Rev. Dr. Wycherley Gumbs This Year’s Aldersgate Speaker

The Rev. Dr. Wycherley Gumbs will be the guest preacher for this year’s Aldersgate Service, Sunday May 20, at 5pm; which will be held at the St. John’s United Methodist Church of Elmont, located at 2105 Stuart Avenue, corner of Elmont Road in Valley Stream, New York. The host pastor is the Rev. Patrick Perrin.

Methodists throughout the world celebrate the Aldersgate conversion experience of John Wesley founder of the Methodist Movement, which took place on May 24, 1738 at a Moravian evening service on Aldersgate Street in London. John’s Brother, Charles, the most prolific hymn writer of the Christian faith also reports his own conversion experience during that same week.

The service, to which members of the various branches of Methodism have been invited, begins at 5.00 p.m. and will feature some of the well-known hymns of Charles Wesley, led by the St. John’s Chancel Choir and assisted by other choristers drawn from several churches, with Mr. Elmer Hammond at the organ.

The annual event usually features outstanding Methodist preachers and this year’s preacher will be Rev. Dr. Wycherley Gumbs, who has also been invited to participate in the St. John’s Disciple Bible Study Retreat scheduled for May 18 – 20 in Connecticut.

Dr. Gumbs was born and educated on the island of Anguilla. After teaching in the public schools, he candidated for the Methodist Ministry and served the Methodist Church from 1972-1994. He was appointed the first Principal of the St. Andrew’s High School in Dominica (1979). He completed graduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh and was awarded a Doctorate in Philosophy in 1982. He was appointed Chairman and General Superintendent (Bishop) of the Leeward islands District from 1988 to 1993. From 1994 to 2007, he served the government of the United States Virgin Islands in the Departments of Human Services and Education as a Counselor; and he also lectured at the University of the Virgin Islands in history, politics and Philosophy. He is presently serving as a Pastor and Superintendent in the St. Kitts Circuit. Dr. Gumbs has published plays, poetry, religious and historical works. He is married to Stella Gumbs and they are the parents of four children.