Bethel Church, 1856 – today
Bethel Church, located in the rolling hills of rural Mercer County Missouri, was organized in 1856 by Reverend New. Charter members were Mr. and Mrs. Kirby McGrew, Mr. and Mrs. Abner Mark, Eliza Ann Mark, Mr. and Mrs. Adam Harper, Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Wilson, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Tong, Verlinda Tong, and Mr. and Mrs. Asa Bradford. Eight generations of families have attended church at Bethel.
Sunday School was organized in 1859 at the Willis School. In 1868 services moved to the Cavanaugh School where they remained until the original church building was constructed in 1873.
On June 21, 1893 the building was destroyed in a storm. To date, no photos of that structure are known to exist. Opal Dorland, a life long member of Bethel Church and a child at the time told that during the clean up process the pulpit was found upside down in the rubble. Beneath it was the church’s bible, completely protected by the pulpit and undamaged from the wind and torrential rain.
The current building was constructed in the fall of 1894 with donated funds and donated labor during a serious recession. The annex was added in 1959 with money raised at the Lord’s Acre Sale and from donations.
A celebration was held in 1994 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the church building. Approximately 300 people attended. In 2006 a second celebration was held to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the church organization. People from all over the United States attended both celebrations.
Established as a Methodist Church, Bethel was for many years the center of the community. As the county’s population declined the membership of Bethel United Methodist Church fell as well. When pastor Jennie Vertrees retired in 2007 after 18 years of service the Methodist Conference failed to appoint a new pastor. The congregation stepped out in faith and began efforts to locate a pastor on their own.
After much prayer, the congregation unanimously voted to leave the Methodist Conference and become a stand alone, non-denominational church. By unanimous vote the name was shortened to simply, Bethel Church.
Tim Medford was hired as interim pastor. The congregation participated in weeks of bible study during which a mission statement and new bylaws were drafted following biblical guidelines. Tim was then promoted to Pastor.
In January of 2009 the Methodist Conference signed the land and building over to the newly organized Bethel Church family.
We are pleased to say that after decades of declining attendance, this trend has reversed and we look forward to many years of serving the Lord and our community as a congregation and a family of God.
June 1, 2009
In September of 2009 as a congregation we voted to change our annual Lord’s Acre Supper event, a tradition since 1946. The Lord’s Acre Supper in past years literally kept the doors of Bethel Church open a number of times.
We selected the Lord’s Mission Supper for the new name with all money collected going to missions. The missions selected for this years supper, held October 10th include the Mercer County Food Pantry, the Green Hills Community Action Agency Women’s Shelter and the Whattleys, a missionary family from Peru who visited Bethel Church in 2008. The Speck family provided musical entertainment before and after the evening meal and a bonfire and hayride were added.
October 26, 2009