Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been living in the Germantown area for over 50 years. We often refer to ourselves as “Latter-day Saints” rather than the more commonly known term “Mormon.” Our first building built in upper Montgomery County was constructed by local members and completed in 1979. Three congregations use the large building off of Clopper Road at 18900 Kingsview Road, comprising around 1,400 members. One of the congregations is in Spanish and a small group comprised of French speakers also attend an English-speaking congregation. Owing to the diversity of our area, the birthplaces of our members are quite diverse, from over a hundred countries. There’s also a chapel in Kentlands which hosts both English and Mandarin Chinese speaking congregations with some members living in Germantown.

Leadership is comprised of a lay clergy. These members give up their time to serve people in the community. They come from all walks of life. For example, in one Germantown congregation, the Bishop works at an accounting firm while one of his counselors is a car mechanic (from Laos) and another a software engineer (from Brazil), with the main leader for the women organization a school teacher. Women in each congregation make up the Relief Society, a world-wide organization helping those in need. Youth attend their own Sunday classes and weekly activities. Young children ages 3-11 attend Primary classes and learn how to sing.

Members engage in many community efforts throughout the year, and are always excited to help in new ways! Each fall as school begins, the Primary children gather school supplies to donate for their peers who may need them. Youth serve in a variety of service projects throughout the year. For two weeks each year, members help provide meals to the Interfaith Works Women Center. Red Cross blood drives open to the community are done in the Clopper building around 2-3 times each year. Last November, members in the Germantown area served alongside others in the community as part of the 2nd annual Rise Against Hunger event. After raising over $15,000 in donations, over 240 volunteers packed around 40,000 meals for those in need that were shipped around the world. Refugee efforts are near and dear to us, and we are always looking for more ways to help newcomers to our area. Members also participate in the Interfaith 5K that happens every Labor Day and are excited to do so again this year! We hope to continue to make more interfaith relationships in the Germantown area.

Matt McKnight

Outreach Coordinator, Seneca Stake

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints