The church was officially consecrated Dec. 14, 1924, as a mission chapel of the All Saints’ Parish of Frederick. St. Timothy’s ministered to the spiritual needs of the working-class community that grew as light industries did on the east side of the city beginning in the late 19th century and through the first half of the 20th century, said the Rev. Dan Webster.
Webster is the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland’s canon for evangelism and ministry development, and he came on behalf of the bishop of Maryland, the Rt. Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton.
St. Timothy’s membership, once nearly 200, has dwindled to the point that the diocese said the church could not be sustained. Average weekly attendance in the past decade was in the teens or below, Webster said.
“There was a very loyal core group,” said the Rev. Janet Johnson, one of the clergy who returned to the parish where she served periodically in recent years.
Sunday’s sermon, delivered by the Rev. Meredith Kefauver Olsen, directed parishioners’ attention to the possibilities for Christian work and life to transcend the closing of this building.