A 1955 Church on Dewey Avenue
Aldersgate United Methodist Church rises on a residential stretch of Dewey Avenue in the town of Greece, just north of Rochester, NY. On Sunday, September 18, 1955, seventy-nine people gathered at Britton Road School for the first worship service of what would become one of the larger congregations in the area. That same afternoon, a groundbreaking service was held on the new church site. The Reverend Robert H. Rowsam, who had been appointed to start the work, went door to door through the surrounding blocks to invite neighbors and gathered 103 charter members the following January, with sixty-six more added during the first year, swelling the rolls to 169 charter families.
The name Aldersgate is taken from the 1738 prayer meeting on Aldersgate Street in London, when John Wesley felt his "heart strangely warmed." The bulletin for that very first service carried the hope "that all persons who come to worship at Aldersgate Church will likewise experience the trust and assurance of God in Christ," a hope that is still printed in the church's description of itself today. The young congregation grew so quickly that two worship services were needed by Thanksgiving of 1956, and an all-night prayer vigil preceded the fifty-second service of worship that September, when the congregation moved into its new building. The nursery class was its fastest growing group during those baby-boom years.
Three Sunday Worship Services, One Sanctuary and One Chapel
Sunday at Aldersgate begins with three very different expressions of worship under the same roof.
At 9:30 AM, the Contemporary service fills the sanctuary with a laid-back, come-as-you-are atmosphere. Weekly communion, contemporary music led by the Contemporary Worship Team, and teaching designed to help people "grow, engage, and make a difference in the world" share the hour. Coffee is part of the gathering, and the regular description from the church's own materials invites visitors to come whether they "have lots of questions and need some answers" or "want to make a difference."
At 11:00 AM, the Traditional service gathers in the same sanctuary for hymns, scripture reading, corporate prayers, and affirmations, with the Chancel Choir leading the music. Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month, and the traditional service often features piano, organ, handbells, and occasional special music. The worship bulletin describes it as a "beautiful service rich in tradition and liturgy."
At 1:00 PM, the doors of the chapel open for the African worship service, a ministry called Naioth Revival Ministry of AUMC, pastored by Enoch Renzha. English, Swahili, and French are spoken in this service. Its own welcome frames the gathering as "a place of rest and restoration" for people carrying heavy hearts from Africa, or from life in western New York, with a gospel of hope set out plainly in both English and Swahili on the chapel page. The introduction reads in part, "Tunawapenda sana. Hii ni huduma ambayo ina lengo kuhubiri na kutangaza TUMAINI litokao kwa Mwokozi wetu Yesu kristo."
Both the Contemporary and Traditional services are livestreamed through Facebook Live and YouTube, with the live feed alternating weekly between the two styles so that someone tuning in from home finds the same format as the sanctuary on any given Sunday.
The Founders and the Forty Charters
The story of the congregation can be told through the ten pastors who have shaped it. After Robert Rowsam's founding years, the Reverend Reginald Cory added the first choir and a new women's singing group, and oversaw the 1966 dedication of the Robert Gabel stained glass cross window as part of the church's tenth anniversary. The Reverend Barnard "Barney" Howe, who preferred to be called Mr. Howe, introduced family and youth retreats at Watson Homestead and Chautauqua; the Reverend Philip Schlick's tenure saw the beginning of the long-running White Gifts Program, now familiar across the denomination. The Reverend John Brewster marked Aldersgate's twenty-fifth anniversary with a service on the church lawn attended by more than two hundred people.
Under the Reverend John Cooke (1981 to 1994), the church expanded to a second summer service and, soon after, a new contemporary service with praise music, a precursor to today's 9:30 AM gathering. Improvements during that pastorate included the handicap entrance and parking area, a new sanctuary sound system, and a new roof and siding on the parsonage. The Reverend William Burdick (1994 to 2001) oversaw a major sanctuary refurbishment completed in 1999, including refinished and reupholstered pews, two new stained glass memorial windows installed over the choir loft, new flooring in the Fellowship Hall, and a digital piano for the sanctuary. The 1994 mission trip to Iowa to help rebuild after the flooding became one of several youth trips that shaped the next generation of members.
The Reverend Anne H. O'Connor (2001 to 2018) oversaw the most significant expansion project in the church's history, with a building committee, architectural firm, and capital campaign consultants brought in to draw up a master plan. The congregation voted in July 2004 to proceed, and the work that began then was paid off twenty years later. The Reverend Sung Ho Lee (2018 to 2023), an elder born and raised in Korea with a doctorate in chemical engineering from SUNY Buffalo and a Doctor of Ministry from Drew Theological Seminary, led the congregation through the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Reverend Yohang Chun (2023 to 2025) followed before the Reverend Dr. Wilson Jones began his appointment on July 1, 2025.
