About 220 people turned out for breakfast, an opportunity to learn more about Westminster’s ministries, and a combined worship service featuring the chancel choir and the worship band.
He took his mantra from a Jimmy Buffett tune: Breathe in … Breathe out … Move on! And until he died of leukemia at age 16, Dylan Price kept moving.
During his three-year illness, Dylan, a vital member of Westminster’s youth group, perfected his art, learned to play guitar and encouraged other sick kids. Now one of Dylan’s pieces decorates the wall of the church’s youth courtyard, moving others with its positive message and bright colors. The wall wrap shows an artist spraying out a rainbow of colors. Its caption is from Joel 2:28, the verse that begins, “In those days, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.”
“Our work with our Afghan families has been incredibly rewarding and exciting as we have begun to see them become more independent and capable of navigating their new home.”
Kara Ruffin, Westminster Afghan Refugee Cosponsor Team member
Three years ago, Jill Dull got tired of seeing Westminster’s garden area overrun with weeds. Despite being ill with breast cancer, Jill determined to turn the area into a productive garden again. So Westminster’s Giving Garden was reborn.
Fourth and fifth graders in Westminster’s Outrageous Outreach children’s program are reaching out by making first-aid kits for refugee families.
Westminster’s Amani bead project — a partnership to support New Life Homes, a Kenyan care facility for sick and abandoned children — took root more than 20 years ago. The church’s Honest to God winter sermon series on the importance of prayer sparked a renaissance of sorts for Westminster’s Amani beads.
Confirmation is different every year — different kids, different ideas, different dynamics — and this one was no exception, particularly in light of the pandemic. Seventeen of these young people made a public profession of faith, with one more having been previously confirmed at his former church. The constants, though, are great kids, great questions, great growth, great community, and a great God drawing them nearer. Here’s what some of them had to say…
Westminster and Floris United Methodist Church, almost 300 miles away in Herndon, Va., came together recently to help an Afghan refugee family called to Washington, D.C., for an asylum hearing with U.S. Immigration. The two churches made the connection with one week’s notice, getting the family from Greensboro to D.C. and back smoothly and safely.