New Street United Methodist Church

About Us

Our mission is to celebrate God’s grace with all in a caring Christ-centered community.

Our vision is to become a growing, warm, and nurturing church that provides sanctuary for the worship of God and the service of Christ to others, through the power of the holy spirit.



Our Services

Service Times

Sunday
10:00am
On-line Stream via Facebook
10:00am
In-person/Social Distancing

What to Expect

What are services like?
On Sunday’s worship begins at 10:00am. It lasts for one hour. Come to the narthex in the rear of the sanctuary. You will be welcomed by one of our friendly greeters. Our usher will give you a church bulletin that will help you follow along with the order of worship. Sunday morning is the congregations main weekly gathering time to be with God as a community. The worship service and music is mainly traditional, with occasional praise songs included in the liturgy. Sometimes there will be special programs and skits to complement the sermon. The creativity of the worship committee and the fantastic music program combine to increase your faith and bring you closer to God. What about children/youth? For infants and toddlers we have a nursery with an attendant. There is Sunday School for grade school aged children. They attend worship until children’s time with the pastor, then proceed to class with their teacher. For Junior/High School aged youth, there is a youth group that meets during service downstairs in the dining hall. The first Sunday of the month is Communion Sunday. All children/youth participate in worship in the sanctuary. What about fellowship? Immediately after the service, there is fellowship with refreshments. We gather in the Fellowship Hall to enjoy food and fun as we greet one another and get to know each other. Of course you are invited. Where do I park my car? Parking is available during church hours both Church Street and New Street. There is also parking on adjacent streets. Limited handicapped parking is available for members and visitors with permits and limited mobility. These parking spaces are directly in front of the building on the corner of both New Street and Church Street.

What is the community like?
Is the church wheelchair/handicap accessible? Yes it is. The church is in an old building so it doesn’t have all the modern amenities. There are two wheelchair/handicap access ramps. The first ramp is on the church street side of the building. This ramp takes you to the main level of the church which provides access to the office, nursery, library, and the sanctuary. There is a bathroom in the library, but it is not wheelchair accessible. The second ramp is on the New Street side of the building. This ramp provides access to the lower level/basement of the church. The lower level contains the dining hall, kitchen, choir room, Scout’s Meeting Hall, and men’s/women’s bathroom (wheelchair accessible). In 2019 the church has a remodeled accessible bathroom on the first floor! The church has a wheelchair available to facilitate mobility as needed. Is there a dress code? Come as you are. We have no “formal” dress code. Wear whatever makes you feel comfortable. Some of our members do dress-up with suits, and dresses, and fancy hats. Some come in jeans and t-shirt. As long as what you have on is not offensive or revealing, what matters most is not what you are wearing, but that you are with us in Christ. Do I have to give money? With Jesus as our example and the bible as our guide, we believe and teach that giving and tithing is a normal and expected part of Christian life. Your support sustains our ministries locally and globally.

What if I'm not a Christian?
The Greatest Commandment (Matthew 22:34–40) 28Now one of the scribes had come up and heard their debate. Noticing how well Jesus had answered them, he asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all? 29 Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.


Leadership

Dee-Ann Dixon

Dee-Ann Dixon
Pastor

https://www.shepherdstownchronicle.com/news/2020/10/30/a-life-of-service-pastor-celebrates-20-years-in-shepherdstown/ SHEPHERDSTOWN — In May 2000, New Street United Methodist Church welcomed a new pastor to lead it, Rev. G. Dee-Ann Dixon. Little did the church know how much they would come to appreciate their new leader. But 20 years later, Dixon is still dedicated to her church, with hopes of being able to remain with it for many years to come. “It’s a great thing, but I didn’t expect [to be able to stay here so long],” Dixon said, referring to the United Methodist Church’s itinerant system of conducting a yearly evaluation on whether a pastor should remain with his current church or be moved to a different one. “I’ve been very fortunate to be here with these folks. We’ve been a good match, I think,” Dixon said. “I’ll stay as long as the bishop allows me to, although I probably won’t stay another 20 years, because I’ll be too old by that time!” Previously to coming to New Street UMC, Dixon graduated from Southwestern College in Winfield, Kan., before earning her master’s of divinity degree from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. She then began her career, serving in churches in the Washington, D.C. area. She first moved to the Eastern Panhandle, after being moved to the position of associate pastor at Asbury Kabletown Cooperative Parish in Charles Town. During the seven years of her time serving there, she and her husband, David Gross, built themselves an accessible home in Shepherdstown, making it desirable for her next itineracy to be in the area. “I wanted to be at a smaller church and New Street’s smaller,” Dixon said, referring to her itineracy change in 2000. “I wanted to be in the area, because my husband and I just built a house — we had built an accessible house, since he’s in a wheelchair. So it all worked out!” This Oct. 11, on the day that is nationally celebrated as Pastor Appreciation Day, Dixon’s congregation presented a commemorative plaque to Dixon, along with a variety of other gifts. Looking back over the last two decades, Dixon recognized how much has changed in her life, since she first came to the church. “When I think about it, it’s surprising how things have gone by so fast!” Dixon said. “My kids have pretty much grown up at the church.” When she first came to the church, Dixon had a four-year-old and a three-month-old to care for. Today, her three children are almost all grown up, with her youngest having two year left before graduating from Jefferson High School. As she thought back to her time at the church, Dixon recognized that the reason she has remained at New Street UMC for so many years, likely has to do with how perfectly the interests of herself and her congregation align. “The people here are just really good, kind people. They allow me to be creative. I think we do some really awesome things in worship and ministry together — they’re very creative about that kind of stuff,” Dixon said, mentioning she has found these same characteristics to be true of Shepherdstown’s residents in general. “I think Shepherdstown’s a pretty special place. Shepherdstown’s kind of artsy, you know!” At the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, New Street UMC held virtual services online, which were recorded by one of Dixon’s children. Today, its in-person services are back in session, under careful safety guidelines provided by the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These guidelines include: live piano and organ music, with no singing; no hand shaking, hugging, elbow bumping or fist bumping; and an elimination of the church’s Fellowship Hour.

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