Charles and John Wesley attended Oxford University the same year the city of Baltimore was founded. They joined a small group of students called, by fellow students, “Bible Bigots”. Later, they rebelled against Church of England practices. The Wesleys had a special interest in teaching the Bible to outcasts, paupers, prisoners, all manner of “hopeless” people. In 1736 the Wesley brothers sailed to Georgia. Impressed with the humble piety of Moravians, the Wesley brothers linked their first Methodist group in England to a Moravian congregation. Methodism was from the beginning a strong lay movement. The Methodist church grew phenomenally even from inception and by 2000 had 8-1/2 million members in the United States. The Wesleys used a circuit rider system of preaching, beginning in 1739.
By 1783, ancestors of our present day church members had settled in the area. Wesley Grove United Methodist Church, a hundred years later, was part of the circuit system, initially on a circuit of 10 churches, then 5 churches, and finally 3 churches. Methodists became the majority religion in Maryland by the early 1800’s, and the denomination began splitting into various groups, the largest split over slavery.
In 1872, only three years after the Methodist Church allowed laymen to attend Annual Conference, Wesley Grove began as an open air Sunday School class in a grove of chestnuts. Those chestnuts have vanished, replaced by a row of homes along Route 124, several of them homes of Wesley Grove members. The Sunday School Society of Chestnut Grove—the origin of today’s church—was founded by C.J. Burdette, Charles W. Browning, Singleton L. King and F.B. Day. In 1947, the still active Wesley Grove Sunday School began giving pins for attendance. A current member of the Wesley Grove congregation, Elizabeth Burdette, received a 25-year pin. Wesley Grove incorporated as Wesley Grove Methodist Episcopal Church in 1910, and, when the southern and northern branches of the Methodist churches reunited in 1939, changed its name to Wesley Grove Methodist Church. In 1969, when the Evangelical United Brethren united with the Methodists, Wesley Grove became Wesley Grove United Methodist Church.
Farmers founded the Montgomery County Agricultural Society and a county fair to exhibit new livestock and show farm machinery. Wesley Grove member Jim Kemp remembers his father’s cash crop of worm weed, a plant sold for medicinal purposes. Harrison King, a Wesley Grove Methodist Church member, helped establish the Montgomery County fairground with standing buildings in Gaithersburg, where Wesley Grove members became known first for running a food booth selling hot dogs and hamburgers, and later for managing the fair dining room, producing breakfasts, lunches and dinners. As many as 100 members and friends of Wesley Grove worked the fair each day. Older church members taught youngsters how to pat oysters, fry chicken, shuck corn, and peel mountains of potatoes.
In 1880, Singleton L. King donated land across from the open air Sunday School to build Wesley Grove Methodist Church. That year, the church had 78 Sunday School members. The Wesley Grove parsonage was in Laytonsville until the church built its own in 1959. With a committee spearheaded by Singleton L. King, David Ward, James Burdette, Eli G. Ward, John Burdette, and J. Oscar Burns, a new Wesley Grove Church was erected on the old site in 1910. The building had two rooms, the sanctuary and, behind it, the Sunday School. The beautiful stained glass windows were donated by various groups and individuals in the church. Men of the church built this structure.
In 1883, Thomas G. Woodfield bought an acre of land very close to the present day church. The Woodfield Store supplied products as diverse as shoes, gingham and farm needs. Woodfield became the name of the community in which Wesley Grove United Methodist Church was built. Thomas Woodfield was first postmaster of Woodfield. The James B. Hawkins family, later owners, sold supplies to the community for 75 years. They sold the store to the Ralph Ketchums. Descendants of all three families belong today to the Wesley Grove church.
The Ladies Aid Society, now United Methodist Women, elected its original officers: Mrs. J.B. Hawkins, Mrs. Nettie Woodfield, Hattie King, and Gertrude Darby. In 1909, the group raised $550 to purchase the building where our present Sunday School meets; they also bought a pump organ for $52 by selling dinners and calendars.
Today our church has grown. The original Sunday School room has become part of the expanded sanctuary. Our Education Building has been expanded. Wesley Grove UMC is a church with old traditions and modern goals. We have church members related to the original members as well as people who originated far from Woodfield. We have programs for people of various ages with different interests. We are a church who likes to eat together, serving great meals to the public and to ourselves. Come visit our friendly church community.
