Help Us Grow Our Church
Who we are:
Sydenstricker United Methodist Church (SUMC) is a vibrant and growing church with a 110-year history serving the Springfield and Burke areas of Northern Virginia. We are a friendly, loving neighborhood church where all are welcome. We're proud of our Methodist heritage of accepting a diversity of opinions, cultural traditions, ethnic backgrounds and beliefs. Our vision is “Christ’s Love in Action: Bringing God to People and People to God.”
Three times in its history, SUMC has heard and heeded God’s call to expand and position itself to serve even more of the community. SUMC once again finds itself needing to step out in faith to improve our facilities to serve our various ministries and missions. Simply put, we are bursting at the seams. We must grow to face our future.
A Brief History:
On August 17, 1909, Reverend Christopher Sydenstricker held a revival meeting at a dance pavilion and picnic grove owned by businessman John Quincy Hall. In short order, dozens were baptized and a congregation began to meet in a local schoolhouse. Within a year, construction began on Sydenstricker Chapel on a plot of donated land. During the late 1950s, the growing church built a new educational wing onto the Chapel. Twenty years later, the rapid growth of Burke and Springfield led us to purchase land across Hooes Road for an entirely new church building. In the 1980s and 1990s, the old parsonage was converted into the Agape House Youth Center, which serves our youth program.
The Need:
Since mid-2016 the average attendance in worship rose 40 percent. We have six classrooms for our nine Sunday School classes. There is no space available to add sorely-needed classes to appeal to neighborhood needs (e.g., ESL, retirement planning seminars), let alone additional classes to deepen our growing discipleship. An entire floor of the main building is devoted to the Teaching Our Toddlers (TOT) Preschool, which serves 75 children under age five. Our campus also serves as the home of the Virginia Agape International Baptist Church, which places additional demands on our facility use. The neighborhood around SUMC is projected to grow by 7 percent over the next 10 years, especially in young families needing TOT Preschool and a place to grow spiritually. We also see projected growth for active seniors and SUMC sees itself as being able to provide safe community spaces for senior classes, fellowship and care. The Agape House Youth Center stands on a highway easement and must be demolished, leaving our vibrant youth program with no space in which to meet or to call their own.
An architectural study in 2018 identified the need for a new building on campus that would cost $6 million.
Serving Our Neighbors:
During the year, SUMC supports a hypothermia shelter ministry during one week in the winter and partners with the Rising Hope United Methodist Mission Church to directly support the homeless. We also have a monthly sandwich ministry that makes sandwiches for the homeless of Washington D.C. The church has a food pantry that is open on Tuesday afternoon and supports local families in need of assistance. It is a drive-thru model, with families choosing from a list of food items that appeal to their family. Other SUMC mission projects include Volunteers in Mission that provides relief for natural disasters in communities in other states, and Christmas gifts for the residents of Western State Hospital in Staunton, Virginia. SUMC is also active in the work of the Epiphany and Kairos ministries for incarcerated youth and adults, respectively, as well as the local Emmaus and Chrysalis communities. We have also sponsored college students in Central America. Every summer, SUMC Youth participate in mission projects in a variety of locations, including Toronto, Pittsburgh and Costa Rica. SUMC was a founding partner for the Jeremiah Project, which assists those in Appalachia by helping to maintain safe, warm housing. We have sent our Junior High Youth on Jeremiah Project missions for 21 years.
On Wednesdays during the school year, Wonder on Wednesdays gives school-aged children from the church and the community the opportunity for Bible study, music, fellowship and a hot dinner.
BSA Troop 1518, Cub Scout Pack 1853, Girl Scout Troop 2124, and Daisy Troop 52006 all call SUMC home, as does a local chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous.
What the funds raised will be used for:
Sydenstricker UMC is a non-profit organization. The funds raised will be spent on development of construction drawings and specifications and construction costs for expanding the number of classrooms available for Sunday School, enhancing energy efficiency and environmental sustainability of the buildings and grounds and creating new space for our music ministry. Also, development of a youth ministry area that will provide new opportunities for our creative teens.
