CRIER-February 2013

THE WESLEY CRIER February, 2013 PAGE 1

OFFICE HOURS:

Monday – Friday

9:00 a.m. – 3:00p.m.

302-678-9626

302-678-9627 (Fax)

The Wesley Crier Facebook: Wesley UMC Dover

E-mail: [email protected]

Webpage: www.wesleyumc-dover.com

OUR VISION

Historic Wesley Church in

downtown Dover, Delaware is

an open and welcoming con-

gregation, which makes disci-

ples of Jesus Christ by pro-

claiming God’s love through

✞A variety of Worship Ser-

vices which speaks to both

heart and mind,

✞Bible study, fellowship, and

nurture which lead to mean-

ingful and disciplined Christian

living,

✞Christian outreach ministries

which serve those near and

far,

✞Combined activities which

involve other area churches

and faith communities.

Wesley Church welcomes

all individuals and seeks to

minister to the spiritual and

physical needs and concerns,

as God reveals them to us.

Members and neighbors of all

ages and stages in life,

The homeless, hungry, and

hurting,

Employees of the various lev-

els of government, including

the military,

People in the nearby educa-

tion and business communi-

ties.

Wesley Church’s prominent

steeple is a sign of our com-

mitment to our vision and is a

beacon of faith, hope, and

love in this state capital.

Where are we going?

At the leadership training event on Janu-

ary 13, one of the areas we discussed are the overall goals of Wesley Church. For the

past year, we have been focused upon these three:

1. Spiritual Formation

2. Reaching Younger People

3. Mission

Our secondary goals have been communication, the annex, and

worship times.

In 2013, we will continue to focus on these even as we update the specific ways we will accomplish them.

If you are not yet a part of a small group, I ask you to join one. There are many wonderful opportunities on Sunday mornings and

throughout the week. New Sunday morning opportunities at 8:45 include my class on Church History in the Library, and Dr. Brant-ley Craig teaching on world religion in the parlor. This is his field

at Wesley College. Then starting April 14, Larry Josefowski will be leading “Serious Answers to Hard Questions” and details are in

the newsletter. Small groups are essential to spiritual health and growth, but of

course they are not the only aspect of spiritual formation. I invite you to reflect upon your prayer life individually and with others.

Have you been on retreat recently? There are opportunities at Pecometh, including silent retreat Jan. 28-Feb. 2 and July 29-

Aug. 2. You may go for the week, a few days, or a day. Pecometh has many other day-long opportunities throughout the year. Walk to Emmaus is another retreat opportunity to consider;

ask Jack Willis for more details.

As a church family, we need to do more reflection upon the goal of reaching younger people. This is not something we are doing with excellence. Please pray and be open to the moving of the

Holy Spirit in this need. Continued on page 3

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.wesleyumc-dover.com


Inside this issue:

From the Pastor’s Desk 1

UMW Circle Meetings 2

UMM’s Update 2

Lenten Bible Study 2

New Members Classes 2

Pastor’s Message - Continued 3

New Small Gropup Classes 3

Note from the Branches 3

Lent 4

Lent - continued 5

Missions 6

Disaster Classes 7

Celebrating New Members 8

Call for Singers & Ringers 8

Worship Schedule for Lent 9

Resolution #3426. Gun Violence 10

Gun Violence- Continued 11

Web Update 11

Christian Education 12

Teen Bible Challenge 13

Calendar 14

Birthday Calendar 15

Family Life Bowling Party 15

United Methodist Women

Circle Meetings

Mary Circle — 1:00 p.m. Thurs-

day, February 14th @ Heritage at

Dover, Bistro

Rosemary Circle — 1:00 p.m.

Wednesday, February 13th @ Lu-

ther Towers #1, Conference

Room

Sylvia Circle — 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, February 13th @ the

home of Helene Zeman

Barbara Circle — 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday, February 12th @ the

home of Beverly Hughes

United Methodist Men

Update

The United Methodist Men deliv-

ered 300 lbs. of food donations to

the First Baptist Church, distribu-

tion center for the month of January

2013.

The United Methodist Men are

honoring the Boy Scouts with our

celebration of Scout Sunday on

February 3, 2013.

We are having one of our social

events with our spouses, with a

meal at “Where Pigs Fly” on

Wednesday, February 6, 2013 at

5:30 pm. Those wishing to attend

should contact Ralph Deats at

734.7010.

30 Minute Lenten

Bible Study

Come join us at Wesley United Method-

ist Church in Grace Fellowship Hall on

Wednesdays, starting February 20th at

12:15 - 12:45 p.m. for lunch, teaching and

discussion centered around The Way by

Adam Hamilton. Books are available in the

church office for $12.00.

Bring a sack lunch, sit back, watch a

short video, and discuss the video togeth-

er. For more information call the church

office at 302.678.9626.

If you are interested in exploring the meaning of membership in Wesley United

Methodist Church, mark your calendars for this four-part series of classes.

