Where the Banner Stays Up

On New Hampshire Avenue in the Colesville area of Silver Spring, a sanctuary that has stood since 1960 still carries a Black Lives Matter banner visible from the road, even though it has been stolen and defaced more than once. Session chose to leave the damaged banner on display as testimony to the church's continuing witness. A community member quietly hung a replacement flag alongside it and left a note of support; a row of lawn signs now amplifies the message in front of the building. The story captures a great deal about Colesville Presbyterian Church: it is a place that names what it believes, takes the consequences, and keeps going.

Founded in 1960 as an intentionally integrated community, CPC has always described itself as multiracial, multi-generational, and active in bringing God's peace and justice into the world. The church sits on the eastern edge of Montgomery County, just north of the Capital Beltway, and identifies as a Matthew 25 congregation, one of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) churches that have signed on to the denomination's three-fold call to eradicate systemic poverty, build congregational vitality, and dismantle structural racism. The identity shows up across the building, the calendar, and the partnerships that fill it.

The congregation is also a member of More Light Presbyterians and the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, two PCUSA-aligned networks that work for full inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the life of the church. The result, in the words of the church's own mission statement, is a community that seeks to "boldly carry out Christ's charge" by exhibiting innovative hospitality, working to eliminate root causes of injustice, and worshiping, praying, studying, working, and celebrating together.

Sunday Morning at 10:30

Worship at Colesville Presbyterian happens at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings, in person and online, every week of the year. The order of worship follows the Reformed tradition and is traditional in style. Dress is casual; the church's own guide says "People at CPC dress in everything from jeans to suits - Be comfortable! Be you!" Communion is served on the first Sunday of each month. After the service, everyone is invited out to the lawn for coffee and fellowship.

Visitors enter through the north entrance, up the ramp or the steps, and through the double glass doors, where a greeter meets them. From there they are pointed to classes for children, youth, and adults between 9:30 and 10:15 a.m. (September through May) and to the Sanctuary for worship at 10:30. First-time visitors are welcome to park in the visitor spots in the upper lot.

Children of all ages are welcome in the Sanctuary, and each service includes a "Word with Children" when the minister shares a brief message and prayer with them. Nursery care is offered during both Sunday school (9:30 to 10:15 a.m.) and the worship hour (10:30 to 11:30 a.m.) in Room 211, the first classroom on the left down the south hallway. Children are always welcome to stay in worship with their families.

Worship is also livestreamed on YouTube, where recordings of past services are archived in a playlist for those who wish to catch up. A PDF bulletin for the week is posted alongside the stream, and a printed worship guide greets everyone in the pews. The Rev. Laura Batten-Carbaugh has preached from the CPC pulpit since November 2022.

Worship in Action: Faith with Hands and Feet

Once a month, on the fourth or last Sunday of the month, the order of worship is set aside and the hour takes a different shape. These are called Worship in Action Sundays, and they grew out of prayerful discernment by church leaders reflecting on how faith calls the congregation to respond to what is happening in the world.

Rather than following the usual order, participants are invited into several worshipful options rooted in scripture and responsive to the needs of neighbors. Depending on the focus of the day, these may include outdoor prayer or peaceful public witness, creative practices like sign-making or art, walking prayer or use of the labyrinth, advocacy through letter-writing, and quiet prayer, reflection, or learning indoors. The church describes the gatherings as a way to bear public witness to gospel values of justice, dignity, compassion, and love of neighbor.

All options are offered as worship, and participation can take whatever shape feels most faithful and accessible. Some gather on the lawn, others write letters in the Cornerstone Room, others pray quietly in a pew. Because these Sundays center on embodied, in-person practices, Worship in Action is not livestreamed. Regular livestreamed worship continues on the other Sundays.

When high and holy days like Palm Sunday or the Day of Pentecost fall near the end of the month, the date of the next Worship in Action shifts. Details are shared in advance in the bulletin, newsletter, and on the church calendar.

