A Sabbath-Spanning Congregation on North Washington Street
Sharon Temple SDA Church sits at 2001 N. Washington Street in Wilmington, Delaware, on the northeast side of the city in the neighborhoods that ring the Brandywine. The congregation has made this address a hub of Adventist life on the Delmarva Peninsula for decades, and today the building is busy from Monday through Saturday with a child care learning center, a K-8 school, weekly Sabbath services, midweek prayer, and a packed calendar of ministry events. Newcomers who walk in on a Saturday morning are greeted with the words the church uses to describe itself: warm hearts and helping hands ready to greet and minister to your every need.
Sabbath School and Worship on Saturday
Worship at Sharon Temple follows the rhythm of the seventh-day Sabbath. Sabbath School opens at 10:00 AM, when adults, youth, and children divide into small groups to study that week's lesson and share what it means in their daily walk. The church uses the standard Seventh-day Adventist Adult Bible Study Guide, with current lessons linked from the Sabbath School page. The Divine Worship Service follows at 12:00 noon, with Senior Pastor Jimmy L. Ferguson preaching. Visitors who cannot attend in person can watch the service on the Sharon Temple SDA Church YouTube channel, and the same feed is embedded in the Media page through Boxcast. Baptism is part of the regular rhythm too, scheduled four times a year on the fourth Sabbath of the month at 1:00 PM.
Wednesday Prayer on Zoom
For those who cannot make it on Saturday, the church gathers midweek for a Virtual Power Up and Praise Prayer Meeting every Wednesday at 6:45 PM. The service runs until 8:00 PM and is held only on Zoom, using Meeting ID 351 016 011 with passcode 955951. Callers can join by dialing 301-715-8592. Members and friends come together to pray for families, communities, the sick, and personal needs, and the church teaches that prayer is one of the chief ways God prepares His people.
The Pastors: Jimmy Ferguson and Stanley McGinty
Senior Pastor Jimmy L. Ferguson grew up as the fourth of eleven children in Greenwood, Mississippi, on the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta. He moved to Chicago at sixteen for better schooling, was baptized as a Seventh-day Adventist the next year, and went on to graduate from Oakwood College (now Oakwood University) with a Bachelor of Arts in Theology and a minor in Biblical Languages. He later earned a Master of Divinity from the Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Before Sharon Temple, he served as associate pastor of Dupont Park SDA Church in Washington, DC, then as senior pastor of churches in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Bermuda, and helped plant a thriving congregation in East London, South Africa. Over his ministry he has baptized hundreds of souls, distributed thousands of Christian books, and preached across South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and Africa. He and his wife Shereen have three children, J'Mae, Simeon, and Seth, and his favorite Scripture is 2 Peter 1:16.
Associate Pastor Stanley McGinty has served the Adventist church for more than thirty years and is a long-time member of the Bay Area Ministerium. He helped plant the Voice of Truth SDA Church in Bear, Delaware, and continues to count preaching and teaching the Word as his utmost passion. He holds an MBA in Finance and a Master of Science in Healthcare Administration, studied evangelism at Newbold SDA College in Bracknell, England, and worked through koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament. He also served twenty-two years in the United States Navy. He and his wife Lavinia Macfarland-McGinty met on that field of ministry thirty years ago and continue to work together. They have two adult children and three grandchildren.
Thad Ferebee serves as Head Elder of the congregation, and the church board meets monthly on the second Sunday of each month at 10:00 AM.
Children, Pathfinders, and Youth
Children have a full week of their own at Sharon Temple. Children's Church meets on the second and fourth Sabbaths of each month at 11:00 AM, giving kids their own version of the worship hour designed for their age. The Children's Ministry team works to address the needs of children in the church.
Older kids and teens are folded into the Monarch Pathfinders Club, Sharon Temple's chapter of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Pathfinder program. Pathfinders is a co-ed, scouting-style organization for young people in grades 5 through 12, and the club welcomes members of any faith or none. Pathfinders meet on the second and fourth Sundays at 10:00 AM.
Once a month the youth take over the sanctuary. Youth Sabbath falls on the third Saturday of each month at 11:00 AM, with the youth themselves leading singing, Scripture reading, and the sermon. The Youth Ministries team, supported by the Allegheny East Conference Youth and Children's Ministries department, walks alongside young people through this critical stretch of their Christian experience.
Women's, Men's, and 50 Plus Ministries
Women's Ministries aims to model Jesus through meaningful relationships and effective ministries in an environment of love, care, trust, and acceptance. The group hosts Bible studies, mentoring circles for teens and younger women, and service opportunities in the church and broader community.
Men's Ministries gathers around four core values drawn from Scripture: the Word of God, family, prayer, and Christlike character. The men's team commits to serving the Lord in their homes, in the church, and in the community, with a special burden for strengthening marriages, encouraging parents, and walking with singles, children, and youth.
For older members, the 50 Plus Ministry is a vibrant group that pitches in across every corner of church life, from hospitality to teaching to leadership on the church board.
Health, Family Life, Prison, and Disability Outreach
Health Ministries seeks to serve the church and community with better health and lifestyle choices, combining member wellness with outreach to the surrounding community. Past events have included the annual Health Fair, led by Sister Nellie Moore.
Family Life Ministries is dedicated to strengthening relationships and supporting ministry leaders and churches in their work with families. The team connects with the Allegheny East Conference Relationship Ministries department for resources and training.
Prison Ministries extends the congregation's reach behind the walls, while the Disabilities Ministry works to welcome people of every ability into the life of the church. Personal Ministries equips members to give Bible studies, witness to neighbors, and lead in evangelism. The Communications Ministry keeps the church family informed through spoken word, written bulletins, visuals, and electronic media, including the printed bulletin, the events calendar, and the Sharon Temple SDA Church YouTube channel.
Two Schools on the Same Campus
The church campus hosts two schools. Sharon Temple Adventist School educates students from kindergarten through eighth grade and maintains its own site at www.sharontempleschool.org. Sharon Temple Child Care Learning Center serves children from six weeks old through age twelve, with hours from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday, plus before- and after-school care and a summer camp. The learning center is affiliated with Delaware Stars and is led by director Vickie Wilkerson. Both schools share the same mission: to provide quality, holistic Christian care and education in a safe, friendly atmosphere that nurtures spiritual, physical, intellectual, creative, emotional, and social growth.
What Seventh-day Adventists Believe
Sharon Temple is part of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church, a mainstream Protestant body of roughly 19 million members, with more than one million in North America. Adventists teach a Trinity of three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, whose plan of salvation was made possible when Jesus came to earth, lived a sinless life, died for the sins of the world, and rose again on the third day. After His ascension, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit as Comforter and Counselor, and promised to return a second time to take His people to heaven. Adventists believe God cares about every part of human life, including how we live, eat, speak, think, treat each other, and care for the world. The global church operates 173 hospitals and sanitariums, more than 7,500 schools, and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), which serves communities in more than 130 countries.
Mission, Location, and How to Connect
Sharon Temple's stated mission is to win souls for Christ by teaching the love of Jesus, by proclaiming the three angels' message and the soon coming of Jesus Christ, and by being a lighthouse and a friendly place of spiritual refuge in the community. The church believes in and promotes the unity of the family and the education of its children. Sharon Temple belongs to the Allegheny East Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
The church building is at 2001 N. Washington Street, Wilmington, DE 19802-4025. The phone number is 302-655-8023. Online giving is available through Adventist Giving, and checks may be sent to the church office, attention the Treasurer. Visitors are warmly invited to come as they are, study the Word on Sabbath morning, and join the prayer gathering on Wednesday night.