Sydenstricker United Methodist Church (SUMC) is a vibrant and growing church with a 110-year history serving the Springfield and Burke areas of Northern Virginia. We are a friendly, loving neighborhood church where all are welcome. We're proud of our Methodist heritage of accepting a diversity of opinions, cultural traditions, ethnic backgrounds and beliefs. Our vision is “Christ’s Love in Action: Bringing God to People and People to God.”
Three times in its history, SUMC has heard and heeded God’s call to expand and position itself to serve even more of the community. SUMC once again finds itself needing to step out in faith to improve our facilities to serve our various ministries and missions. Simply put, we are bursting at the seams. We must grow to face our future.
A Brief History:
On August 17, 1909, Reverend Christopher Sydenstricker held a revival meeting at a dance pavilion and picnic grove owned by businessman John Quincy Hall. In short order, dozens were baptized and a congregation began to meet in a local schoolhouse. Within a year, construction began on Sydenstricker Chapel on a plot of donated land. During the late 1950s, the growing church built a new educational wing onto the Chapel. Twenty years later, the rapid growth of Burke and Springfield led us to purchase land across Hooes Road for an entirely new church building. In the 1980s and 1990s, the old parsonage was converted into the Agape House Youth Center, which serves our youth program.
The Need:
Since mid-2016 the average attendance in worship rose 40 percent. We have six classrooms for our nine Sunday School classes. There is no space available to add sorely-needed classes to appeal to neighborhood needs (e.g., ESL, retirement planning seminars), let alone additional classes to deepen our growing discipleship. An entire floor of the main building is devoted to the Teaching Our Toddlers (TOT) Preschool, which serves 75 children under age five. Our campus also serves as the home of the Virginia Agape International Baptist Church, which places additional demands on our facility use. The neighborhood around SUMC is projected to grow by 7 percent over the next 10 years, especially in young families needing TOT Preschool and a place to grow spiritually. We also see projected growth for active seniors and SUMC sees itself as being able to provide safe community spaces for senior classes, fellowship and care. The Agape House Youth Center stands on a highway easement and must be demolished, leaving our vibrant youth program with no space in which to meet or to call their own.
An architectural study in 2018 identified the need for a new building on campus that would cost $6 million.
Serving Our Neighbors:
During the year, SUMC supports a hypothermia shelter ministry during one week in the winter and partners with the Rising Hope United Methodist Mission Church to directly support the homeless. We also have a monthly sandwich ministry that makes sandwiches for the homeless of Washington D.C. The church has a food pantry that is open on Tuesday afternoon and supports local families in need of assistance. It is a drive-thru model, with families choosing from a list of food items that appeal to their family. Other SUMC mission projects include Volunteers in Mission that provides relief for natural disasters in communities in other states, and Christmas gifts for the residents of Western State Hospital in Staunton, Virginia. SUMC is also active in the work of the Epiphany and Kairos ministries for incarcerated youth and adults, respectively, as well as the local Emmaus and Chrysalis communities. We have also sponsored college students in Central America. Every summer, SUMC Youth participate in mission projects in a variety of locations, including Toronto, Pittsburgh and Costa Rica. SUMC was a founding partner for the Jeremiah Project, which assists those in Appalachia by helping to maintain safe, warm housing. We have sent our Junior High Youth on Jeremiah Project missions for 21 years.
On Wednesdays during the school year, Wonder on Wednesdays gives school-aged children from the church and the community the opportunity for Bible study, music, fellowship and a hot dinner.
BSA Troop 1518, Cub Scout Pack 1853, Girl Scout Troop 2124, and Daisy Troop 52006 all call SUMC home, as does a local chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous.
What the funds raised will be used for:
Sydenstricker UMC is a non-profit organization. The funds raised will be spent on development of construction drawings and specifications and construction costs for expanding the number of classrooms available for Sunday School, enhancing energy efficiency and environmental sustainability of the buildings and grounds and creating new space for our music ministry. Also, development of a youth ministry area that will provide new opportunities for our creative teens.
Co-organizers (5)
Brianna Ornstein
Organizer
Springfield, VA
Sydenstricker United Methodist Church
Beneficiary
Donald Jamison
Co-organizer
Joe Hoffmaster
Co-organizer
Julie Pierce
Co-organizer
Susan Kinsley
Co-organizer