Participants will be invited into deeper understanding; attending the classes is a way of deciding if membership vows are

for you. Classes are led by Pastor Amy, as well

as additional church leaders who vary each week. Class to be held on Sunday evenings in

the Parlor from 6-7:30 p.m. on the follow-ing dates: February 24th, March 3rd,

March 10th and March 17th. Call the church office 302-678-9626 to sign up and for more information about

the classes.

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Continued from page 1

Where are we going?

We continue to grow in our missional outreach and service. I encour-age you to commit to being personally active in service through your

financial giving, support of the food pantry and clothing closet, and giving of your time to do things like serve in the clothing closet, serve dinner at the Shelter, wrap gifts for the Angel Tree, help the United

Methodist Men take the food to the pantry, etc. As we serve, remem-ber this is an opportunity to enter relationship with others, and show

them what love looks like. Perhaps God will provide an opportunity to invite someone to join us at Wesley Church.

We continue to work on communication, in many forms, recognizing that we have a variety of communication preferences, ranging from speech, to paper, the telephone,

to the computer. Special thanks to Larry Josefowksi in his role as website manager. At the January Council meeting, there was a discussion about the process to be used for evaluating

the worship timing come April and May. Stay tuned for more news. The Annex continues to be on the long term agenda. If you have thoughts or ideas, please share them with a member of church coun-

cil, as that is the group that will make ultimate decisions. Please hold these in prayer. Pray that our church will hear the leading of the Spirit as we seek to be

faithful in focusing upon spiritual formation, reaching younger people, and mission. Commit them memory and be warned, there may be pop quizzes! Seek God’s leading in how you are to be a part

of what God is doing among us.

Pastor Amy

Two New Small Group Opportunities at 8:45 a.m. on Sundays

Christianity and World Religion: Dr. Brantley Craig, who teaches Religion and Literature at Wesley College, will be teaching Christianity & World Religion

here on Sunday mornings at 8:45; the first class was held on Sunday Jan. 27. You are invited to come to the Parlor and join the group.

Serious Answers to Hard Questions: Larry Josefowski, will lead the group

in discussion following a 30 minute video hosted by Bishop Kenneth Carder. Starting April 14th: Evil

April 21st: Evangelism and Tolerance April 28th: The God of the Old Testament

May 5th: Resurrection May 12th: The Sins of the Church

Life presents us with a lot of hard questions. In this thought-provoking and inspiring course, leading theologians address issues that are obstacles to faith for many both in and outside of the church. The

goal of this "Serious Answers" course is to encourage energetic discussion and sustained reflection by both believers and seekers.


Learning About Lent Pastor Amy

(This article is taken from multiple resources, and is not original scholarship.)

The key to understanding the meaning of Lent is simple: Baptism. Preparation for Baptism and for renewing baptismal commitment lies at the heart of

the season.

History Why is Baptism so important in our Lenten understanding? Lent as a 40-day season developed in

the fourth century from three merging sources. The first was the ancient paschal fast that began as a two-day observance before Easter but was gradually lengthened to 40 days. The second was the

catechumenate as a process of preparation for Baptism, including an intense period of preparation for the Sacraments of Initiation to be celebrated at Easter. The third was the Order of Penitents,

which was modeled on the catechumenate and sought a second conversion for those who had fallen back into serious sin after Baptism. As the catechumens (candidates for Baptism) entered their final period of preparation for Baptism, the penitents and the rest of the community accompanied them

on their journey and prepared to renew their baptismal vows at Easter. Thus, Lent is a season of fasting, of preparation for baptism, and a time for those who have fallen away to renew their com-

mitment. It is a season in which we examine our spiritual lives more deeply, and commit ourselves once again to the journey with Christ.

Lent is 40 days, but if you go to a calendar and count from Ash Wednesday to Easter, you will find

there are 46 days on the calendar. This is because Sundays are excluded. They are always the Lord’s Day, and a day in which we celebrate the resurrection; thus they are excluded from the count.

The number 40 is found throughout the Bible as short hand to refer to “enough time to accomplish something.” It is common for people to add a spiritual practice to their Lenten journey. It so hap-

pens that modern research shows that six weeks is about the amount of time it takes to form a new habit. The saints who came before us knew this well.

Ash Wednesday

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. Ashes are applied to our forehead in the sign of the cross as the words, "Remember, you are dust and to dust you shall return" are spoken to us. The other formula which is used, "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel," emphasizes our call to continual

conversion and holiness of life. This act symbolizes our mortality as well as our need for ongoing re-pentance. It is a reminder that this life is short and merely a foreshadowing of what we shall become

through the redemption of Jesus Christ on the cross. The work of our redemption will not be com-plete until we are raised from the dead, in resurrected bodies like His own and called to the eternal

communion of heaven. The ashes for Ash Wednesday normally are made from blessed palm branches from the previous Palm Sunday.

Fasting This Lent, we are inviting our community to practice fasting. (For the details about the mission focus of fasting, please read the Mission News article.) Fasting is one of the “means of grace” identified by

John Wesley. Wesley fasted twice per week on Wednesdays and Fridays and understood it to be a way of connecting to God’s grace.

