Wesley Church: People Blessing People on Center Street
Wesley United Methodist Church sits on Center Street in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in a building shared with Wesley's Circle of Friends preschool. The congregation calls itself simply Wesley Church and has shortened its identity to a four-word motto: People Blessing People. That phrase threads through every corner of the church's life, from a blended Sunday morning worship to a school-supply backpack program that has reached 500 families a year, a community garden that has donated more than 7,000 pounds of fresh produce since 2011, and a partnership that turns plastic shopping bags into sleeping mats for people experiencing homelessness.
Lead Pastor Rev. Candy LaBar shepherds the congregation alongside a staff that includes Director of Music Becky Graybeal, Director of Bell and Chime Choirs Chris Perfetti, Children's Ministries Director Deb Silliman, and Minister to Youth Brian Graybeal. Wesley belongs to the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church, led by Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi, which connects the church to nearly 400 congregations across 16 counties.
A Blended Sunday Morning in Bethlehem
Wesley meets each Sunday at 10:00 AM for a blended worship service that weaves together traditional hymns accompanied by organ and the Jubilation Singers choir with contemporary Christian songs led by the praise band Audience of One. Often the Celebration Ringers bell choir, the children's chime group Amazing Ringing Kids, or the children's Jesus and Me Choir add their voices. Communion is typically celebrated on the first Sunday of the month and during other seasons of the church year. The sermon, scripture, and music are carefully chosen to work together around a single theme.
Sunday School meets an hour earlier, at 9:00 AM, for children from preschool through high school. The Children's Ministry team, led by Deb Silliman, welcomes children to stay for the service and join the Children's Message; children's bags with activities and books sit outside the sanctuary for any young visitor. Childcare is offered all morning, beginning at 9:00 AM and continuing through the end of worship, with Child Care Coordinator Keranie Whipple and her team greeting families down the hall.
Each service is livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook and posted afterward so that members and friends can watch later. The sanctuary has wheelchair-accessible pews, the restrooms include accessible stalls and sinks, and all areas of the building are open to those with mobility concerns. Greeters meet visitors at the front door, fair trade coffee is poured in a sunny atrium after worship, and there is no dress code. Masks are not required, and the CDC's current community risk level is posted on the doors each week so attendees can make their own choices about precautions.
Backpacks, Beds, and a Garden: Wesley's Mission Work
Four long-running missions are central to the church's identity.
We Got Your Back. The "We Got Your Back" backpack program was born in 2013 from a pastor's vision of a school bus in the parking lot loaded with backpacks. Since that small start, the program has distributed more than 15,000 backpacks to children in 30 school districts and now serves more than 500 families each year. At the annual summer event, families receive backpacks of school supplies, packages of new socks and underwear, snacks and lunch, haircuts, and medical screenings, and can meet representatives from the Bethlehem City Fire Department, the Bethlehem Health Bureau, Cops'n'Kids, Wegmans, and the Lehigh Valley Therapy Dogs. School supplies in each backpack include folders, notebooks, pencil cases, pencils, erasers, scissors, rulers, highlighters, dry erase markers, crayons, glue sticks, and tissues.
The Wesley Church Community Garden. Founded in 2011, the community garden has yielded more than 7,000 pounds of produce donations over its lifetime. Gardeners tend their own 4-by-12-foot plots, costing $35 each, and agree to donate at least half of what they grow. Twice a week, volunteers carry the harvest to New Bethany Ministries, the church's primary donation recipient. Each spring, seedlings get a head start in the church's sunny atrium, which doubles as a greenhouse. Garden Work Days run most Saturdays from 9:00 to 11:00 AM during the growing season, with tools available in the shed.
The Lehigh Valley Mat Ministry. Volunteers cut used plastic shopping bags into strips, loop the strips into a plastic yarn called plarn, and crochet the plarn into sleeping mats for people experiencing homelessness. Valley Health Partners distributes the finished mats through its Street Medicine Team. Beginners can learn the entire process, from cutting to single crochet, from coordinator Wendy Arbushites. The only tools needed are scissors, a size "S" crochet hook, and a yardstick or measuring tape.
Bethlehem Emergency Sheltering. Since the 1970s, Wesley has cooked and served dinner once a month at Bethlehem Emergency Sheltering, a faith-based partnership that provides overnight shelter, an evening meal, and a to-go breakfast from mid-November through mid-April at Christ UCC in downtown Bethlehem. Wesley volunteers also handle set-up and clean-up and manage the shower schedule for the night. In 2021-22, the shelter averaged 60 meals each evening it was open. The total time commitment for a Wesley crew is five hours, from 4:00 to 9:00 PM.
Voices, Bells, and Chimes at the Center of Worship
Music is so central to Wesley's worship that it has its own ministry, with six ensembles across two generations.
