Our Namesake

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"If the Gospel is anything, it is grandly and terribly much. If it is true at all, it is best news the world has ever heard. It is thus inconceivable that anyone should hear and believe it and then fail to tell it forth."

Bishop Edwin Holt Hughes (1866–1950)
American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church

 

Bishop Hughes was born December 7, 1866 in Moundsville, West Virginia, the son of the Rev. Thomas B. and Louisa (Holt) Hughes. He married Isabel Ebbert June 8, 1892. They had six children: Isabel, Holt, Ebbert, Caroline, Anna Louise, and Francis.

He studied at West Virginia University beginning in 1887, graduating from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1889 (A.B. degree) and 1892 (A.M. degree). He then attended Boston University School of Theology, 1889-92.

Rev. Hughes began preaching in 1886. He was Pastor at Newton Centre, Massachusetts (1892-96), and at Malden, Massachusetts (1896-1903). In 1903 he became the President of DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana. His term as President ended in 1909 shortly after assuming the position of Bishop. While Bishop, he served as the Senior Chairman of the Methodist Unification Commission (1938-40), that ultimately accomplished the reunion of the three major Methodist bodies in the United States in 1939. In retirement Bishop Hughes lived in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

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Our History

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The first parcel of land purchased by the Methodist Union in 1946, followed by the adjoining lot with a 90-year old farm house in 1947. On June 4, 1948, Rev. Harold R. Lanman was appointed pastor of the Wheaton Extension Project.

The first Sunday School session was held on August 1, 1948 in the farm house which doubled as the Parsonage. The first worship service occurred five weeks later - September 12, 1948 - on a large tent with 300 in attendance. The church moved to the service in the Army barracks Chapel in 1949; the first service was on Easter that year. This Chapel stood on the site where the present Sanctuary stands.

We held our inaugural service in our first unit, which is now our gymansium and Social Hall, on September 13, 1953. The first classes in the Education Building were held on March 31, 1957. Twenty years later, on September 22, 1985, the Church burned the mortgage, and we dedicated the Church that same day.

Rev. A. Odell Osteen assumed duties as pastor of Hughes on June 19, 1960 when Rev. Lanman was transferred to Trinity Methodist Church in Annapolis. Our present Sanctuary, our final unit of the master plan, had its first service on Palm Sunday, April 11, 1965, with Rev. Osteen presiding. 

Dr. Edward H. Porter became our third Pastor on June 17, 1968, after Rev. Osteen became Superintendent of the Baltimore Southwest District. Rev. Porter served 11 years at Hughes; Dr. Herbert L. D. Doggettre placed him in June 1979. Dr. Doggett served as pastor until June 1983 when he became the Director of Development at Asbury Methodist Village, Gaithersburg, MD.

 

Rev. Edward R. Van Metre II joined Hughes as Senior Pastor in June 1983. Rev. Van Metre was with us until his untimely death on February 12, 1990 at the age of 47. Rev. Richard D. Hogue was appointed to be our Senior Pastor shortly thereafter.

 

On July 1, 1994, Dr. Carl B. Rife became Senior Pastor after Dr. Hogue left to become minister of the Liberty Grove United Methodist Church. Dr. Rife served as Senior Pastor until his retirement in July, 1999.

 

Dr. George Ennis, joined us in July 1999 and ministered to Hughes until his retirement in July 2008.

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Rev. Ken Hawes joined us in July 2008 and ministered to Hughes until June 2019

 

Our present minister is Rev. Diana Wingeier- Rayo