The Sound of Sacred Music

Music has been central to CPC's identity for years, and the church is widely known in the region for its commitment to the art. The current program is led by two musicians. Kyle Pedrick serves as Organist and Music Coordinator, a Montgomery County Public Schools teacher who also rehearses and rings with the handbell choir. Eric Beomjin Kim, a doctoral student in choral conducting at the University of Maryland, directs the Chancel Choir. Eric introduces himself as a "nomadic conductor" and has led performances with his ensemble Empathy across South Korea, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Iran, the Philippines, Romania, Kazakhstan, and the United States. Two vocal scholars from the University of Maryland, soprano Abha Phillips and tenor Joshua Pelzer, round out the ensemble.

The Chancel Choir sings a wide variety of sacred music drawn from classical, spiritual, folk, and contemporary traditions, including works by Dan Forrest, Hal Hopson, Craig Courtney, Virgil Thomson, Natalie Sleeth, and others. The choir sings two or three times in worship each month and rehearses every other Thursday at 7 p.m. The CPC Ringers perform on a three-octave set of Schulmerich handbells and a two-octave set of Schulmerich MelodyChimes under Kyle Pedrick's direction, rehearsing on Wednesday evenings at 5 p.m. and ringing in services about once a month.

The organ is at the heart of the church's musical life, and its restoration is one of the lead projects of the Sanctuary Renewal capital campaign. Beloved Community Choir Concerts and other special musical events bring the sanctuary alive beyond the regular Sunday schedule.

The Manna Choice Pantry and the Garden Around It

The Manna Choice Pantry @ CPC grew out of a 2014 conversation between a group of CPC members and Manna Food Center. After visiting the building, Manna staff invited CPC to be the pilot site for a new model of food distribution. Rather than handing out boxes of preselected items, recipients at a choice pantry walk the shelves and choose what fits their family: canned meat and beans, rice, pasta, cereal, then frozen meat, fresh produce, and bread. The model has since become the standard for Manna's distribution sites across Montgomery County.

The pantry opens on the third Saturday of each month at the church. Recipients who wish to receive food can call the pantry ahead of time. Volunteers from the congregation staff the morning, and the church's own description notes that a close fellowship has formed around it: "We come together around food and share comforting hugs, smiles, and laughter."

Around the building, the CPC Garden grows much of what is distributed and what is shared after worship. The main gardens hold sweet potatoes, onions, broccoli, cabbage, and carrots in cooler months, with peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and eggplant joining them as the soil warms. The herb garden along the back of the church already has oregano, thyme, chives, lavender, and nasturtium coming back from the previous year, with basil, rosemary, and dill added through the summer. Herbs and vegetables are available to take home on Sundays as the growing season continues.

Packing 10,000 Meals and Filling 100 Backpacks

Once a year, Fellowship Hall turns into a meal-packing line for Rise Against Hunger, an international hunger relief organization that coordinates the packaging and distribution of food to people in developing nations. Each year CPC packs 10,000 meals in a single morning. The church describes it as a fun, multi-generational event with music and a gong ringing every 1,000 meals packed, and there are jobs for everyone from children to older adults, sitting or standing. Scouts from local troops help with whatever needs doing. No signup is required; participants simply show up.

During the school year, volunteers assemble backpacks of food each week for students to take home for weekend meals. Each week more than 100 bags are delivered to two elementary schools, William Tyler Page and Flora Singer. The same donor energy lights up the holiday season. Each December, CPC partners with Montgomery County Child Welfare Services to provide Christmas gifts for children in foster care, delivering bundles of wrapped gifts and gift cards for children who otherwise would not be on anyone's shopping list. Two hundred school kits for children in the US and overseas are assembled each year through Church World Service.

Partners Near and Far

Colesville Presbyterian partners with a wide constellation of agencies in Montgomery County and beyond. The C4, or Colesville Council of Community Congregations, receives CPC's annual donations to the Christmas Toy Closet and the school-supplies project that provides more than 700 backpacks to Montgomery County students each fall. The church is one of the Gay Men's Choir of Washington Partners in Harmony congregations, joining area faith communities that champion equality and welcome, enfold, and celebrate LGBTQ+ persons. Funds are directed each year to two Montgomery County Public Schools, Paint Branch and Springbrook, to support homeless students with emergency needs and to enable participation in sports, music, and field trips. The church also donates linens to A Wider Circle and supports C4's clothes closet, school supplies, and Christmas toys.

