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LIFE AT CHURCH
By LINDA M. LINONIS
austintown
If you need a hug, attend a 10:30 a.m. Sunday worship service at Wedgewood Park Evangelical Church.
“We’re huggers in Christ’s love,” said Ada Haviland of the spontaneous show of fellowship among the membership. She’s belonged since 1954.
Recently, Pastor Dave Dennis along with Jim Dudley, president of the board; Caroline Wilt, 92, and a member since she was 11; and Haviland, former secretary of the board for many years and missions committee member, talked about the church. It is the 50th year at its location on South Meridian Road and 80th year as a church.
Wilt recalled the very beginning of the church during tent meetings at what she described as “the top of Ridge Avenue.” She said Rev. Jackie Burrows did “nightly preaching of the Gospel” and she attended many of the gatherings. Wilt followed what was forming as a congregation to a building on Falls Avenue, then to a Glenwood Avenue garage that doubled as a church, then to Braeden Street, where the first church was built. She recalled the congregation had services at Kirkmere Elmentary School in Youngstown during the construction.
Wilt said she liked the church and the people. “It’s been my whole life. I don’t feel right if I don’t go to church. ... I’m lost the whole day,” she said.
One of the original members, she assisted for some 20 years in the nursery at the church on Braeden and current site.
Though of another generation, Dudley has had a similar experience. “It’s part of my life since I was a kid.” He remembers the first service, April 22 1962, Easter Sunday, at the new church on South Meridian. He also noted the popularity of church Christmas dinners.
Haviland recalls “shopping at the AP” nearly 60 years ago when someone she knew started telling her about the church. She attended a Sunday service, returned the next week and “hasn’t missed a Sunday.”
For the membership of 100, there are various activities for study and fellowship. Pastor Dennis came to the church in January 2010. He said there are ongoing multiple small group Bible studies including one at 9:15 a.m. Sundays before worship.
A youth group is for seventh- through 12th-graders and attracts between 15 and 20 participants. This program offers a Bible study, social time and games. Those 4 years old through sixth grade participate in children’s church during the Sunday sermon. A Sundy evening gathering provides various activities for the youth groups.
A vacation Bible school will take place this summer.
Volunteers from the congregation do a turn in community service by serving lunch the first Tuesday of the month at the Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley. Wilt said she remembers the days when volunteers stuffed envelopes for the mission. The church also sponsors a food collection for Second Harvest Food Bank.
The Friendly Circle Group, geared for those 55 and older, traces its roots to a Sunday school class. Now the group “visits,” Wilt said, noting “we’ve known each other a long time.”
A men’s group gathers for food and fellowship at 8 a.m. the second Saturday of the month at Denny’s restaurant in Austintown. Dudley said the groups and worship at the church have provided a foundation for many. “I’m grateful to know where I’m going,” he said.
Pastor Dennis said the congregation is “well blended among the generations.” A praise team of musicians and singers helps enhance worship. “There’s more imagination, meaning for the congregation,” he said of music used in worship.
The pastor said the church is affiliated with the Evangelical Congregational Church. Pastor Dennis said the denomination can be traced to 1803 when Jacob Albright preached Methodism to German immigrants in Pennsylvania. The term evangelical was used after Albright’s death to describe the movement. “Salvation is the result of God’s grace,” Pastor Dennis said. He continued that a “new birth in Christ” is the result of the sacrifice on the cross. The basis of belief is “the authority of Scripture,” he said.
A board of 12 trustees govern the church, handling practical concerns. This group works with the pastor, the spiritual leader. “They know what needs to be done, and they get it done,” Pastor Dennis said of the board.
The church built a Family Life Center in 2008; it houses a multipurpose room that serves a gym and fellowship hall, kitchen, restrooms and youth room. Dudley said the building also hosts voting for three precincts, a fitness class and sports activities by other community groups. Plans are in the works, he said, to be a Red Cross blood donation site.