WAPWALLOPEN — The food was plentiful, and so was the fellowship, set to the soft strains of a live acoustic trio.
It just so happens the pastor was part of the band.
Sunday brought together congregants and friends in the hall at Stairville United Methodist Church for the debut homecoming and open house organized by New Hope Wapwallopen, which is made up of Faith, Slocum and Stairville Methodist Churches.
Formally known as a three-point charge in the Susquehanna Conference of the United Methodist Church, the sites function as three individual churches sharing a pastor and joining together for events and activities, according to the New Hope website.
Pastor Scott Miller, who has been with New Hope for three years, said the churches started a missions outreach and discipleship team (MOD) a little over a year ago, and had been discussing the idea of holding free community dinners, perhaps once a month.
That’s where the Van Gorden family came in, and particularly son Josh.
“He’s in college and he cooks over at the the (Blue Ridge Trail) golf course. And his family’s like, ‘oh, he would cook a meal,’” Miller said.
Indeed, Van Gorden was happy to cook a meal.
“My parents asked if I would want to help, and I said yes,” said Van Gorden, who is majoring in accounting at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, where he will be a junior this fall. “I do big tournaments like this at the golf course, so yeah, why not. I came up with the menu and everything.”
Van Gorden said preparation of the chicken Marsala dinner, which also included baked ziti and salads, took about seven hours. Their dinner was accompanied by a range of desserts supplied by other members of the churches.
Being able to organize the event at his home church meant a lot to Van Gorden, who grew up down the road in Laurel Lakes.
“Anything I can do to help our community,” he said.
That spirit clearly runs in the family.
His mom, Janet Van Gorden, together with dad Eric, were instrumental in setting up a new library at the church, which opened earlier this summer, and serves as librarian.
“Our MOD team was trying to find ways to fill needs in the community. We wanted to create a place where people could congregate and kids could come read books,” she said. “We’re going to do some children’s hours, and the older people can come in and sit and relax and meet with each other.”
Like Josh, Janet noted that the church has long been a part of her family’s life.
“I’ve been coming here ever since I was little,” she said.
Back down in the dining hall, live acoustic trio Chester Avenue kept gentle tunes flowing as guests chatted over dinner. The group is made up of husband and wife Anthony and Angie Zammit, together with Miller.
“We sent a letter out to people we hadn’t seen in a while and said, ‘Hey, you should come back to this homecoming,’” Miller said. “And so it’s just something that continued to grow, and then someone was like, ‘Hey, you should have your band come play,’ and so it is what it is,” he said with a smile.
The event proved an effective way to bring together members of New Hope Wapwallopen, which has between 60 and 75 people who regularly attend each church, “but we wanted to see if we could get ’em all in the same place at the same time,” Miller said.
Sunday’s event attracted members of the three churches, but also members of the community.
Darlene Wolfe, of Drums, attended with her father, George Berger, and friend Dawn Klick. Wolfe said she frequently comes to Stairville for its spiritual yoga program.
“This is a wonderful event,” Klick added.
New Hope Wapwallopen and its constituent churches offer a variety of spiritual, social and charitable activities. You can read more about them at www.newhopewapwallopen.org or on Facebook @newhopewapwallopen.
Chester Avenue also has a presence on Facebook, @ChesterAvenueMusic.
