Our long-established
group of followers has fellowshipped, loved, and served in Washington, D. C. since 1899. Our congregation was first known as Whitney
Avenue Christian Church but was renamed Park View Christian Church. In
1947, The church relocated to its present location of Eastern Avenue and
Kalmia Avenue in northwest Washington DC where it became Shepherd Park
Christian Church. The local neighborhood of Shepherd Park, was named
after our first regional governor – Alexander Shepherd, and fitted well
with our congregation’s reputation as "the church with the heart of the
Shepherd".
Our residents are a cultural mixture of blacks, whites, and other
ethnicities from the area's business community. Our history has been
truly character-shaping at times. The 1968 riots sparked by the
assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King, led to a sharp decline in
the quality of business in the area; but through the years and the
changes, we have come together as a community, shaping each other,
serving each other and caring for our neighbors.
Shepherd
Park Christian Church has always embraced the changes in our cultural,
economic, and political influences in this community; and we continue to
stay relevant in our ministries with and for this community. We accept
that change is constant. The late, former US Attorney General, Robert F.
Kennedy, said to the members of our community: “What is so impressive
about what you have done here is that you have shown the way it can be
done – that it is possible.”
Of all of the adaptive changes that were made throughout the
history of Shepherd Park Christian Church, its agreement to maintain its
roots as a church within the nation’s capital was perhaps its most
significant. Once again, Shepherd Park Christian Church is challenged to
adapt to the circumstances of its present context. The church has a
responsibility to tell the empowering story of forgiveness and
redemption. For one hundred and nine years of existence, Shepherd Park
Christian Church has done this by learning how to change and how to
adapt to changes in its environment. There is no time like the present,
no moment like the one now given to give your life to Christ.
Click here to learn more about the Christian Church--Disciples of Christ.
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