Despite soggy and dreary conditions, members of Trinity United Methodist Church in McLean gathered outside on Sunday, June 3 to celebrate the official groundbreaking for the church’s long-awaited $7.5 million expansion project, which entails construction of a 14,000-square-foot addition, including a chapel, modern nursery and new classrooms. The church is building the new addition “in response to the growth in the Tysons Corner and McLean area.”
“Thousands of people drive by this steeple every day,” said Jim Sprouse, senior pastor at the church. “We need to make room to bring them in and provide expanded programs to meet their many needs.”
According to Sprouse, every room in the church is currently used to capacity.
“In addition to two Sunday morning services, we have recently started a ‘Come As You Are’ praise service on Sundays at 5 p.m. in an effort to attract many of the young professionals and singles who live in this area,” said Sprouse. “More than 90 people showed up for the first service.”
Dan Moore, Administrative Council President at Trinity United Methodist Church, says the high density condominium development planned for Tysons Corner will translate into many potential new members for the church.
Trinity’s current sanctuary opened in 1961 but the church traces its history back to the days when William Watters, an itinerant Methodist preacher, organized what became Trinity at meetings at his home in the Chesterbrook area of McLean. In 1893, a one-room church was built on Georgetown Pike and was called Langley Methodist Church. In 1955 the church built a fellowship hall and education wing at its present location on Dolley Madison and in 1961 built its sanctuary. The old church building on Georgetown Pike is now the Quakers’ Langley Meeting House. Today, there are approximately 700 members of Trinity United Methodist Church in McLean.