Reverend Janet Cornelius is originally from the Gaithersburg area, and so she was very glad for her 2001 appointment to a position in Montgomery County.

After being ordained to ministry in mid-life, Reverend Janet graduated from The Wesley Seminary in 1995, and then completed her Master's Degree in Pastoral Counseling from Loyola College in 1998. She has also completed a two-year course in Spiritual Direction and has been in guidance for almost 20 years.

Certified by The College of Chaplains, Reverend Janet has worked as a hospital chaplain as well as an intern in the Martinsburg West Virginia Veterans Hospital and at Asbury Methodist Home. Combining ministry and motherhood has been challenging. Reverend Janet has three grown daughters all of whom are in the area after living away and traveling extensively. She loves to cook, garden, sew, play the piano, read and chat!

Having grown up in the small-town era of Gaithersburg, Reverend Janet enjoys the close-knit rural community that has become her home. Responding to need in the community is a hallmark of our church, and in that spirit Reverend Janet travels to Baltimore weekly to lead a spiritual group at Carrington House, a halfway house for recovering addicts and men who have been released from prison. She also supports Al-Anon and a clergy group for planning each week, as well as cluster meetings with other area clergy.