United Methodist Temple of Clarksburg was awarded the WV Prevention First Award on September 22, 2015 at the WV Integrated Behavioral Health Conference in Charleston, WV. The award recognized UM Temple as a faith-based organization who is serving as a leader of stellar substance abuse prevention initiatives in their community.

The award recognized UM Temple as a faith-based organization who is serving as a leader of stellar substance abuse prevention initiatives in their community and the state of West Virginia.

The community around the United Methodist Temple Church in Clarksburg has been facing a war on drugs, violence, and substance abuse. In fact, four people lost their lives two years ago due to drugs just a few houses away from the church, and another person stabbed a few months ago across the street from the church. The congregation at Temple has been reaching outside of its walls and into the heart of the community and the streets each week.

Every Friday night the church goes door to door around their neighborhood and provides each child with a bag of food, along with a children’s bulletin that tells a story of Jesus. The church fed 147 children around the church alone last Friday. On Monday nights the church offers Celebration Place (the children’s part to Celebrate Recovery) where they work with children on values, encouragement, and Jesus. This safe environment provides the children with dinner and church and community fellowship. During the summer the children in the community and church attend Kidz in the Hood where children can come eat dinner, fellowship, and do some really cool faith based activities and lessons. Since summer has ended Kidz in the Hood continues as part of the Sunday School program which has increased with children involvement. Transformation is taking place!

The church has also started a Food Pantry that is open every day (Monday through Friday) as well as many other community outreach programs.

The church continues to have Do Something Sunday’s where their worship service is going out into the community to be the hands and feet of Christ.

“It’s been awesome to watch children and adults in the community build a relationship with the church and also the pastor. They will even stop us as we are out or driving by and say ‘hey can we have a prayer?’ The cool thing is some children and adults have even started coming to church on Sunday morning,” says Dustin McCune, pastor at United Methodist Temple.

God is working and moving in the community and the whole church is on board.

“As a pastor it’s been rewarding to see the whole church jump on board and want to be involved in the community and sharing Jesus with our hurting neighborhood,” McCune said.