St. Barnabas United Methodist Church Early Education Center

Wonderful church with a fantastic congregation. They make you feel right at home. Many different services times to pick from, and they have traditional and contemporary services. My child goes here for preschool as well, and it's more than wonderful.

Great place to call a church home, even for the wondering and unsure. (That's what I was, when I wandered into the back rows of St B). I found a place that accepted me as I was, questions and doubts and all. I found people who touched my life in various ways, and paved a way for me to find faith and get baptized, even though I still have questions and doubts sometimes. It's a place where you can find people who love to think, question, delve into theology, share knowledge, and caring. Having been raised secular Jewish, I'm not a typical church goer, but I love that people in all places of faith are accepted and met where they are. I can't compare since it's my only church I've attended, but I think it was divine guidance that led me to St Barnabas. No one scorned me for my lack of knowledge or faith, not once. No one said I had to fit a particular mode or think a particular way, or I was wrong. What they did say was that God and Jesus loves the lost and the least, those who feel unworthy and those who think grace can't possibly be for them. That the main commandments are to love God and to love each other before all else. That's the kind of church I want to be at, and that's the kind of church St B is. Where love truly rises above judgment of differences. To me, that is what Christianity should be about. I'm so thankful I ended up here.

Came here for the Fall Festival with my family. Very warm welcome from church members. The generosity and kindness from the church motivated me to be more Christ like and less like myself.

Those who are there are open, warm and caring wonderful people. Rev. Kissa always a smile and a laugh in her sermon. I I, and takes her points to Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Arlington's third largest Methodist church, St. Barnabas began in 1977 as an ecumenical congregation led by Methodists and Presbyterians who shared liturgies and theologies, an ideal situation for families of varying denominational backgrounds. Over time, however, St. Barnabas attracted more Methodists until the original 60-40 split made no sense, so it became United Methodist in 1986. And yet since, little changed as charter members (including Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Disciples of Christ, etc.) continued to call St. B home. Some of St. B's Presbyterians founded Grace Presbyterian Church in 1986, but even they remember their St. B days positively. Diversity and mission works have expanded at St. Barnabas with many Catholics joining its ranks. Perhaps its most famous local charity is the Open Arms Clinic (opened Nov. 2011) located on Little Road, and its most far-flung charity is probably the Granadillo 2 Village in Nicaragua, which has been an ongoing concern since about 2012 or 2013. I've never seen one church with so many retired ministers! Perhaps that is another reason why St. Barnabas United Methodist Church is known for its generosity.