Here I share with you what Steve Manskar writes about why we practice fasting. “Fasting, or absti-nence, focuses attention on our need for God. Wesley identifies five grounds or reasons for fasting: sorrow for sin, bodily health, avoidance of excessive consumption, self-punishment, and as an aid to

prayer. Continued on page 5

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The union of fasting to prayer was especially important for Wesley, who saw it as a means ‘of con-firming and increasing, not only virtue, nor chastity only (as some have idly imagined without any

ground either from Scripture, reason, or experience), but also seriousness of spirit, earnestness, sen-sibility and tenderness of conscience; deadness to the world, and consequently the love of God and

very holy and heavenly affection.”

For John Wesley, fasting is a means for removing barriers that we erect between ourselves and God. It is a real emptying of self that makes room for the Holy Spirit to replace sinful habits and attitudes with holy habits. Fasting is a means for maintaining a healthy orientation away from sin and toward

the cross. It teaches self-denial and discipline that facilitates prayer and searching the Scripture. Fasting is also one of the means of grace that helps create a concrete connection between the life of

following Christ and living in solidarity with the poor. It allows those who practice it to experience some of the suffering and sorrow that are a normal part of the life of poverty; namely, never having enough of what is needed for life. Fasting leads to a life of simplicity.

Wesley believed “fasting is the avoidance of excessive consumption of food, along with a carelessness and levity of spirit, and an increase in foolish and unholy desires, yea unclean and vile affections

which accompany such consumption.” Fasting helps to lead us away from dependence upon and con-sumption of things, (which lead to idolatry), and leads us into a deeper relationship with Christ and the simplicity of his life. It helps to set us free from our “stuff” so we can more faithfully, and without

fear, draw closer to the poor.

This Lent, I pray that you will join in the practice of fasting, and support the local and international mission focus we are adopting for the season, as highlighted in the Mission article. I pray that you will engage in self-examination. A printed resource describing “how-to” for several spiritual disciplines will

be available for your use. May these words from the United Methodist Book of Worship bless and guide you:

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: the early Christians observed with great devotion

the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church that before the Easter celebration

there should be a forty–day season of spiritual preparation. During this season converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when persons who had committed serious sins

and had separated themselves from the community of faith were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness,

and restored to participation in the life of the Church. In this way the whole congregation was reminded

of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ

and the need we all have to renew our faith. I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church,

to observe a holy Lent: by self–examination and repentance;

by prayer, fasting, and self–denial; and by reading and meditating on God's Holy Word.


Missions in Motion

In 2012 Wesley Church reached out in many ways to various missions. We provided meals at the Dover Interfaith Mission for Housing, actively partici-pated in the annual CROP walk in Kent County, introduced Fair Trade prod-

ucts, provided and wrapped Christmas gifts for children of incarcerated par-ents, provided food for the First Baptist Food Pantry and rang the bell for

the Salvation Army. This is just a small sampling of the love and generosity that you have, extending throughout the year. Your contributions have also made a difference in many areas of missions through the year. Your sup-

port of approximately $42,000 in 2012 contributed to these areas of mis-

sion:

United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), Missionary in Liberia, Heif-er Project, Africa University Fund, Red Bird Missions, Central Congo Partner-ship, Neighborhood House, Volunteers in Mission, Board of Childcare, Imag-

ine No Malaria, Board of Ordained Ministry (BOOM) – Peninsula Delaware Conference, Pecometh, Kent Ecumenical Food and Crisis Fund, Habitat for Humanity – Central Dela-

ware, Hope Medical Clinic Inc., Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Salvation Army Dover, Shepherd Place, Whatcoat Shelter, Dover Interfaith Mission for Housing (DIMH), Prison Ministries, Whatcoat Soup Kitchen, Calvary Baptist Soup Kitchen, Mt. Zion Soup Kitchen, Mom’s House and First Baptist

Food Pantry.

In 2012 the mission committee was led by Jack Willis. The committee says thank you to Jack. We truly appreciated his commitment, encouragement, love, dedication and knowledge. We will miss

having Jack on the committee with us in 2013, but know that his love and dedication for missions will

continue through the year.

In 2013 the mission committee will be led by Donna Josefowski and Janet Krauss. Donna and Janet both look forward to continuing to serve many our current mission areas and to joining the committee

in opening the doors to new opportunities for service.

In 2012 the church made a commitment to partner with Habitat for Humanity-Central Delaware in

2013. This commitment is not ours alone. We have joined a faith community known as an Apostles Build of 10 other churches in the area: Freedom Baptist Church, Felton Viola UMC, Calvary Assembly

of God, Grace Presbyterian, Wyoming UMC, Presbyterian Church of Dover, First Southern Baptist Church, Christ Episcopal Church-Dover, Holy Cross Catholic Church and Hope UMC. We will be build-ing a home in Frederica, Delaware. The Apostles Build will begin with our future homeowner speaking

to us on Sunday, February 24th during the 9:45a.m. service and then joining us for fellowship hour. The building will begin Saturday, March 2nd and continue through anticipated completion of Saturday,

June 8th. Wesley Church will select a Saturday to participate in building the home. We will be soon asking for volunteers to help us build. No skills are required, just love and friendship. This is just

one of the many exciting new opportunities for Wesley to serve our community in Christ’s name.

