Towson United Methodist Church

Towson United Methodist Church
The west exterior and 235-foot (72 m) spire, viewed from I-695
Location	Towson, Maryland
Country	United States
Denomination	United Methodist Church
Website	towsonchurch.org
History
Former name(s)	Towson Methodist Episcopal Church (later First Methodist Church) Towson Methodist Protestant Church (later Second Methodist Church)
Founded	October 26, 1871 (1871-10-26)
Architecture
Architect(s)	J. Alfred Hamme
Style	Georgian
Groundbreaking	October 7, 1956
Completed	May 11, 1958
Administration
Division	Baltimore-Washington Conference
Subdivision	Baltimore Metropolitan District
Clergy
Minister(s)	Stephanie Roberts White, Lead Pastor Christine Kumar, Associate Pastor Douglas Hollida, Minister of Music and organist

Towson United Methodist Church is a large United Methodist Church in the historic Hampton subdivision of Towson, a suburb in Baltimore County, Maryland. Its past, rooted in 19th-century America and subsequent growth in the two centuries since then, has closely paralleled the nation's political and sociological trends. It was a congregation split in 1861 on the eve of the American Civil War in a border state of divided loyalties, which eventually reunited and built a church in the post–World War II era of the 1950s, a time of reconciliation and rapid growth by mainline Protestant denominations, especially in the more affluent suburbs.

Pastored since July 2021 by Stephanie Roberts White, the church now brands itself as Towson Church with a blended traditional–contemporary Sunday worship service,^[1] along with a number of community outreach programs, including an accredited child care center and a Boy Scout troop. The church actively supports a home for unwed mothers, overseas missions, and Habitat for Humanity projects. The congregation worships in a 1,000-seat sanctuary built in 1958. The large building's prominent 235-foot (72 m) spire and cupola, a landmark visible for miles from the nearby Baltimore Beltway (Interstate 695), has been called "the beacon of Towson".^[2][3]

Towson United Methodist Church is located on Hampton Lane at interchange #27B of the Baltimore Beltway and Dulaney Valley Road (Md. Route 146), one-half mile (one km) west of Hampton National Historic Site. The church's land was originally part of the vast 18th-century Hampton estate.^{[citation needed]}