The Jubilation Singers is a four-part vocal choir of high schoolers and adults who carry the traditional hymns and choral responses most Sundays from September through early June. The choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings from 7:15 to 8:30 PM. The Celebration Ringers, directed by Chris Perfetti, ring five octaves of handbells and four octaves of handchimes, often using mallets and other techniques to create unique musical sounds. They ring in worship about once a month and have also played at nursing homes, dinners, and other community events. Rehearsals are on Wednesday evenings from 6:00 to 7:15 PM.
Audience of One, the praise band, includes vocalists, keyboard, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, and drums. The band leads the contemporary music in worship and provides a musical response tied to the theme for the week, and also plays Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, and Christmas Eve services. The band rehearses year-round on Thursday evenings from 7:45 to 10:00 PM, with a tech team handling slides, visuals, and sound.
Two children's groups introduce younger voices. Amazing Ringing Kids is the chime choir for children in 4-year-old kindergarten through fifth grade. The children meet on Sunday mornings from 8:30 to 9:00 AM and ring in worship five or six times a year. The Jesus and Me Choir, or JAM, is the singing choir for the same age range, rehearsing at 11:15 AM after worship and singing a few times each year, sometimes in special services during Advent and on Palm Sunday. A third group, Klangchor, is a beginning youth and adult bell choir for anyone curious to learn.
Children, Youth, and a Shared Building
Wesley's Circle of Friends preschool shares the building with the church and is one of Wesley's closest partners. Children from the preschool are regulars in worship and in the church library's Friday morning storytime. The church library holds about 4,000 titles in a computerized catalog, with new books for sale in the atrium.
The Wesley Youth Group, led by Minister to Youth Brian Graybeal, welcomes students in sixth through twelfth grade. The group generally meets twice a month on Sunday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 PM in the Fellowship Hall, with additional off-site events throughout the year, including Wet Fest, a corn maze, bowling, mini golf, hiking, ice skating, lock-ins, a Wacky Christmas Party, and winter retreats. The group's stated vision is to create an environment "where youth are empowered to grow and LIVE into their faith as full members of the body of Christ." Its mission is to become involved in the lives of middle school and high school youth so that they can learn who God is, develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and grow a passionate heart for loving and serving others.
Sunday School, for children ages four through high school, runs from September through May, with crafts, games, Bible stories, and a teaching team of volunteers. Children's bags with activities and books are kept outside the sanctuary, and a children's message is part of every service.
Prayer, Care, and Small Groups Through the Week
The Wesley Prayer Team gathers on Monday mornings at 10:00 AM in the church library to lift up joys, concerns, and prayer requests from the congregation. Members also send cards; prayers can be kept in confidence when requested.
The Lehigh Valley Tuesday Night Cancer Support Group meets Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:00 PM in the Youth Lounge and is open to anyone in the Lehigh Valley dealing with cancer. A St. Luke's Grief Support Group, facilitated by a grief counselor, meets on the first Friday of each month from 10:00 to 11:30 AM in the church library and is open to the wider community.
The Congregational Care Disciples mark birthdays and religious holidays for members who are homebound, pair up telephone buddies, visit the homebound and hospitalized, prepare meals during life crises, offer rides to medical appointments, and bring communion to those who cannot attend services. The Wesley Men's Group meets on the third Saturday of each month for a 7:30 AM breakfast followed by an 8:00 AM meeting, and is open to any man. Members of the Men's Group also offer rides to anyone who cannot drive to church. The "Ladies at Wesley" group gathers on the second Tuesday of each month from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM in the library, bringing a lunch and a beverage to discuss topics like hope, happiness, and the "God moments" in life. A Summer Book Club, hosted by Pastor Candy, and the Sacred Ground dialogue series, an interfaith Zoom-based conversation about race and faith that meets every other Monday, round out the small-group life.
The Wider United Methodist Connection
Wesley supports a monthly Power of One mission offering that rotates among partner organizations. Recent recipients have included TEACH Rwanda, which works to establish world-class early childhood and primary teacher education in Rwanda. The church is also a longtime supporter of the Lehigh Valley Outreach Depot, which provides gently used furniture and housewares to people in the Lehigh Valley who have experienced devastating losses through fire, flood, homelessness, or domestic violence. New Bethany Ministries receives Wesley's nonperishable food donations and community garden produce, offering meals, showers, laundry access, and mailing addresses to people across the Lehigh Valley.
Through its United Methodist connectional giving, Wesley makes an impact well beyond Bethlehem, joining 400 congregations across the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.
Visiting Wesley Church
Wesley Church is located at 2540 Center Street, Bethlehem, PA 18017. From Route 22, take the Center Street / 512 exit and travel south toward Bethlehem; the church will be 1.5 miles down on the left-hand side. The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM, and can be reached at 610-865-5715 or info@wesleychurch.com. Information about baptisms, weddings, and facility use is handled through the church office. A weekly E-News keeps the congregation connected, and giving is available online, with options for legacy gifts through IRA distributions, appreciated stock, life insurance, and bequests.