Prayerfully Submitted - Wesley Missions Committee


HURRICANE SANDY HAS DONE HER DAMAGE

AND NOW IS TIME TO RESPOND Relief efforts are currently underway in the Crisfield/Somerset area of the Peninsula-Delaware Conference and trained response teams are needed. While many have responded, the need is

GREAT and URGENT. To meet this need, training is being provided in Winter/Spring 2013 to train and credential teams to respond on behalf of the UMC.

Churches are encouraged to send teams of three or more, as single individuals are harder to connect with other trained teams to be deployed. All training is good for 3 years; badging/credentialing is contingent on completion of all requirements. You must attend entire session to re-

ceive credit/CEUs.

Courses being offered in each district in 2013 include:

Basic Disaster 101 (pre-req for new responders)

Basic Disaster Ministry is an introduction for all people interested in the unique and important role the faith community plays in disaster readiness and response in the United States. Participants learn about disasters, traditional responses to a disaster and how the faith-based response is different,

how to prepare for a disaster, and how to get involved after disaster strikes. The module provides a vision of disaster response that includes emotional and spiritual care as well as physical rebuilding to

assist in long-term recovery of those in need, and addresses the unmet needs of all survivors, partic-ularly people who were vulnerable before a disaster.

Early Response Team training

Early Response Teams (ERTs) are often the first people on the ground providing aid after a disaster strikes. Their mission is to create a caring presence. They immediately help to clean things up and

make homes safe, sanitary and secure. ERT volunteers must go through ERT training with UMCOR. This ensures that they will operate under specific guidelines that allow them to be productive and caring while causing no further harm or being a burden to the affected community. Disaster Response Spiritual Care Team training Provides training in identifying spiritual and emotional needs of individuals, communities, and congregations following disasters; responding to those needs; elaborating strategies for disaster re-

sponders’ self-care and understanding how Care Teams fit into the overall United Methodist disaster-response structure. UMCOR’s Care Team trainings are compliant with credentialing stand-

ards of the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (National VOAD)

Fri., Feb. 15 Basic Disaster 101 Location: Mariners Bethel UMC, Ocean View, DE

Time: 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. Cost: $5 for materials (waived if also registered for Sat. training)

Sat., Feb. 16 Early Response Team training or Disaster Response Spiritual Care Team

training Location: Mariners Bethel UMC, Ocean View, DE

Time: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. (lunch will be provided) Cost: $30 for lunch, T shirt, and materials

Sun. Feb. 17 Training for Team Leaders (required to lead a team)

Location: Mariners Bethel UMC, Ocean View, DE Time: 2 - 6 p.m.

Cost: $0 but pre-registration is required

You can pick up a complete packet in the church office. Registration ends five days prior

to the event.


In January, we were blessed to receive ten peo-ple into the covenant of membership. Be sure to

welcome them as you meet them. At the 8:00 service, Cheryl Williams joined. At the 9:45 ser-

vice, Diane Bean, April Doyle, Pete & Mary Jack-son, and Barbara Naye joined. At the 11:15 ser-

vice Mark Houlihan, Beatrice Lacklen, Sarah My-ers, and Anne Oliphant joined. Of course, regard-less of what time we worship, we are all part of

the family that is Wesley Church.

In new membership classes, one of the things we discuss is “What does it mean to be a member?”. In our membership vows, we commit to give God

our “Prayers, Presence, Gifts, Service, and Wit-ness”.

To give this more specificity, we distribute the following seven points to those who join.

1. Worship each week unless prevented (i.e., by illness). If traveling, visit another church.

2. Invite others to become a part of God’s church.

3. Prayer and Study life: Pray individually, or with family, with and for the church family and world.

4. Participate in small group ministry. 5. Be intentional about being a part of this

family and nurturing one another. 6. Share resources that God has entrusted

through giving to God’s church. Begin with at

least 3% and work toward a tithe of 10% by increasing each year, with a goal of reaching

tithing in five years. 7. Be sent out to serve, using the Spiritual gifts

God has given you, to fulfill our shared mis-sion, for the transformation of the world.

One of the things we do when we receive mem-

bers is recommit ourselves to the life of disciple-ship.

Pastor Amy

Do you like to sing? Prayerfully consider joining the Chancel Choir. Weekly rehearsals are on

Thursdays from 7:00 until 8:30 p.m. in the

Choir Room. No audition is necessary.

Interested in joining the Joyful Noise Handbell Choir? Weekly rehearsals are on Wednesdays

from 6:30 until 8:00 p.m. in the Bell Room. No

audition is necessary.

