Asbury United Methodist Church

Some Asbury History

In 1823 Nicholas Hiles and ten other persons met for the first time in Woodstown with two Methodist itinerant preachers, Edward Stout and Elwood Stokes. Two years later the group became a regular appointment on the Salem Circuit. Our church was named after Francis Asbury, the first Methodist bishop. The church building was first located on the road to Yorketown, where a small cemetery maintained by the church is still located. In 1856, the church moved to a new building at the present location. That building burned in 1893 and was replaced by the existing structure. The education building was added in 1958.

Asbury Pastors since 1922

  • 1922-25 ~ E. W. Graham
  • ​1925-27 ~ J. Shaw
  • 1927-31 ~ G. H. Redding
  • 1931-34 ~ D. C. Evans
  • 1934-35 ~ William Boyd
  • 1935-41 ~ Dr. E. Robinson    
  • 1941-44 ~ Dr. F. B. Stanger
  • 1944-50 ~ Thomas F. Eden
  • 1950-58 ~ James S. McGowan
  • 1958-61 ~ Ralph Kappler
  • 1961-63 ~John S. White
  • 1963-67 ~ Paul W. Vanderloo
  • 1967-74 ~ C. Wesley Crossley
  • 1974-89 ~ Charles A. Bender, Jr.
  • 1989-93 ~ Sandra L. Murphy
  • 1993-02 ~ Dr. Glenn C. Ferguson
  • 2002-07 ~ Joan B. DeSanctis
  • 2007-12 ~ Brian D. Joyce
  • 2012-13 ~ Hyekyung Pauline Kang
  • 2013-15 ~ James L. Peterson
  • 2015-17 ~ Myounghun Stephen Yun
  • 2017-18 ~ Charles A. Bender, Jr.
  • 2018 ~ John S. Redkoles
  • 2021 – Samuel Mountain
  • 2022- Dr. James L. Peterson