The Denton Wesley Foundation
Somewhat-Regular Newsletter
The Wesley Newsletter is BACK!
How interesting that we can relate so closely to one another in our busyness when I believe that God has created celebration for that very purpose - to join us closer together as we are reminded of our love for one another, of the love that God has for each of us that knits us organically together, and of the great work God has done and is doing in and through us. Celebration reminds us of what God has brought us through and what we are creating, of the power of goodness and joy and love that outlasts and carries us through the storms and darkness.
Celebration as a spiritual discipline is a theme of the Denton Wesley Foundation this year. This newsletter is a celebration, long overdue. We give thanks for you, our supporters, friends, and partners, for the way you have joined us on this journey of stumbling towards Christ together. We celebrate you and us and where we've been and where we are and where we're going. As we like to say, "Celebrations bring us together. But feeling alone, separated from one another and God, is hell, and so we have to literally celebrate the hell out of everything we can!"
Celebrating Our God Through Worship
On any given Tuesday night around 8pm on a darkened Maple Street, you'll see through the large windows of a brick building the glowing lights of vintage Edison bulbs lighting up a homemade stage. Inside, young people sprawl on couches or sit in rows of chairs - some even sit on the pool table in the back of the room. You'll hear music and maybe poetry, students sharing their testimonies, or a speaker giving a message about topics you don't often about in church. Then you'll probably see the students painting or praying with each other or writing messages on the windows or engaging in discussion in the middle of the service. It may look very strange for a worship service, but it will somehow seem...right. Like home.
The mission and vision of the Denton Wesley Foundation this year is to be "an intersectional, affirming, compassionate community stumbling towards Christ together," and we believe that to become that, we must know who we are to God, know who God is to us, and know that the story of God in this world involves all of us who have been brought together by God's radical love that we are now called to reflect to one another. And so, in our worship, we are spending time getting to know God - through sitting contemplatively in God's presence, through liturgy and music, and through thought-provoking messages by a wide variety of speakers.
We are also affirming one another by elevating the voices of our diverse body of students. We do this by inviting students each week to share their stories and take leadership roles in worship, by including in each service a time for question-and-answer and small-group discussion, and by prioritizing in our time what we call "reflective action," which is a space for students to reflect and create as a means of sharing their voices.
Finally, we are participating intentionally in the story of God in this world as God seeks to build compassionate community. We do this by pryaing for one another each week, celebrating what God is doing in our programs and people, committing to serving in the Wesley's ministries, and simply hanging out together before and after the service. There are Tuesday nights when our lights do not turn off until midnight because our students are still being the compassionate community God is calling them to be long after the service officially ends!
This year, we've celebrated and learned through sermon series like "Who We Are" in which we reflected deeply on the values of the Denton Wesley Community and why we are called to embrace and embody them, followed by a series on "The Story of God and Us" in which we encountered our grand story as resurrection, bringing new life from dry bones. We are currently exploring the theme, "Being Human," a journey to reclaiming the goodness of humanity as God intended it. In this series, we are celebrating the divinity of our humanity, of our emotions, of sex, of our bodies, of boundaries and limitations, and more.
Please pray for us as we seek to connect deeper with God, with one another, and with our call to be the hands and feet of Christ in this world. As someone brilliant once said, "This is life and death, and we are in the business of resurrection."
Celebrating What We've Overcome
Friendsgiving Worship
The Story of Prophetic Faith
What We're Celebrating
- UNT student, Care Team leader, and Wesley's Friends coordinator Rachael Watson has been named the new Youth Minister at Trinity United Methodist Church.
- UNT student and Wesley worship team member Sean Henderson, Worship Leader at Pecan Street Mission @ Decatur FUMC, has helped Rev. Ricky Harrison launch a powerful new worship community this past month.
- First-year UNT student and Wesley member Mattie Nguyen was offered a position as Volunteer Coordinator with Project Transformation.
- Denton Wesley Foundation alumni Sarah Rozeboom and William Atwood began classes at Perkins School of Theology in pursuit of M.Div. degrees.