Does your son or daughter under the age of 12 like to sing? Consider having them join the Chil

- dren's Choir. Weekly rehearsals are on Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. in the Bell Room.

For more information please contact Dr. James Wilson, Director of Music, at [email protected] or

(302) 736-2466.


Worship Schedule for Lent

Ash Wednesday February 13

12:00 p.m. Service of Ashes in the Chapel 7:00 p.m. Service of Ashes in the Sanctuary

Sundays in Lent

February 17 First Sunday in Lent February 24 Second Sunday in Lent

March 3 Third Sunday in Lent March 10 Fourth Sunday in Lent

March 17 Fifth Sunday in Lent

Palm Sunday March 24 Palm Sunday

March 28 Maundy Thursday Service 7:00 p.m. Tenebrae Service

Good Friday March 29 Community Service at Christ Episcopal Church

12:00 p.m. State and Water Streets, Dover, DE

March 30 Annual Easter Event

10:30 a.m. Sponsored by Family Life Committee Grace Fellowship Hall

March 31 Easter Sunday

6:00 a.m. Sunrise Service Breakfast in Grace Fellowship Hall from 7 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.

8:00 a.m. Early Worship

9:45 a.m. Worship 11:15 a.m. Worship

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Resolution #3426. Gun Violence: The Official Position of the UMC

Violence and, more particularly, violence to children and youths, is a primary concern for United Methodists.

We recognize and deplore violence which kills and injures children and youths. In the name of Christ, who came "and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near" (Ephesians 2:17) and challenged all his disciples to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9), we call upon the church to affirm its faith

through vigorous efforts to curb and eliminate gun violence. Gun violence is killing children throughout the world, including the United States. In the United States alone, there are an estimated 223 million firearms. Approximately one out of every three households owns a hand-

gun. The risk of handgun violence to children and youths is more prevalent in the United States today than in any previous generation. Communities and schools in the United States are so exposed to large numbers of privately owned guns that no mere attempts at providing slightly better security can match the awful threat of guns finding their way through our well-intentioned safety systems.

Many children go to school amidst passionately violent segments of current youth culture. No appeals to in-dividual autonomy are sufficient to justify our church's ignorance of this threat. The need to prevent the inci-dence of firearm-related injury and death is an issue of increasing concern and a priority public-health issue.

The United Methodist Church is among those religious communions calling for social policies and personal lifestyles that bring an end to senseless gun violence. Gun violence in U.S. schools has emerged as a growing and disturbing trend. The United Methodist Church

supports ministries that address the issue of violence and crime prevention for children/youths in urban are-as through the Communities of Shalom. Violence is no longer confined to the streets of urban areas but has occurred at an increasing rate in U.S. suburban communities. Over the past several years, high-profile cases

of school shootings involving suburban youths killing and injuring teachers and peers alike have once again brought the issue of guns and youth to the forefront of national attention. Amnesty International reports that hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world are killed every

year because of the unregulated small-arms trade. The small-arms trade, which includes such arms as as-sault weapons and shoulder-fired missiles, is legal but out of control. Amnesty International reports that as many as 639 million small arms and light weapons are in circulation around the world. The small-arms trade

incites local conflicts, which so often lead to unnecessary human-rights abuses. The proliferation of small arms has led to the forced recruitment of children into war, and local ethnic conflicts escalating into destabi-lizing regional warfare. We urge all nations where there is a presence of The United Methodist Church to par-ticipate in the process of developing a legally binding Arms Trade Treaty through the United Nations to regu-

late the transfer of all small arms and light weapons so as to curb gun violence throughout the world. These acts of senseless violence should not be an acceptable occurrence in any community: suburban, urban or rural. The church must continue to address these issues of violence and develop programs to enrich the

lives of all children/youths. In light of the increase of gun violence affecting the lives of children and youths, we call upon The United Methodist Church to:

1. convene workshops of clergy and mental health care professionals from communities (urban, rural and

suburban) in which gun violence has had a significant impact in order to discuss ways by which The United

Methodist Church should respond to this growing tragedy, and to determine what role the church should take in facilitating dialogue to address the issue of gun violence in our schools and among our children;

2. educate the United Methodist community (parents, children and youths) on gun safety, violence preven-

tion, adult responsibility around gun-violence prevention, and the public health impact of gun violence;

3. identify community-based, state and national organizations working on the issue of gun violence, and

seek their assistance to design education and prevention workshops around the issue of gun violence and its effect on children and youths;

4. develop advocacy groups within local congregations to advocate for the eventual reduction of the availa-

bility of guns in society with a particular emphasis upon handguns, handgun ammunition, assault weapons, automatic weapons, automatic weapon conversion kits and guns that cannot be detected by traditionally used metal-detection devices. These groups can be linked to community-based, state and national organiza-

tions working on gun and violence issues;

5. support federal legislation in the U.S. Congress to regulate the importation, manufacturing, sale and pos-

session of guns and ammunition by the general public. Such legislation should include provisions for the reg-istration and licensing of gun purchasers and owners, appropriate background investigation and waiting peri-ods prior to gun purchase, and regulation of subsequent sale;

Continued on page 11


Wesley Church or (http://www.wesleyumc-dover.com) has had a

presence on the web for a long time, but in 2012 the web site un-derwent some major changes. We went from hosting our own site

on our servers to “the cloud”. You may have heard the phrase used a lot, especially during Super Bowl commercials, but it simply is where the site isn’t in the building anymore. This provides reliability

and redundancy – the site remains up even if power to our building goes down.

