Eighty-Three Years on Bank Street and Laurel Heights
First Wesleyan Church sits on a rise at 200 Laurel Heights Drive in Bridgeton, New Jersey, the same Cumberland County town where the congregation was first organized on May 15, 1942. The church grew out of a series of tent meetings held by Mrs. Joseph Gehring in cooperation with the Penn Jersey District of the Pilgrim Holiness Church. With the Millville Pilgrim Holiness Church lending support, the new fellowship called Rev. A. Passmore as its first pastor, raised a tabernacle across from the tent location, and eventually purchased a lot at 270 Bank Street. The first services in a permanent building were held in December 1945.
The name changed in 1968, when the Pilgrim Holiness Church merged with the Wesleyan Methodist Church to form The Wesleyan Church. By the mid 1970s the Bank Street facilities had reached their limit. Under Rev. Earl Heckman, who pastored from 1965 to 1988 and remains the church's longest tenured minister, the decision was made to relocate to what was then the Upper Deerfield Medical Center site. Ground was broken on April 13, 1979, and the new building was dedicated on April 6, 1980.
The years that followed brought a parsonage on the property, a steeple on the church, and a separate Ministry House at 115 Old Deerfield Pike that now hosts youth meetings and support groups. In 2004 the campus became the home of Iglesia Hispana Wesleyana Familia, a Hispanic congregation led by Rev. Jairo Chalarca that has since grown and, in 2025, moved into its own facility in Millville under Rev. Edgar Chalarca. First Wesleyan will mark 85 years in Bridgeton on May 15, 2027.
Inside, Outside, or Bedside
First Wesleyan describes its Sunday morning with a phrase members have come to know by heart: Inside, Outside, or Bedside, You Decide. The phrase captures three ways to take part in the 10:30 AM worship hour. Inside means gathering in the sanctuary, where an orchestra and worship team lead congregational singing and Pastor Doug brings the message. Outside means remaining in the parking lot, where attendants guide visitors into spaces and worshippers tune in to 107.5 FM to follow the entire sixty minute service from their vehicles. Bedside, in the church's own words, refers to those who join from home through the Sunday livestream on Facebook.
Parking lot attendants are on hand each Sunday to direct arriving vehicles, and sanitation stations are placed throughout the facilities. First aid kits are available, and a retired doctor and several nurses who attend weekly services help form an informal emergency response team. Communion is observed on the first Sunday of each month, with prepackaged elements available at the sanctuary doors. The table is open to anyone who knows Jesus as Savior, whether or not they are a member.
A Sunday Morning at First Wesleyan
Sunday begins at 9:30 AM with Sunday School for all ages, a phrase the church takes literally. Classrooms are organized for children, teens, and adults, and teachers prepare each week with a facilitated lesson. Parents may drop younger children in the nursery, also open during the worship hour. At 10:30 the congregation gathers, and children age 3 through fourth grade are dismissed after a portion of the service for Junior Church.
Worship at First Wesleyan is blended in feel. The orchestra and worship team lean toward sacred music, congregational singing is central, and a pastoral prayer covers congregational, community, and national needs. On the fourth Sunday of each month at 4:00 PM, the focus shifts to prayer and healing around the altar, a service the church considers one of the defining rhythms of its life.
The 2026 Theme: Cultivating a Fruitful Life
The sermon series for 2026 walks through the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23, one characteristic each month. January opens with Love, February turns to Joy, March to Peace, and April to Patience. May focuses on Kindness, June on Goodness, July on Faithfulness, August on Gentleness, and September on Self-Control. October and November bring a two part series on the Evidences of a Fruitful Life, and December closes the year with God's Greatest Gift for All. Each monthly focus carries a supporting Scripture, and Pastor Doug's Sunday messages set up the same theme that small groups and mid-week studies will explore during the week.
Kidz Club, IMPACT, and the Ministry House
Wednesday evenings are the heart of children's and youth ministry at First Wesleyan. Kidz Club gathers children age 3 through grade 5 in the Fellowship Hall from 6:30 to 7:30 PM, September through March. Registration happens at the door or in advance, two adults are present in every classroom, and the hour includes music, creative crafts, a Bible lesson, and game time.
