Letter to Parents

Hello Parents & Guardians!

Welcome to The SWOSU Wesley Foundation’s website.

While our ministry is designed to minister to students, we also recognize this is a tough time for many parents as well. In addition to reaching out and caring for the students and providing them a spiritual home, we want to do whatever we can to ease the stress and anxiety of sending your child off to a strange new place.

Over the years, there are questions that parents typically ask that we thought we would include in a page dedicated especially for you. Don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions not included here. You may email our Campus Minister, Corey Shirey, at director@swosuwesley.org or call him at 580-772-5511.

Frequently Asked Questions

WHAT IS A WESLEY FOUNDATION?

Wesley Foundations are the official campus ministries of The United Methodist Church. Many are called Wesley Foundations, some are called the Wesley House, and some are called Methodist Student Centers. We simply go by “The Wesley.” We get our namesake from the founder of Methodism, John Wesley. Though we function much like a church, we are not our own church. Instead, we are an extension ministry & mission of the United Methodist denomination serving all of the students, faculty, staff, and others who are connected with Southwestern Oklahoma State University.

SHOULD MY CHILD ALSO ATTEND A LOCAL CHURCH?

We always encourage our students to get plugged into a local church for Sunday morning worship. We have a very active ministry throughout the week with midweek worship, numerous Bible studies and small groups, lots of mission opportunities, and a plethora of fellowship activities.

We specifically don’t offer any Sunday activities because we want our students to stay connected to the local church while in college. We recognize that some are burned out on the local church, some have to work on weekends, and some just want to sleep in, but we always encourage them to stay connected to a local church in addition to their connection to The Wesley.

DO YOU HAVE TO BE METHODIST TO GET INVOLVED?

Absolutely not! While we certainly want to do everything we can to provide a spiritual home for the Methodist students on campus, we want ALL to feel welcome at the Wesley, including those who have never had any affiliation with any church.

CAN YOU CONTACT MY CHILD?

We are more than happy to contact your child and give him or her a personal invitation to the Wesley. One small request that we make of you in this area is that you not ask us to contact your child if you are not willing for us to mention that YOU asked us to call. We have found over the years that the anonymous “cold call” can be counter productive.

WHAT IF MY CHILD DOESN’T LIKE THE WESLEY?

We always tell students that we would love for them to be involved at The Wesley, but most importantly we want them involved SOMEWHERE! It is our desire that every student who walks through our doors will feel welcome, connect with other students, and desire to come back, but we know this won’t always happen.

We are more than happy to suggest to your child to other campus ministries, such as the BCM, Bulldogs for Christ, Chi Alpha, and others, so that he or she can be involved in some faith-based organization if they aren’t clicking at The Wesley.

I WOULD LIKE TO GIVE FINANCIALLY TO THE WESLEY. HOW DO I DO THAT?

Being a mission of the church, we do receive some of our funding from the Oklahoma Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

However, this funding only supports about 30% of our total budget! We rely heavily on the generosity and faithfulness of alumni, parents, and other donors to maintain our ministry. There are 3 ways you can give to our ministry:

1) Mail a check made out to “SWOSU Wesley Foundation” to P.O. Box 350 Weatherford, OK 73096.

2) Give online by clicking HERE

3) Contact our Executive Director & Campus Minister, Corey Shirey, and let him know you would like to donate. He will discuss with you the current needs and ways to donate and whether you would like to give a single time or make it a recurring gift.

You can contact Corey by email at director@swosuwesley.org or by phone at 580-772-5511.

All donations are tax deductible!