However, that isn’t really what most people notice. It looks a lot different than a year ago. The Church decided to go with the Word-Press platform, with the basic look and feel purchased through a

company called Faith Highway. The WordPress environment or “platform” is available to anyone, for free. If you want to start your

own simple website or blog, it is easy to get up and running, but the real power of the platform is in the ability to add modules or “plug-

ins” to do just about anything you want – quite often (and in all cases on our web site) available

through “open source”, which for us means the ones we add in are free. For example, one module that works behind the scene is our reporting plug-in. From this, we

know that we went from about 400 visits a month when we started in July, to over 700 during the month of December. We can tell what parts of the site are visited most (the times of the service) and

what terms people are searching for when they have found us. We feel that this is a great way to be of service to our members, as well as an outreach to others in our community – we have been blessed that at least one person has joined our community from finding out about some of our activi-

ties from our site. We have added the ability to upload the weekly sermons, the map to our church, a Facebook in-

terface and an extract of the church calendar through these modules. They have presented a bit of a challenge at times, but the results are worth it – and we are not done yet. Some things under con-sideration are a book blog, where we might put reviews of books from our library for people to read,

share, and comment about, forms, surveys, and maybe a business directory for members in keeping with one of the General Rules about helping each other in business.

The major goal for the year, however, involves you. What makes a site is content – for us, that is information on what we are doing and what we have done. It is articles, pictures, ideas, documents, videos, recordings, and anything else that helps us build community. We would also love to get help

from people – while the background of building the site isn’t always easy (but not as hard as you might think, either), helping maintain it by adding content and helping with ideas is something a lot

more people can help out. If you want to help out in any way, please contact Pastor Amy or Larry Josefowski.


6. call upon all governments of the world in which there is a United Methodist presence to establish na-tional bans on ownership by the general public of handguns, assault weapons, automatic weapon con-version kits, and weapons that cannot be detected by traditionally used metal-detection devices;

7. call upon the print, broadcasting and electronic media, as well as the entertainment industry, to re-

frain from promoting gun usage to children;

8. discourage the graphic depiction and glorification of violence by the entertainment industry, which

greatly influences our society, and recommend that these issues be addressed through education and consciousness raising;

9. call upon the federal and state governments to provide significant assistance to victims of gun vio-

lence and their families;

10. recommend that annual conferences make visible public witness to the sin of gun violence and to

the hope of community healing; and

11. reflect that the traditional role of The United Methodist Church has been one of safety and sanctu-

ary. Every United Methodist Church is officially declared a weapon-free zone.

http://www.wesleyumc-dover.com


Christian Education By: Chris Countryman

Hello Everyone, Nearly a month has passed since youth rally and I first want to thank all of the parents, volun-

teers that stayed during the weekend, those that helped out with transportation, and all of the com-mittees and families and individuals that provided financial support for kids to attend-thank you. The weekend could not have happened without all of your help and support.

By now I hope your child if they attended has shared their experience with you. There were a few youth who now call Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. I know that type of lingo sounds ultra-

religious and maybe even turn some off, but please allow me to explain briefly what that means. Being a Christian does not mean you have it all together or that you are perfect. It does not mean we shout at others about who is going to heaven and who is going to hell. It means that God has re-

ally and truly humbled us. To the point that we realize that, we are broken and sinful. We realize that we do not have it all together, in fact in our efforts to repair, fix things and work harder at being bet-

ter, it exposes our depravity and brokenness all the more. It simply means we are throwing up the white flag, we put our hands up as in saying, "I surrender, I need help." It is realizing God is at work

and always has been in our lives and we acknowledge our sinfulness and His perfection and say, “Jesus, I am falling, but you are perfect; help me to live my life for you, solely for you. It won't be easy, in fact it is the hardest thing I will ever do, to trust you with my life, with my relationships, my

work, my sins, my time, my secrets, my everything”. Being a Christian is acknowledging who Jesus said He is; God’s son, who left His glory in Heaven

and came to earth with one mission: to die. He died for our sins, and rose from the grave to defeat sin and death. He needed to live a perfectly righteous life, because we never can, and it is His perfect life that we need when we stand before God and we all will. When we acknowledge Jesus as our Lord

and Savior he gives us His life for ours. It’s simply as if Jesus is exchanging his perfect and spotless clothes for our dirty rags. Who would want our dirty rags, Jesus? So when we stand before God, He