The church's current pastor, the Reverend Dr. Wilson Jones, holds a Doctor of Ministry in Worship, Spirituality, and Preaching from Drew University and is trained in conflict transformation and mediation. He and his wife Alyson, married for nearly thirty-five years, have three adult children and are avid hikers and baseball fans. His own pastoral column each month in the Hinge newsletter, signed simply "Pastor Wilson," reflects on the strange calling of preaching and on what it means to follow a God who is, as he wrote in one recent letter, "at work everywhere and always in the act of re-creation."
Sunday School for Every Age, Every Sunday
Aldersgate's Christian Education program runs on Sunday mornings alongside worship and is organized by age so that every child has a class of their own.
- Jesus Loves the Little Children, Preschool (Ages 3 to 5), meets at 11:00 AM in Room 7 with Nan Keller. A second preschool class, designed for young children who "thrive with extra support," meets at 9:30 AM in Room 7 and is taught by Anna Simm, Julia Troiano, and assistants.
- Big Faith, Elementary (Grades K to 5), meets at 11:00 AM in Room 3/4 under Rhonda Simonelli, who also serves as Children's Ministry Co-Director.
- Faith Weavers, Middle School (Grades 6 to 8), meets at 9:30 AM in Room 3/4.
- The Gate, High School (Grades 9 to 12), meets at 10:45 AM in Fellowship Hall with John Simm.
A Nursery is available for the youngest children, and Junior Church is offered during worship for elementary-aged kids. Confirmation class is part of the education ministry, and Vacation Bible School caps the summer.
Vacation Bible School Every August
Every August, Aldersgate hosts a free, week-long Vacation Bible School for children ages four (preschool) through sixth grade. The program runs Monday through Thursday from 9:00 to 11:30 AM, with Bible stories, games, crafts, songs, and snacks. Each year brings a new theme. Past programs include Stellar in 2024, a cosmic adventure with the Starship Aldersgate; Scuba in 2025, an undersea dive into friendship with God; and True North in 2026, an Alaskan wilderness theme that teaches children that Jesus is the One who "guides us, steadies us, and leads us through every twist and turn of life." Volunteers are organized into Snack Team, Games, Bible Story Leaders, Preschool Helpers, Video/Tech, and Check-in, and questions and offers to help go to Rhonda Simonelli.
Naioth Revival Ministry and the African Ministry
The African Ministry, gathered each Sunday at 1:00 PM, is one of the most distinctive features of Aldersgate and reaches well beyond Greece. Under the leadership of Pastor Enoch Renzha, the ministry partners with Ebenezer Hope Ministries, an effort to build a school for children in the Nakivale refugee settlement in Uganda. According to a church update shared in 2025, the first classroom building was completed with donations from Aldersgate members, and 180 students enrolled in four classrooms during the school's first year of operation, eighty-four girls and ninety-six boys. Twenty of those students are able to pay tuition, and those payments are already helping to support the operation of the school. The next phase of construction, guided by Pastor Renzha on a trip to Africa, includes the remaining six classroom buildings, a library, a canteen, and an office. Contributions to the project are received with the memo notation "African School Project."
The African Ministry also includes a Sunday School offered in English, Swahili, and French, and an English Village School Partnership that lets volunteers read with a child during their lunch hour or lead a once-a-week after-school club for second graders.
Community Dinner on the Last Saturday
Each month, on the final Saturday from 4:00 to 6:00 PM, Aldersgate opens its doors for a free Community Dinner. The program began in 2013 to feed people short on money or food, and according to the church's own count served 1,383 members of the community in 2025. The dinner is open to anyone who wants a warm meal: people who live alone, people new to the area, families whose budgets do not stretch to take their children out to eat, and anyone who simply does not feel like cooking that night. Free crafts and books for the kids sit out alongside the meal. A recent menu included hamburger and vegetable rice casserole with salad. Volunteers serve as greeters, set up, serve, and clean up, and signup sheets are posted on the bulletin board in the gathering space.
Small Groups and the Rhythm of the Week
Three small groups currently meet on the church calendar:
- Mondays, 1st and 3rd, 6:30 PM in the Parlor, led by Brian Winter.
- Tuesdays, 2nd and 4th, 1:00 PM in the Parlor, led by Candy Metzger.
- Tuesdays, 2nd and 4th, 7:00 PM in the Parlor, led by DeVincentis.
