Wellsville Baptist Church and the Community
This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. John 15:12
We desire to be active, not only in our church, but also in the community by sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have many chances to do this, as our congregation regularly participates in area organizations and activities.
Nurturing our youth is a priority with our church. We offer a Christian pre-school and an after-school program (CASE) to parents. One night a week, our AWANA classes attract about 70 kids to the church for fun and Biblical education. Our Vacation Bible School has an average attendance of about 100 each summer. Something unique to Wellsville is the 5th Quarter get-togethers. During football season, we open our church to all middle school and older students after home high school games. These are a great hit and a golden opportunity to reach out to our community young people. Many of our high schoolers belong to the local chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and show their leadership by holding offices. Our church also regularly sponsors Baccalaureate service for the graduating senior class.
Also extremely important is our youth pastor, Heather. She is very visible in the community; well-known by most of the middle and high school students. In addition to planning weekly activities for our youth, she also attends ball games throughout the school year, appears at community functions, and coordinates activities with other church youth programs. Her outreach goes beyond Wellsville when she takes our youth on mission trips. We are very blessed to have her on staff.
The Wellsville Baptist Church is a member of the local Ministerial Alliance. We work with area churches to present a community Thanksgiving service and an Easter sunrise service/play. We also support a community food pantry. One of our more fun activities is inclusion in a church softball league. (We won't go into our record!) We also take our turn at the local nursing home by playing Bingo with the residents.
Many of our members are active in local government, school boards and civic organizations. Right now, we can claim the Wellsville Mayor and the Franklin County Sheriff as active members of our church. We also participate in our annual Wellsville Days celebration with a beautiful float for the parade and by manning a booth.
We believe in being of service to our community by opening our buildings for its use. Our Family Life Center hosts Community After School Enrichment (CASE) every afternoon after school, scout meetings as needed, precinct voting during elections, and is available to any family needing a banquet area. This building is very much in demand.
Our latest contribution to the community is the production of a quarterly newspaper that is mailed to area residents. The editors include testimony from church members, report on our local church happenings, and promote the Christian way of life. However, they also provide information about upcoming community/school events and profiles of Wellsville leaders.