sees us as perfect and holy and spotless. That is what calling Jesus Lord and Savior means. I suppose that wasn't brief though, forgive me. We now as Christians pursue God. We desire to be more and more like Him in all that we do. And

it is incredibly hard and challenging and especially humbling, but I pray that you find true purpose, peace and joy living in His presence. There is nothing more important in this world than where we

stand today with Jesus Christ. This decision impacts every area of our lives. I pray that it is impacting you and your families. I pray that we can have conversations about this Jesus and who He is and what that means for us today. Thank you for the opportunity for me to spend time with your children,

telling them all about my Jesus, who loves and forgives and exchanged his beauty for our dirt. Thank you, Wesley Church, for your support of this youth ministry- in all of the countless ways

that you have supported it. I am excited for what God is doing in this ministry and pray that we can take part in it.


Teen Bible Challenge By: Chris Countryman

The average American household owns 4.5 Bibles. 17% of professing Christians polled say that they read their Bible regularly as in every day. I am certainly guilty

of being part of the 83% and I think it makes sense when I see myself struggling with petty issues, not being grateful for the countless blessings I have been given and quite frankly lazy in my efforts and desires to show God's love and grace to oth-

ers. This is a direct cause and effect relationship here. In January, 2013, the youth leadership made the challenge to all the youth and ourselves to read

the Bible every day for the next year. I gave out a reading plan for them to follow if they so choose to do this. I said that every youth that follows through and reads their Bible every day that I will

personally pay for their youth rally registration next year. Now I know this can get expensive and honestly I hope it does. I hope that I invest $750 com-pared to $0 come next January. Now this is a nice incentive for the youth to hopefully read their Bi-

ble, but it is not the sole reason. I believe with all my heart and everything in my being that the Bi-ble is God's message to us. It is an accurate description of real historical events and people, in which

we see God's beautiful artistic display in creation and His plan to redeem His children, back to Him ever since sin entered the world. I believe that if your kids spend time in prayer and in God's word every day that God will greatly

bless them. He will bless them with more knowledge, and wisdom of Himself and that He will slowly create in them a new heart, a heart that is after God's own heart. But they have to want that and so

do you as parents. Is there anything you want more for your kids than for them to live in the image of God, and for His word to take root in their lives? I pray that you will talk to your teens about this challenge, if they want to do it and if you will do it with them. I know God will flood open the doors

of every home with His mercy, grace, love and forgiveness the more we seek after Him.

News articles may inform us. Novels may inspire us. Poetry may enrap-ture us. But only the living, active Word of God can transform us.”

Charles Swindoll

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

So what place will your Bible have in your house: dust collector, book shelf sitter, table leveler, or the first and last precious words you read

your children every day?


Februar y 2013

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

Serenity Church

Ed Bldg. 6 p.m.

Holy Joe Café Grace Fellowship Hall

6:00 p.m.

2

3

Youth Group -

6 p.m. - Ed Bldg

4

Men’s Covenant

Discipleship 7 p.m. - L

5 Men’s Bible Study

7 a.m. - SR

Staff Mtg- 9:30 a.m. - L

Branches 11 a.m. - P

Covenant Discipleship

2 p.m. - P

DCS 7p.m. - GFH

6 Women’s Bible Study

-9:30 a.m. - P

Intercessory Prayer

10:30 a.m. - Chapel

Christian Ed - 6 p.m.

Bell Choir - 6 p.m. - BR

Bible Study 7 p.m. - P

Family Life 7p.m. - L

NA Mtg - 6p.m. SR

7

Pastor Harry’s Book

Study - 12:30 p.m. - P

G. S. 6-9 p.m. GFH

Choir - 7 p.m. - CR

SPRC - 7 p.m. - P

8

Serenity Church

Ed Bldg. 6 p.m.

9

10

Youth Group -

6 p.m. - Ed Bldg

11

ARC - 5:30 - 9 p.m. -

Grace Fellowship Hall

Men’s Covenant Discipleship - L -

7 p.m.


7 a.m. - SR



2 p.m. - P

DCS Board Mtg 6 p.m.

- CR

13 Women’s Bible

Study - 9:30 a.m. - P

Intercessory Prayer

10:30 a.m. - SPC

Ash Wednesday

Service- 12 p.m. - SPC

NA Mtg - 6p.m. SR


Ash Wednesday

Service - 7 p.m. - S

14


Study - 12:30 p.m. - P

Missions - 6 p.m. - P

Choir - 7 p.m. - CR

15

Serenity Church

Ed Bldg. 6 p.m.

16

Family Life Bowling

4 p.m. Dover AFB

17

Youth Group -

6 p.m. - Ed Bldg

18

Men’s Covenant

Discipleship - L -

7 p.m.


SR- 7 a.m.