Across the campus in the Ministry House, students in grades 6 through 12 meet as IMPACT for the same hour. The format mixes games, snacks, and a discipleship lesson drawn from media-driven teaching by voices such as Francis Chan, Matt Chandler, David Nasser, Eric Mason, and others. Monthly outings have included bowling, concerts, fundraising events, and trips to the shore. Each spring brings an Easter trip to nearby Coombs Farm, and each summer the youth head to District Youth Camp, held in 2026 at the Tuscarora Inn in Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania. Kidz Camp, the church's own Vacation Bible School week, runs for five evenings in mid-July.
Discipleship and Small Life Groups
First Wesleyan believes that growing as a Christian is not a solo project. Small Life Groups meet in host homes across Cumberland and Salem Counties, with the goal of placing a group within reach of every zip code. Each season centers on a focused study. Past studies have drawn from The Purpose Driven Life, Fault Lines, Soul Shift, Work as Worship, Timothy II, and the Right Now Media library, and the 2027 winter study will work through Soul Shift with a focus on the securing of sanctification.
A weekly notebook, daily reading, and a note guide accompany each study, and volunteer facilitators are trained to encourage group members through the week's focus. Sunday messages are designed to launch the same theme, so a participant's week moves from the sanctuary on Sunday, into the small group, and into personal reading. New believers are also invited into a Sunday School class that walks through assurance of salvation, a biblical view of God, prayer, and handling temptation.
Walking Through Hard Seasons
Two support ministries meet in the Ministry House and welcome anyone who walks through the door. GriefShare gathers on Wednesdays at 1:30 PM for a 13 week cycle of video seminars and group sharing. The same materials are available online through GriefShare.org, and a Spanish GriefShare is offered online as the church seeks a bilingual facilitator for an in-person group.
DivorceCare is offered by request and follows a similar format of video and conversation. Those interested are asked to call the church office at (856) 451-2226 to register. Both groups are intentionally small and confidential, and both are handicap accessible with ample parking.
Women Unlimited and the Men's Bible Study
Women at First Wesleyan serve in nearly every corner of church life, and the Women's ministry gathers them under the name Women Unlimited. Opportunities include the Sanctuary Choir, the orchestra, the children's ministries, IMPACT, teaching a class or small group, providing meals to homebound individuals, helping in the kitchen or food pantry, joining the Prayer Partners, supporting Cornerstone Women's Resource Center, leading a Good News Club in public schools, playing an instrument, and helping with special needs. Women's conferences and special events round out the calendar.
The Men's Ministry meets each Tuesday at 10:00 AM in the Fellowship Hall for a Bible study over coffee and donuts. No invitation is needed. The ministry also includes every man who serves in a church role, from ushers and choir to drama, sound, lighting, media, teachers, board members, the security team, youth and children's staff, and the kitchen team.
A House of Prayer
Prayer shapes the rhythm of the week at First Wesleyan. A group gathers before the Sunday morning service to pray, and during the prelude music others kneel at the altar. Pastor Doug offers a pastoral prayer for congregational, community, and national needs each Sunday, and a closing prayer is given for anyone wishing to begin a relationship with Jesus or address another spiritual need.
On Wednesdays at 10:30 AM, the Prayer Partners meet to carry requests received from family and friends. A weekly prayer bulletin is then sent out for those praying from home, with sections for hospital and rehab patients, written requests, special needs, recent decisions, military personnel, missionaries, and college students. A daily Prayer Chain is mobilized through text messaging for urgent needs. On the fourth Sunday of each month at 4:00 PM, the whole congregation is invited to gather at the altar for prayer and healing.
What Wesleyans Believe
The Wesleyan tradition at First Wesleyan rests on a few clear convictions. Wesleyans worship one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and hold that salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone. They teach that those made new in Christ are called to holy character and conduct, and that such a life is lived by being filled with the Holy Spirit. The Bible is treated as the sufficient authority for faith and conduct.