Internationally, CPC has continued its support of Water for People, a clean-water nonprofit; the church's water projects currently focus on Malawi, after earlier efforts in Cameroon and the Philippines. Through the church's building, the Happy Life Vietnamese Seniors Group meets regularly, along with AA, Al-Anon, Scouting America troops, Girl Scouts of America troops, and AARP's annual tax clinic, all of which use the CPC campus as a home for their work.

The service-and-social-justice approach is five-pronged, in the words of the church: education, service, advocacy, financial support, and partnership. Members are encouraged to call their senators and representatives on issues of concern, with phone numbers for Senator Chris Van Hollen, Senator Angela Alsobrooks, and Representative Jamie Raskin posted on the church's outreach materials.

Learning at Every Age

Christian education at CPC runs from the nursery through adulthood. Sunday school for first through twelfth grade meets at 9:30 a.m. in Rooms 115 and 117, with two teachers per class so that younger and older students can break out into smaller groups when needed. The nursery is open from 9:30 a.m. and welcomes infants through age five. The children's curriculum follows Mini Revolutions, a monthly digital curriculum from Illustrated Ministry built around the Revised Common Lectionary: each month centers on one scripture, with imagining questions, a Look It Up moment from history, a hands-on activity, a micropractice, a prayer, and a coloring page designed for intergenerational use.

The youth group gathers at CPC on the first Sunday of each month after worship through the school year. Students in sixth through twelfth grades balance spirituality with games, current events discussion, mission activities, youth conferences, and field trips. The group attends the Montreat Youth Conference in the North Carolina mountains each summer.

Adults meet on Thursday mornings at 10 a.m. on Zoom for Bible study led by Pastor Laura, following the lectionary and the commentary from Presbyterian Outlook. A coffee hour runs from 11 a.m. to noon for anyone who wants to stay after the study. A Sunday-morning adult spiritual formation class meets when scheduled. Lenten roundtable conversations with lunch follow worship during Lent, and a three-part mini retreat series called Rooted and Rising takes place in the Cornerstone Room on Saturdays in early November, February, and May.

Renewing the Sanctuary for the Generations to Come

The Sanctuary Renewal Campaign is the largest stewardship effort in the church's recent history. Under the title "Sacred Space for a Living Legacy: A Sanctuary Renew," the campaign lists seven focus areas: completing the restoration of the organ; replacing the outdated climate-control systems; restoring and modernizing the acoustics; modernizing the audio and video system for livestreaming; strengthening inclusiveness and accessibility with a ramped chancel, improved seating, and hearing assistance; renewing the sanctuary interior with improved lighting and design; and engaging the community in stewardship and spiritual growth.

Each improvement is shaped by CPC's founding commitment to welcome. The hearing-assistance upgrade will integrate modern technology so that every congregant can fully participate in worship, music, and spoken word. The lighting redesign will help readers and singers see the hymnal and printed materials. A gently sloped ramp will make the chancel more accessible to worship leaders, musicians, and congregants of every ability.

The campaign is led by chair Jon Doane and committee members Susan Patrick, John Stevenson, Martha Johns, Yolanda Pruitt, and Holly Plank, alongside a Sanctuary Planning Committee chaired by Diane Rogers. Members and friends can give once, pledge over one to three years, donate appreciated assets or qualified charitable distributions from an IRA, contribute through a donor-advised fund, or make a memorial gift.

Pastoral Leadership and the Wider Staff

The Rev. Laura Batten-Carbaugh has served as Pastor and Head of Staff since November 2022. A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, she brings more than twenty years of pastoral leadership and is described by the congregation as passionate about forming communities rooted in faith, shaped by justice, and grounded in love, living out the call to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.

Kyle Pedrick serves as Organist and Music Coordinator. A Montgomery County Public Schools general and choral music teacher, he studied piano at West Chester University and served as Director of Music and Organist at Paoli United Methodist Church in Pennsylvania before moving to Maryland. Eric Beomjin Kim directs the Chancel Choir while completing his doctorate in choral conducting at the University of Maryland, where he serves as assistant conductor of the Chamber Singers and Treble Choir and director of the Maryland Palestrina Choir. Isela Sanchez coordinates communications, supporting the church's digital and print platforms. Mary Ellen Cain serves as Administrative Associate, and Darci Pickering as Church Treasurer. Custodians Dorothy and Roland Guevara keep the building and grounds in shape week after week.