Though we don’t live in the past, the story of Avent Ferry United Methodist Church tells a lot about who we are now.
We started out in a converted dairy barn (yes, a dairy barn) in 1956 as Wynnewood Park Methodist Church. We weren’t focused on a building so much as we were focused on our community, and that is still part of our “DNA” today.
In the first few years, during the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, Reverend Jack Crum arranged a cross-racial pulpit exchange for “Race Relations Sunday”. This caused a controversy in the community. But the church decided to take a stand for inclusion and diversity that was radical for its time. Today, that legacy of welcoming continues and Avent Ferry is one of the most diverse churches around. Members of Avent Ferry now also come from at least twelve different countries!
By 1961, the church had its own land and building which is still used today as the Education Building. In 2006, a new Worship Center was opened and the old Sanctuary became the church’s Fellowship Hall. The Worship Center accommodates our increasing worship attendance and has an as-yet-unfinished bottom floor for future expansion. Membership at Avent Ferry is at its highest point in our history and we are still growing.
Some other notable facts about Avent Ferry United Methodist Church:
- A monthly singing and visitation ministry to nearby Dorthea Dix Hospital started in 1959 and continues today, some 50 years later.
- Avent Ferry’s welcoming nature made it the first United Methodist Church in North Carolina to have a woman as a pastor, Reverend Gladys Williford in 1971.
- Avent Ferry ran a Kindergarten for the community from 1970 to 1975, before the county school system had started one in the public schools.
- In 1983, during the ministry of Reverend Glenda Johnson, the church re-visioned its ministry and changed its name from Wynnewood Park United Methodist to Avent Ferry United Methodist.
- Our after-school tutoring program that has reached hundreds of children in the community started in 1999.
- Mrs. Lena Ritchie, Historian and Charter Member