The local church sits at the center of the denomination's mission. Wesleyans respect spiritual leadership as something earned through willing service, and they value unity in the midst of diversity of personalities, cultures, races, languages, and perspectives. Disciple-making is treated as a clear mandate from Christ, with strong attention to evangelism, training in spiritual growth, and holy living. The denomination's stated pillars are local church centered ministry, servant leadership, and unity in diversity.
Reaching Beyond Bridgeton
First Wesleyan supports a number of mission partners close to home and far away. Globally, the church partners with Wesleyan missionaries Dorcas in Swaziland and Daniel and Pada in Thailand, as well as Rod and Nancy, who serve as wellness coaches with Global Partners. Two other faith organizations receive ongoing support: World Hope International, whose work includes wells drilled in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Mozambique, and the Greenhouses Resilient Opportunities project in Sierra Leone; and the University of Haiti, which trains Christ-like leaders in the Wesleyan holiness tradition.
The church also partners with Wycliffe Bible Translators, supporting Rich and Rachel and Hasso and Hollie, and contributes to Bible Phone Apps, an outreach that has provided audio Bibles to deployed soldiers and military families. Locally, First Wesleyan supports Cornerstone Women's Resource Center in Bridgeton, packs hundreds of Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes each November, contributes to Cumberland Christian School in Vineland, supports after-school clubs in Cumberland County public schools, and walks alongside Mission Teens, a residential Bible training center in Norma, New Jersey.
Worship That Travels Home
Each week, the Sunday message and worship service travel beyond the sanctuary in three ways. The parking lot broadcast on 107.5 FM lets those who prefer to stay in their vehicles follow along. The Sunday morning service is livestreamed on Facebook. And individual messages by Pastor Doug appear on YouTube under his own channel, available for anyone wanting to revisit a sermon or share one with a friend.
Visitors who want to take a step further can request a free 30 day subscription to Right Now Media, the church's mobile library of more than 25,000 Christian videos for children, youth, and adults. The library covers Bible studies, marriage enrichment, leadership training, small group material, financial advice, and more, and is offered to the community as a gift.
The Pastor and the Spiritual Leadership Team
Rev. Douglas Heckman Sr. has pastored First Wesleyan since April 2010, the fourth generation of his family to minister and the son of the church's longest serving pastor, the late Rev. Earl Heckman. He and his late wife Karen grew up at First Wesleyan as dating teens, graduated from Bridgeton High School in 1970 and 1971, were married at the church, and went on to pastor Carney's Point Wesleyan for a decade before serving Trinity Wesleyan in Allentown, Pennsylvania, for nineteen years. He holds an MA in Pastoral Ministries from Indiana Wesleyan University.
Alongside the Lead Pastor, a Spiritual Leadership Team carries the work of pastoral care under names that read like a roll call of service: Pastoral Consultant Dr. Karl, Pastoral Compassion Herman, Pastoral Community Carolyn, Pastoral Compensation Dan, Pastoral Colleague Kathy, Pastoral Consideration Ken, Pastoral Coworker Bob, Pastoral Collaborator Christine, and Pastoral Counseling Cheryl. The team meets the regular needs of the congregation and supports the work of the Lead Pastor.
A Campus Built for Welcome
The current campus was designed with accessibility in mind. Designated parking spaces sit close to the lot entrance. Ramps and concrete walks lead to every facility door. Bathrooms are clearly marked and include handicap stalls and sink access. Both the Ministry House and the Parsonage are equipped to accommodate special needs, and first aid stations are placed throughout the property.
Office hours run Monday through Thursday from 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM, Friday from 7:00 AM to 11:00 AM, with the office closed on Saturday. On Sunday the office is open from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, covering Sunday School and the worship hour. Tithes and offerings can be given in person or through a secure online giving portal. The whole campus, from the sanctuary to the parking lot, is set up to make a first visit feel unhurried and easy.