Wesley United Methodist Church First-Time Visitors

What is Alpha Omega? Wesley Alpha Omega

In biblical reference to Jesus the Christ as the "alpha and the omega; beginning and end" we affirm our desire to grow in our Christian faith and service. Our desire is to keep college age young adults connected to the local churches by providing spiritual enrichment programming and fellowship both locally and cooperatively that is relevant to where college age young adults find themselves. The usage of the Greek letters "A" and "O" was used not only as a reference to our spiritual heritage but a way to provide a connection to college life through the establishment of a kind of Greek co-ed organizational fellowship.

What is the Agape Fellowship?

"Agape" is one of several greek words translated as "love". This particular greek word for "love" was a term used by early Christians to refer to the self-sacrificing love of God for humanity, which they were comitted to reciprocating and practicing towards both God and to one another. It only seemed fitting to provide a name for this fellowship that we hope will grow as a succeeding ministry for those who are transitioning out of Alpha Omegas and those who are at a different point in their young adult lives.

History of Alpha Omega

The fellowship group called "Alpha Omega" was first begun at the United Japanese Christian Church (UJCC) in Clovis in 2003 affirming that college age young adults needed a ministry to transition into after graduating from the local church youth groups. The bottom line was that we valued the gifts and graces of college age young adults and their participation in the local church and therefore wanted to support ministry to and by them.

The need for the development of a college age ministry at Faith UMC in Torrance attracted the Faith United Methodist Church to consider establishing their own Alpha Omega chapter which it did in 2004.

A fall retreat seemed a good time to gather college age young adults; before the academic year got too busy and participation in summer camp counselor training weekends became overly hectic for many.

The UJCC Alpha Omega had been retreating around Pismo, CA at beach rental homes through the fall of 2003 & 2004 but with the movement toward a cooperative retreat with Faith UMC in 2005 we booked the United Methodist Camp Arroyo Grande as beach rental units simply could not accomodate our numbers.

College age Alpha Omega chapters from both Wesley UMC San Jose and Buena Vista UMC Alameda joined us for the first time in 2006 and several young adults from Blaine Memorial UMC in Seattle and Aldersgate UMC Palo Alto in 2007.

The 9th Annual Alpha Omega & Agape Fellowship will be held October 7-9, 2011, at Camp Arroyo Grande. Click here to read more about the retreat and to download registration information

Report of 8th Annual Alpha Omega-Agape Fellowship Retreat
2010

Thirty-five college and post-college young adults representing Wesley UMC San Jose, Faith UMC Torrance, Buena Vista UMC Alameda, Sacramento Japanese UMC, Blaine Memorial UMC Seattle and the United Japanese Christian Church in Clovis all gathered on the weekend of October 2-4 at United Methodist Camp Arroyo Grande in Arroyo Grande, CA for the 8th Annual Alpha Omega – Agape Fellowship Young Adult Joint Beach Retreat.

This year’s theme was “Hope Amidst Adversities.” Using the 1998 Academy Award winning film “Life Is Beautiful” as a launching point for engaging in the theme, we dove into a time of theological and personal reflection on the reality of hardship and adversity present in everyone’s life irregardless of whether or not one has faith. And yet, we reflected on the importance of faith and our relationship to God in Christ to give us the strength, the hope, the attitude and spirit to survive and even thrive through it.

Much fellowship and fun were also experienced which included beach activities and a walk into downtown Arroyo Grande to a local ice creamery (an Alpha Omega/Agape Retreat tradition). Time for getting college homework done is also factored into our weekend together. It was a great weekend! God blessed us indeed!

Group picture from 2009

Wesley UMC chapter sweatshirt!

The sweatshirt is chocolate brown with light blue lettering and is available in adult sizes (S-XL). $30 (please include the fees in the registration form)