By Ashley M. Casey
Staff Writer
To celebrate its 60th anniversary, the congregation of Community Wesleyan Church is ramping up its community outreach.
“We don’t just exist for the people who come to the church,” said Pastor Carl Chapman. “We reach out … and try to serve the community.”
Starting this month, CWC will host a variety of activities and drives through the spring of 2017. One of the Sunday school classes is putting together bags of supplies for the homeless, including a pillow, toiletries, snacks and a Bible.
The church has anniversary outreach plans tentatively planned through April 2017, including:
• October: Trunk or Treat, 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29 — Children are welcome to trick-or-treat in the church parking lot, followed by games, refreshments and prizes.
• November: Operation Christmas Child — The church collects shoeboxes full of gifts for Samaritan’s Purse, which distributes the presents to children in need around the world.
• December: Ring the Bell for the Salvation Army Red Kettles
• February: Food drive for the Baldwinsville Community Food Pantry
• March: Event to honor first responders
• April: Easter Eggstravaganza
“As Christians, we’re here to serve,” said Ruth Hill, a longtime member of CWC. “Everyone in this church seems to be serving one way or another.”
Hill and her husband, Dick, are founding members of CWC. Their family — which included children Ron, Chuck and Sue — accounted for more than half of the nine people who attended CWC’s first prayer meeting Sept. 13, 1956, in the simple concrete building on the corner of Downer Street and Frawley Drive. CWC held its first service Oct. 14, 1956.
“When the church first opened, we might have had 20 or 30 people,” Hill said. Now, according to Chapman, attendance at the 11 a.m. Sunday service averages 165 people.
Hill said CWC is like a second family.
“We care for one another. We love each other like family,” she said.
“It’s great to be old enough [to celebrate] 60 years but still be young enough to have some founding members of the church,” Chapman said of congregants like Ruth Hill.
Chapman said when he became senior pastor in 2000, church attendance had dwindled to about 90 people. He worked to attract new members, especially young people. CWC now has various programs to appeal to all ages, including prayer groups, Bible studies and Sunday school for adults, men’s and women’s small groups or retreats and activities for children, such as vacation bible school, “Junior Church” and afterschool activities.
The church is also home to the Baldwinsville Addiction Awareness Group, founded by Angela Stevens to support families who have been affected by addiction.
Chapman said CWC has expanded its offerings and reaches out to its flock on social media.
The Baldwinsville Public Access Channel records CWC’s services for those who cannot attend.
“As our culture changes, we have to be current … in a sense of how we minister,” Chapman said. “The message stays the same.”
Chapman said CWC will continue in its goal to help B’ville residents build a relationship with God.
“All through the years, this church family has been so important to me,” Hill said. “The church has grown. The people that come feel that this is their home. It means so much.”
Community Wesleyan Church is located at 112 Downer St. in Baldwinsville. To learn more, visit communitywesleyanchurch.com.