Beyond small groups, the church makes space for recovery meetings that are open to the wider community. Alcoholics Anonymous meets in Fellowship Hall seven days a week at 7:30 AM, with additional evening meetings throughout the week. Al-Anon meets Monday evenings, and GA (Gamblers Anonymous) meets Friday and Saturday evenings. A weekly Prayer Group gathers Saturday mornings, and a Yarn & Darn gathering meets Tuesday afternoons in the basement.
The GriefShare support ministry and a Loss of a Spouse Seminar are offered on a periodic basis, and a Dementia Caregivers Support Ministry is part of the pastoral care network. Congregational Care also includes a Card Ministry, a Prayer Chain, an Eucharistic Ministry that brings Holy Communion to members who cannot attend in person, and a Visitation Ministry coordinated by the Pastor of Visitation, Doug Hess.
United Women in Faith
What was once United Methodist Women is now called United Women in Faith. At Aldersgate, programs and events are open to both men and women, newcomers and visitors. General meetings are held four times a year. The Morning Circle meets September through May on the third Tuesday at 11:00 AM in the Parlor, with speakers on spiritual growth, social issues, and health and wellness. The Reading Circle meets on the first Thursday of each month at 1:00 PM in the church library, discussing a book chosen each month. The Sew 'n Sew's group gathers year-round on the second Monday at 1:00 PM in Room 1, where members produce needlework for hospitalized children, school bags, baby gowns, and sweaters for the United Methodist Committee on Relief, along with other projects for local social service agencies.
Music and Worship Arts
Music is woven through both Sunday services and the week. The Chancel Choir, directed by Savannah Norton, sings at the Traditional service and rehearses on Sundays after the early service. Kaori Winter serves as Organist and supports the instrumental life of the congregation alongside piano and handbell offerings. The Contemporary Worship Team, led by Brandon Kelley, drives the 9:30 AM service and rehearses during the week as well. Additional singers and musicians are invited to share special music throughout the year.
Mission Share and the Wider Community
Aldersgate's outreach ministries reach across western New York:
- Family Promise of Greater Rochester (FPGROC), formerly the Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network, is supported by volunteer hours from church members, who help homeless families achieve sustainable independence through shelter, food, and case management.
- Greece Ecumenical Food Shelf accepts drivers, verifiers, and dispatchers as volunteers.
- Mission Share Outreach Center provides pregnancy and postpartum classes, parenting classes, a food bank, a clothing cupboard, and Teen Challenge programs. The center is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, and Aldersgate members assist with the food bank and clothing cupboard and serve as the church's liaison to the program.
- Journey Home, a not-for-profit ecumenical hospice home in Greece, welcomes volunteers who can offer care with a "loving heart and warm hands."
- Crop Walk participation and the church's annual Rummage Sale, and Crafting Workshops in summer and fall round out the calendar.
Adults who want to read with a child during the lunch hour at the local elementary school, or lead a six-week after-school club for second graders, can sign up for the English Village School Partnership.
Accessibility and the Hearing Loop
Aldersgate takes accessibility seriously. Handicapped parking is reserved in front of the building. Inside, an elevator and a handicapped-accessible bathroom serve the full campus, and the sanctuary's wide aisles accommodate wheelchairs. A hearing loop, installed in 2018 and linked to the sanctuary microphone system, converts speech into electromagnetic waves picked up by hearing aids equipped with a t-switch, so that what comes through the speakers becomes clear in the wearer's ears as long as the speaker is using a microphone. The sanctuary also displays large screens, microphones are used throughout the service, and large-print bulletins are available for those who have difficulty reading the screens.
The Building Project Completed
The expansion and refurbishment project that began in 2004 carried a mortgage for twenty years. On June 14, 2026, the congregation gathered to burn that mortgage in a service that drew a bishop and the wider district. In the July 2026 issue of Hinge, Pastor Wilson described the ceremony and the bishop's distribution of stones, each one a reminder that God had stopped the waters for this congregation as the Israelites crossed the Jordan. "While so many people played a part in bringing us through the 20 years of debt, this is not something we did," he wrote. "This is something God did through us."
The church now looks forward to its next season with debt-free facilities and a new pastor in his second year. The mortgage burning appears poised to mark the beginning of a fresh stretch of ministry.
Visiting Aldersgate
Ushers greet visitors at the door and hand out a bulletin. Free parking fills the lot. The office is open Monday through Thursday from 8:30 AM to 1:30 PM and on Fridays from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM, with someone available to answer questions, give directions, and assist with anything from a wedding inquiry to a confidential pastoral conversation. The address is 4115 Dewey Avenue, Rochester, NY 14616, and the main phone line, (585) 663-3665, is answered during those hours. Online giving through Vanco Payment Solutions is available at any time, with options for a one-time gift, recurring monthly or weekly giving, or an offline Electronic Funds Transfer form for those who prefer to give by mail.