Border Stories: Five Denton Wesley Representatives Visit the Border Over the Holidays
Having heard the stories of Intersect members Cynthia and Chuck Rives who had made multiple trips to the Texas border to administer acts of justice and mercy to our immigrant neighbors, students Shamira Peters, Hannah Phillips, and Rachel Van Deusen, along with Campus Minister Haley Feuerbacher, joined a team of clergy and activists from First United Methodist Church-Denton to travel to Brownsville in January, while student Sean Henderson joined a group from Pecan Street Mission at Decatur UMC to go to Juarez. In my life, there have only been a few times that I have taken hold of our biblical command to "pray without ceasing;" this was one of them. To sit with children being tried in immigration court without a lawyer to represent them, to hear the pregnant woman who escaped to America with her young son so that the gangs would not hurt them, to see father who had walked through entire countries to get reach asylum cry tears of joy as he gave his teenage son the first birthday party of his life, to hold a mother as she sobbed because her son was being removed while his baby suffered kidney failure in a Corpus Christi hospital - what can we do but pray? What can we do but call on the God of the hurting and the sojourner to be with us, here, now?
We learned first-hand the stories and realities of life as an asylum-seeker, life between homes, and life on the border. A line from Sydney Carter's poem "Mother Teresa" was a refrain in our hearts throughout the trip: "Let love be dangerous." This was what we saw in the stories and faces of the people we met: a love that risked all for one's children and families, a love that compels allies to sacrifice well-being and reputation to stand in the gap, a love that closely resembles the dangerous, self-giving love of Christ that defied logic and norms and expectations and, yes, even the laws of the day.
Upon returning home, our students shared their stories with the rest of the Wesley. Hearing these, s a group, our student community decided that God is calling the Denton Wesley Foundation to return to the border in May to continue the work of hearing and seeing the stories of immigrants, contemplating how God is calling us to the work of justice and liberation, and acting with the courage, selflessness, and Christlikeness of the very ones we often demonize. And like Christ and like many of the immigrants whom we met, let our love be courageously, compassionately dangerous.
If you would like any of the Wesley students or staff or other members of this trip to speak to your group, please contact Haley at director@thedentonwesley.org.
Making All Kinds of Friends on the Border Trip
Working for the Dream
The Gospel in Action
Upcoming Events and Ways You Can Help!
- Give financially! Your gifts go to the many ministries of a growing student community at the Denton Wesley Foundation and flow through these students to the world around them.
- Youth Worship Night, Sun., March 31, 5-7pm! Bring your youth-aged students or groups to worship at the Wesley. Our theme this year is "Engage: Faith that Matters to More Than Just Us."
- Come to Intersect Bible Study! Intersect is a multigenerational Bible study open to anyone and everyone with a commitment to the inseparability of faith, justice, and action. We meet on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of every month at 7pm at the Wesley for Bible study and action-planning. This is a great way to grow deeper in your faith, find a group to organize faith-based action with, and get to know the Wesley students better.
- #ChurchToo Conference: Creating Survivor-Centered Communities, Fri, April 5, 6-9pm and Sat., April 6, 10am-6pm! Join us for our 2nd Annual #ChurchToo Conference, featuring keynote speakers, workshops, worship, and interactive, creative, and supportive self-care activities. This year, our theme is "Creating Survivor-Centered Communities" and will include a catered dinner Friday night. Tickets will be available soon on EventBrite. The event will be held at the Denton Public Safety Training Center.
MLK Day of Service
Happy Haunting
Committed to Christlike Action
Wednesday-Night Workshops - Because the Wesley Cares!
The first Self-Care Night took place right before the holiday break and featured SMU counseling intern Emma Mack guiding students through the process of making a "Holiday Survival Plan" to help them navigate difficult situations at home and missing their friends and new community over the break. UNT student and Care Team member Hailey Sherman taught attendees how to create glitter jars, which were a hit!
Inspired by the response to this Self-Care Night, the Care Team and other Lead Team members decided to launch "Wednesday-Night Workshops" this spring. Every week, a workshop will be given that will fall into one of four categories: 1) Self-Care, 2) Faith Seeking Understanding, 3) Arts and Skills, and 4) Miscellaneous. This year, we've learned about goal-setting, discussed the relationship between the Bible and truth, and tried our hand at compelling storytelling under the guidance of Cross Way UMC pastor Alex Williams. In the coming weeks and months, we will welcome Dr. Sarah Feuerbacher to talk about setting boundaries and creating healthy relationships, learn how to grieve and support each other in grief in helpful ways, and find out some surprising science about our bodies from Lexie Vriend. We're excited to learn, grow, and gain new skills together through this new program at the Wesley!
Winter Wonderland Was WonderFUL!
Telling the Story
Bringing Joy to the World
Contact Us
Email: director@thedentonwesley.org
Website: www.thedentonwesley.org
Location: 1501 Maple St., Denton, TX 76201
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DentonWesleyFoundation/