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Rev. Ben Roberts joined Foundry United Methodist Church as Associate Pastor and Director of
Social Justice Ministries in 2013. He was named Executive Director of Program and Justice
Ministries in 2022.
Rev. Roberts is especially passionate about engaging the church in acts that both
care for individuals in their physical needs, and for the community in our systemic needs. He
believes we’re called to acts of mercy and justice as Christians who take seriously the
commandment to love your neighbor, knowing that God first loved us. Ben believes our work is
more effective as a community, in partnerships with other communities of faith and neighbors of
good will.
A cradle Methodist, Ben grew up in Oak Island, N.C. as the son and maternal grandson of
Methodist pastors. He received his B.A. in Religion from Greensboro College in 2008, his Master
of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary in 2013, and an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit
Management from Georgetown University in 2020.
Prior to joining Foundry, Pastor Ben’s experiences include working with North Carolina
Congressman Brad Miller; spending a year teaching English with a non-profit in Ouagadougou,
Burkina Faso; and working with American University’s Housing and Dining Programs.
While earning his M. Div. at Wesley, Ben also completed a two-year field placement on Capitol
Hill with the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS), the public policy arm of the United
Methodist Church. While at GBCS, his work focused on Peace with Justice issues, including the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Sudan, conflict minerals in eastern Democratic Republic of
Congo, Israel/Palestine peace efforts, and the United Methodist program known as Imagine No
Malaria.
Upon graduating Wesley Seminary in 2013, Ben was approached to fill an interim position at
Foundry, where he had been teaching elementary age Sunday school for two years. After a brief
interim period, Ben was hired full-time to his current position as the Director of Social
Justice Ministries.
He was ordained with full clergy orders as a Deacon in 2017 by the North Carolina Annual
Conference and is officially on loan to the Baltimore-Washington Conference for his appointment.
In his present role, Ben oversees 13 ministry teams working in various areas of justice and
mercy ministries — from cooking and clothing, to securing identification documents, advocating
for DC’s unhoused population, to advancing efforts for full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ persons in the
life and ministry of The United Methodist Church.
The Greensboro College Alumni Association honored Pastor Ben with the Young Alumni Award in
2015. He was also named by Bishop Hope Morgan Ward to The United Methodist Ecumenical and
Interreligious Training fellowship in 2018.
Pastor Ben loves being outside, and enjoys trips to the beach, surfing, tennis and basketball.
And while he enjoys supporting DC United and the Washington Nationals, he remains painfully
loyal to his hometown teams: the Carolina Hurricanes, Carolina Panthers and Charlotte Hornets.
He lives with his spouse Cortney, sons George and Henry, and dog Nora in Southwest D.C.