2 p.m. - P

Trustees - 7 p.m. - P

DCS 7p.m. - GFH

20 Women’s Bible

Study - 9:30 a.m. - P

Intercessory Prayer

10:30 a.m. - Chapel

Lenten BS - 12:15 -

12:45 p.m. GFH

Dinner - 6 p.m. - GFH


Bible Study 7 p.m. - P

21


Study - 12:30 p.m. - P

G. S. 5-9 p.m. - GFH

Steering - 6 p.m. - L

Evangelism - 7 p.m. - L

Choir - 7 p.m. - CR

22

Serenity Church

Ed Bldg. 6 p.m.

23

G.S. 9 a.m. - Noon


Dryda- Shower 1-5 p.m. GFH

24

Youth Group -

6 p.m. - Ed Bldg

25

Men’s Covenant

Discipleship - L -

7 p.m.

Preschool Board Mtg.

- 7 p.m. - P

UMW Executive Mtg.

- 7 p.m. - CR


SR- 7 a.m.



2 p.m. - P

DCS 7p.m. - GFH

27 Women’s Bible

Study - 9:30 a.m. - P

Intercessory Prayer

10:30 a.m. - Chapel

Lenten BS - 12:15 -

12:45 p.m. GFH

NA Mtg - 6p.m. - SR


28


Study - 12:30 p.m. - P

Choir - 7 p.m. - CR

Stewardship - 7 p.m. - P

Finance - 7 p.m. - L

L- Library

P - Parlor

S- Sanctuary

BR - Bell Room

CR - Choir Room SR - Search Class

Room

GFH- Grace

Fellowship Hall

SPC - St. Paul's

Chapel


Our Wes ley Church Family born in February

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

Diane Ennis

Boe Evans

Matthew Ferguson

Todd Mahrenholz Suzanne Parrott

Elaine Souder

2

Tommy Anderson

Jamie Cummings

Paige Hennesy

Ryan Honeycutt- Robinson

Cindy Yenchick

Helene Zeman

3

Tina Cahall

Brantley Craig

Sarah Fox

Debbie Wicks

4

Linda Foskey

Logan Sweeney

5

Virgie Eaton

Robert Ferguson

Eddie McDonald

Lacy Nichols, Sr. Pam Weyandt

6

Crydstal Carey

Steven Rogers

7

Dr. William Fitzhugh

Nancy McKee

Marilyn Taylor

8

Michael Svaby

9

Rylie Faircloth

Jean King

Betty Miller

Nancy Nolan Alma Yerger

10

Tim O’Keefe

James Orth

Debbie Wilkins

11

Samantha Manwiller

Millie Melvin

12

Lynn Pearson

Bill Pickering

Brandon Yoder

13

Jonathan Evans

John Foltz, Jr.

14

Jennifer Divita

Collene Evans

Aubrey Krabill

Stuart Vaughan

15 16

Stephen Devine

Larry Josefowski

Connie Strickland

James Warren

17

Connie Bailey

Frank Virdin

18

Heather Ennis

June Honeycutt

19

Sarah Dempsey

Lynn Zimmerman

20

Mary McCowan

21

Danette Briggs

Barbara Brockton

Joshua Davis

Nathaniel Davis Alma Shelton

Suzie Stehle

Dan Zeman, Sr.

22

Jason Gorlich

Robert Josefowski

Ruth Vehslage

23

Earl Clow

Zachary Davis

Chad Reed, III

Dan Semenick Austin Thorpe

24

Tony Asti

Billy Cooke

Lindsey Downer

Terry Feinour Beth Petit De Mange

25

Fred Ragains

Wayne Voshell

26

Diane Beish

Jay Cooper

Cole Cummings

Stephen Loera

27

Stephanie Behrens

Gabrielle Davis

Levi Wood

28

Tammy Argueta

Christopher Beish

Lauren Casto

William Llyod Paige McNamara

Hosted by Wesley UMC Family Life

at

Dover Air Force Base Bowling

Lanes

Feb. 16th at 4 PM

Sign up in the bulletin insert or call the Church Office prior to Feb. 10th.

Note: If you do not have base access you must report to the main gate between 3:30 and 3:45. Bring photo ID for adults and proof of car insurance.


Pastor Amy Yarnall – [email protected] Harry T. Baxter, Minister of Pastoral Care – [email protected]

Dr. James Wilson, Director of Music - [email protected] Dave Wilkins, Organist - [email protected]

Dan Briggs, Handbell Choir Director - [email protected] Chris Countryman, Christian Ed & Youth Director - [email protected]

Wesley United Methodist Church

209 South State Street

Dover, DE 19901-6727

ASH WEDNESDAY DINNER February 13, 2013, at 6:00 p.m.


This is the day that Lent begins. A day of reflection and pause for all of us to stop and think about the things

that we want to change and the places we want to transform our lives. The ashes symbolize the death and

burial of old things, the thing we want to be rid of, and the beginnings of our journey toward Easter and our

Baptismal renewal.

Prior to the Ash Wednesday Service, the Family Life Committee will provide a dinner of homemade soup, and

pretzel.

Please RSVP before February 10, 2013 by call the office at 678-9626.

CRIER-February 2013

Documents

Transcript of CRIER-February 2013