. The teaching team is led by Amy Stone, Director of Children's Ministry, who joined the staff after retiring from a thirty-five-year teaching career in Frederick and Montgomery Counties.
Mission Possible Kids, for children in kindergarten through fifth grade, gathers one Sunday each month from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. to serve alongside Calvary's Missions Team. Recent projects have included assembling Love Bags for congregation members, filling backpacks for Blessings in a Backpack, breaking down boxes for Sleep in Heavenly Peace, and participating in Bed Builds for children who do not have their own beds.
The Nursery is open on Sunday mornings from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. for newborns through age four, just down the hall from the sanctuary and across from Parish Hall. A team of trained Nursery Supervisors and youth Childcare Sitters, all background-checked and certified in infant and child CPR and First Aid, provide structured activities and unstructured play, with a private room available for feeding and caring for infants. Parents sign children in and out and receive a numbered beeper so they can be reached during the service if any concern arises.
Youth Ministry
Calvary Youth is open to all sixth through twelfth graders and meets weekly from September through May on Sunday evenings at 5:30 p.m. in the Parish Hall, beginning with a shared dinner before splitting into games, worship, and small-group discussion. The ministry is led by Jenn Duthoy, a lifelong member of Calvary who grew up in the church's youth program and now serves as Director of Youth Ministries.
The youth program extends well beyond Sunday nights. Weekend retreats, lock-ins, snow-tubing trips, and weeklong summer mission trips keep the calendar busy, while local outreach includes visiting and caroling at a nursing home over Christmas, serving food at Second Street and Hope at Centennial United Methodist Church, and collecting food for the local food bank. Annual fundraising supports travel to Mission Central in Pennsylvania, where students assist with disaster relief and humanitarian projects, and helps fund contributions to local charities such as the Religious Coalition, Sleep in Heavenly Peace, Blessings in a Backpack, and the CROP Walk. Families and congregation members sign up to provide meals for the Sunday evening gatherings, and additional adults are always welcome as a second adult in the room during meetings.
Learning for Adults
Calvary offers six adult Sunday School classes each Sunday morning from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m., each with its own character. The Asbury Class meets in the Memorial Room on the second floor of the main building and uses a hybrid format, with members joining in person or via Zoom to study works like "Acts: Catching Up With the Spirit" from Cokesbury, led by Dave Herber. The Fellowship Group meets in the John Wesley Room on the first floor for informal conversation about current events, life events, and service projects. The Friendly Circle Class, an intergenerational group of men and women next door to the parlor, gathers for hymn singing, Bible study, and prayer using various biblical and topical studies. The Newcomers and Oldtimers Class meets in the Baker Center Conference Room and focuses on understanding Scripture in its historical and cultural contexts under Paul Nelson's leadership.
For those who want a smaller setting, the church's Faith and Life Groups center on specific interests or topics and pop up several times a year. Current offerings include a hiking group, a Frederick dining-out group, a monthly book study, and a group for parents of special-needs kids. A Pastor's Bible Study meets every Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m. in the church library, and Open Prayer gathers in the chapel every Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. for a quiet time of reflection with some guided prayer practice. The Calvary Moms group meets occasionally for dinner out.
Music and the Arts
Music holds a central place at Calvary. The Director of Music Ministries and Organist supports and enriches weekly worship through organ music and oversees the full scope of the church's music program, including choirs, the peal bell program, and special services. The position also makes use of in-house and community vocal and instrumental talent and oversees a concert series that brings regional and national artists to the sanctuary throughout the year.
Mission and Outreach
Calvary's mission and outreach work is organized under the heading "Heart and Hands in Service." The Mission Committee partners with local and national ministries and runs several ongoing projects.
A weekly Food Wheelbarrow sits outside the Parish Hall, ready to receive donations of pasta, pasta sauce, rice, instant potatoes, canned meats, macaroni and cheese, peanut butter, and hygiene products for the local food bank. A weekly Bed Delivery Team gathers to deliver the beds built through the Sleep in Heavenly Peace ministry, often bringing along hand-crafted quilts. Day trips to Mission Central in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, are scheduled several times a year, with the church van ferrying volunteers to assist with disaster relief and humanitarian projects. The Student Homelessness Initiative Partnership (SHIP) of Frederick County is supported through collection drives and volunteer hours. Following disasters, Calvary channels contributions through UMCOR and the conference disaster response ministries, with designated funds added to the church's own outreach budget.
Youth and adults also participate in Henderson Settlement mission trips, Rise Against Hunger meal-packing events, and seasonal drives including an annual pajama collection for Heartly House, a Frederick organization that supports victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and child abuse. Mission Possible Kids contributes to many of these efforts.
United Women in Faith
Calvary United Women in Faith, known as CUWFaith, is open to all women of the church and serves as a community whose purpose is to know God, to experience freedom as whole persons through Jesus Christ, to develop a creative and supportive fellowship, and to expand concepts of mission through participation in the global ministries of the Church. Three Circles provide the structure for most of the work: Hannah Circle, focused on service projects such as the Angel Tree and Holiday Bazaar, caters to women with weekday commitments; Miriam Circle, a fellowship group, meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month at 2:00 p.m.; and Wesleyan Circle, a devotions group, meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 1:30 p.m. An Executive Committee, led by President Karen Gebhart, sets annual goals, budgets, and objectives, and liaises with the Baltimore/Washington Conference and the National United Women in Faith organization.
United Methodist Men
The men's fellowship at Calvary is a community of Christian men who witness to their faith by gathering for mutual support, spiritual nurture, informative programs, and service projects. The United Methodist Men come together for Bible studies, dinners that serve the church and community, and fundraisers supporting service projects. A men's Bible study meets each Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m., with discussion topics including leadership, family, and living for Christ.
Pastoral Leadership
The pastoral team is led by Rev. Dr. Beth Hutton, Senior Pastor, who serves with a deep love for building authentic community, thoughtful worship, and faith that makes a real difference in everyday life. She is an adjunct professor of history and blends Scripture, storytelling, and practical hope in her preaching, with a particular passion for justice, hospitality, and the church's role in loving Frederick well. Rev. Ken Humbert serves as Pastor of Visitation, having been ordained for forty-five years and previously serving nine churches, working as a hospital ER chaplain, and serving in local and county Fire Service chaplaincy.
Planning a Visit
Calvary is on the corner of West Second Street and Bentz Street in downtown Frederick, with the main sanctuary doors and the arcade entrance both on the Bentz Street side. The 10:00 a.m. Sunday service is the main worship gathering, with Sunday School for all ages from 9:00 to 9:45 a.m. and nursery care from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. Visitors are invited to come as they are, join the service in any comfortable attire, and stay afterwards to meet the pastors, who try to greet people as they leave through the center aisle. No donation is expected of first-time visitors.
The church office can be reached at 301-662-1464 or office@calvaryumc.org, and giving is available online through Pushpay. Sermon archives and livestreams are accessible through the YouTube channel and on Facebook at @CalvaryUMCFred.