Becoming a More Anti-Racist Church

Dumbarton has strengthened its commitment to racial justice in the past few years. In 2015, the church held a special “Service of Repentance,” and participated in Mt. Zion’s Homecoming Service marking the 200th anniversary of its founding after Black members of our church, tired of being relegated to the balcony during worship, decided to form their own church. At the Homecoming Service, Dumbarton pastor Dr. Mary Kay Totty read a letter to Mt. Zion publicly apologizing for its past racist policies and practices. Click here to read the letter.

In 2020, following the murder of George Floyd and the racial justice uprisings around the country, Dumbarton pledged to deepen our commitment to justice and inclusion and work towards becoming an Anti-Racist Church.  Read more about the pledge to embody Anti-Racism on the Baltimore-Washington Conference webpage. We signed on to the pledge to embody anti-racism as a church, acknowledging that:

  • the sin of racism has been destructive to the unity of the church throughout its history;

  • racism continues to cause painful division and marginalization in the church and the world;

  • we shall confront and seek to eliminate racism, whether in organizations or in individuals, in every facet of the church’s life and in society at large.

In 2022, after the massacre of 11 African Americans in Buffalo by an avowed “Christian Nationalist,” Dumbarton adopted a statement opposing “Christian Nationalism” as an oxymoron. “Christian Nationalism” is instead a political ideology completely antithetical to Christian theology. That theology is based on St. Paul’s teaching that in Christianity “there is neither Jew nor Greek, … slave nor free, … male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” We believe that authentic Christianity does not discriminate by citizenship, national borders, gender, culture, ethnicity, or race.

To back up its opposition to “Christian Nationalism” with more than words, Dumbarton also adopted an addendum committing itself to a number of actions to re-examine and change its worship, education, community-building, mission, and justice ministries as well as its fiscal decision-making.

Read the addendum to our statement on Christian nationalism and the commitments we have made to exemplify Anti-Racism at Dumbarton. Click here to read “Addendum: Commitments of Dumbarton United Methodist Church to Act Against Racism and Racist Violence.”