Wesley United Methodist Church

Columbus , New Jersey

Our Past, Present, Future

Our Past

The first meetings – as early as 1814 - of the Methodists were held in the Black Horse School and Meeting House (Black Horse later became known as Columbus). As early as 1849 it is believed that a small church building was located on the site of our present church. In 1857 a new building was erected at the cost of $1,000. The old building was sold for lumber and the current structure was started in 1906. The architect was Phineas M. Smith, and the cost of this structure was $9,500. The stained glass windows were presented as memorials. The sanctuary had chairs rather than pews. The current pews were installed in 1969. The current organ was installed in 1986. In 1907 the church was incorporated as Wesley Methodist Episcopal church. This church was part of the Mt. Holly circuit. In addition Florence, Fieldsboro, Hedding, Georgetown, Jacksonville, Juliustown and Jobstown were part of this circuit. As the years progressed one by one the other churches left leaving only Columbus and Hedding in the circuit.

 


On July 17, 2010 the congregation of Wesley approved proceeding with a Building Plan;

 

The Wesley United Methodist Church has enjoyed a rich heritage of ministering and preaching the word of Jesus Christ to the community for just under 200 years. Our current Church building, built over 100 years ago, is the main focal point of our ministry. We now wish to expand the role of the church in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ in this growing community. The greater Mansfield Township community has seen significant population growth over the past ten years. Over the past few years, we have examined ways to accomplish our goal to spread the Good News but find that our current church facility is actually an impediment to that goal. We took action to query the various committees of our church; Christian Education, Pastoral, Choir and the members at large, as to our shortcomings. The overwhelming response was that our church facility is not accessible to all, and therefore is losing its ability to be a welcoming place to the community at large. Modernizing our facility will provide accessibility to all areas to all people; adding additional floor space will enable us to offer more programs and to expand our religious outreach to the community as well as our own congregation
OUR FUTURE

We are excited to be using our newly renovated church and additions.

The renovations include handicap accessibility to all areas of our church, handicap and family bathrooms, offices for our staff, meeting rooms for adults and children, storage areas, nursery facilities, expanded fellowship areas and a new kitchen. 

We have worked hard to maintain the character of our 1907 building and are now looking forward to our ministries to the community. We are using our facility to reach out to the community and hope you will join us for our community dinners, fairs etc.

Please join us in  our new and renovated church


Over 200 years of Ministry to the

Mansfield Township Community