OUR STORY

Christ Reformed DC was born out of a love of the historic reformed tradition

— its confessions, its liturgy, and its worship — and a conviction that a major metropolitan area like Washington, DC should have at least one faithful congregation representing this rich Protestant heritage. We desired to create a community focused on the faithful administration of Word and Sacrament, growing together in faithfulness in all areas of life, and connected to the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA).

In April of 2007, Dr. Brian Lee gathered with a handful of believers in an Alexandria, Virginia home to study the Heidelberg Catechism. Our study looked at how this Reformation catechism followed the pattern of Paul’s epistle to the Romans, teaching the Christian faith through the knowledge of Guilt, Grace, and Gratitude. We wanted to lay the foundation of our church in the teaching of our catechism because we believe this pattern of instruction is desperately needed in the church today, to free us from the traps of legalism, moralism, and lawlessness that abound in the church today.

On November 4, 2007, we began worshiping at The Church of the Holy City (1611 16th Street NW) in Washington, DC. We gathered as a mission work of the URCNA under the oversight of Zeltenreich URC in New Holland, Pennsylvania. Shortly thereafter, in early 2008, Dr. Lee was ordained by Zeltenreich as the church-planting pastor of Christ Reformed DC. In January 2016, Christ Reformed DC was organized as a congregation in Classis Eastern United States of the URCNA. In July 2020, we called Luke Gossett to be our first Associate Pastor.

From the beginning, Christ Reformed DC has gathered believers from the city and the neighboring communities of Virginia and Maryland. Today, our congregation spans the DC metro area, and we regularly gather to fellowship throughout the three jurisdictions of DC/VA/MD.

We have been blessed to worship in two beautiful historic churches during our brief existence. In July of 2011, Christ Reformed DC moved a few blocks away to historic Grace Reformed Church (1405 15th Street NW), which was the church home of President Theodore Roosevelt, who also laid its cornerstone. Remarkably, both of these churches were designed by architect Paul J. Pelz, who also served as the architect of the Library of Congress. After enjoying seven and a half years in this architectural gem, Christ Reformed DC returned to The Church of the Holy City in January 2020, before finally moving into our current home in July of 2021.

Since our inception, it has been our goal to use our strategic, downtown location as a venue for events and gatherings that enrich the life of faith in the nation’s capital. We celebrated our launch in 2007 by hosting a recording of the White Horse Inn radio show, in which Dr. Lee appeared as a guest host. The church has also hosted fall speaker series on topics such as “Calvin in the Capital,” “All Sermons are Not Created Equal,” “Christianity and Politics,” and “Finding Comfort in the Heidelberg Catechism.” Speakers have included Sen. Ben Sasse, Michael Horton, W. Robert Godfrey, Darryl Hart, Michael Gerson, Rob Norris, Ken Jones, David Van Drunen, T. David Gordon, and Marva Dawn.