Our History
- Details
- Written by Kelvin Jones
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A brief history
Community Wesleyan Church, Kirkville was formed by a group of people, some from the Fyler Community Union Orthodox Church and some from the Manlius Center Church. Both churches were served by Wesleyan pastors for many years.
In 1961, the group met with officials of the Wesleyan Methodist Church to negotiate the purchase of 23 acres of land to build a church. Rev. Thomas Boghosian, from the Champlain Conference (as it was then called) had moved into the area to lead the Manlius Center Church and also took on the task of forming a new church in Kirkville.
In September, construction began on the parsonage and basement chapel, and on March 5, 1962, Rev. Boghosian and family moved into the newly completed building. The first service was held in the chapel a month later on Easter Sunday. Easter that year was on April 22.
Services were held there until the first level of the church was finished. In September 1962, construction began on the first level of the church building. By March 1964 the first level of the church was completed and another first service was held on another Easter Sunday in 1964. The second level, the sanctuary, was completed by Christmas of 1966. The first service upstairs was held on Christmas Sunday, Dec. 25, 1966.
Our church has seen good growth over the years. In 1980, a two story educational unit was added on to the church. the two service worship schedule was instituted in 1996. Noah's Ark Christian Preschool was founded in 1997.
By God's grace, there was a new season of building from 2001 to 2004. It began with a remodeling of the parsonage, enlarging the living room-dining room area, replacing nearly all windows, adding a garage and replacing the roof. This season included construction of a new lighted church sign and putting in of a new electrical service for the church, moving it from the North end to the South end. We also air-conditioned the sanctuary for the first time. In January 2004, an addition was added to the West wing. It included a new Noah's Ark Preschool Classroom, upstairs classroom, and a new pastors office.
Since about 1995, short term missions work has been an increasingly important part of our church's ministry. In the late 90's several teams served in Haiti. Pastor Kelvin Jones taught in Zambia in 1999 and Pastor Eric and Madge return regularly to Romania. For the church's 45th anniversary we sent a team with them to Romania.
As time approached to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first service, the church decided to celebrate with several special emphases. Beginning a couple years ahead, we set a goal to complete 50 ministries of outreach and service before the 50th. This plan was called 50 4 50. As part of it another team returned with Eric and Magda to Romania. The church also decided to undertake a 50th anniversary reenovation effort. This effort renewed many spaces but major renovations came to the kitchen downstairs, the vestibule upstairs, and the front of the sanctuary. In addition, the sanctuary was recarpeted for the first time since the original. Still to come in the plans at this writing are additional lighting changes and some parking lot improvements.
