Bethel Christian Church
Founded in 1885.
We will be celebrating our 123rd anniversary in August, 2008.
Baxter Golightly, who founded Bethel Christian Church, traveled all over the
state of Georgia starting churches. The first meeting was held on
October 5, 1885. The area where the church met was a brush arbor.
Their first meeting was in this arbor.
There were thirty-five charter members. In the early years of the
church, when they had traveling preachers, they didn't have services at
Bethel every Sunday. They met at Bethel Christian Church on the
first Sunday of each month, and at other area churches the other Sunday.
The first Elders were James Summers and N.H. Capart.
The first Deacons were George Smith and George Harrelson.
On November 26, 1885, an agreement was made between David
Graham and a building committee of the church for a parcel of land at the
present church site as well as rights to the use of neighboring Indian Camp
Spring. The purchase price was $40.00. Signers of the
agreement from the church were N.H. Capeheart, G.T. Smith, G.P. Sigman,
P.M. Born and W.H. Trimble.
The
original building was built of white clapboard and was dedicated May 3,
1886. During the building of the structure, the church met in the
brush arbor until winter, when they moved into an old log schoolhouse on the
property in the rear of the present cemetery.
On December 6, 1889, T.A. White gave the church "for love and in
consideration of the love to hear for the cause of Christ and his Church,
and from an earnest desire to promote his heritage on earth" the
property
adjacent to the building. The quote was taken from the original deed
for this transaction and is shown on the next page for your information.
On December 2, 1892, John H. Wood, who never ministered
to this congregation, was the first person to be ordained into the ministry
in the church. The first person to be baptized was Patrick H. Cooper,
who was also the first to be buried in the cemetery.
On January 31, 1891, the following was shown as a listing
of the budget:
The first homecoming was held in 1886. The first
Sunday in August was chosen because the first Sunday was their meeting day
and because August was between harvest time for the farmers. Until
recent years, Bethel has been a large farming area. The food crops
were harvested by the first of August and the cotton wasn't ready for
harvesting yet. Homecoming was a time of celebration and
thanksgiving. They were thankful for the food harvest which had
been put up for food for the winter to come. They anticipated a good
cotton harvest. Homecoming was a time of singing, testimonies and good
food. Former members of this congregation told of killing the chicken
on Sunday morning and then preparing it for the meal before church. We
continue the tradition of having homecoming the first Sunday in August
today.
Until the Educational Building was built in 1984,
there were huge concrete tables between the Annex and Field Road.
Dinner on Homecoming was spread on these tables and everyone stood around to
eat. Homecoming lasted all day. After dinner on the
grounds, they had special singing and Christians gave testimonies of what
God had done in their lives.
During later years, a tradition
began with a week long revival beginning on Homecoming and lasting the
entire week. Other congregations in the area associate Homecoming and
Revival at Bethel with the first Sunday in August. Everyone in the
area came because this was a time of fellowship.
The 1930's,
which was the time of the depression, was a very bad time for the
congregation. A good attendance at services was 15 people. The
church almost died during this period, but the members stuck it out and the
congregation once again began to grow. A little faith went a long way.
During the period, the minister as D.A. Brindal. Mr. Brindal was from
Griffin; every Saturday he would ride from his home to Atlanta by train.
He would stay with a church member who worked in Atlanta and return home
again on Monday. Some Sundays the offering was so bad that one of the
Elders would stand outside after church and pass the hat among the men in
order to collect enough money for Mr. Brindle's train-fare home.
In 1948, the church began holding services every other week and soon after
began having weekly services, which has been enlarged upon.
In 1960, an addition was built onto the original church building. This
addition included a fellowship hall, a kitchen and rest rooms. In the
back and to one side of the original church sanctuary was a nursery with a
glass front. Mothers could sit in the nursery with their babies and
still be able to see and hear what was going on in the services.
In 1975, the
Church Board approved the sponsoring of a Kindergarten Program. They had a
4 and 5 year old program using ABEKA materials. The purpose was to train and educate
preschoolers in basic skills and to teach them about Jesus. The curriculum
included Music, Bible Stories, Memorizing Bible Verses, and structured
play. Each bible verse was supported
with a practical story to apply it to every day situations. Those who taught
were Beverly Key,
Lynda Gilbert, June
Cronan, and Midge
McCullough. The church discontinued the
program in 1981 when Public School Kindergarten grew to the point that there
was no longer a demand in the community for a private kindergarten.
In February, 1981, the church purchased 12
acres on Field Road across the road from the church. This property has had
extensive grading (volunteer work from members of the congregation) and
grass has been sown. In 1985, the land was used for the first time as a
baseball field. In January 1984, the church swapped 1/2 of the lake which
was part of the original purchase, for more land with road frontage.
In April 1982,
the church purchased a
van to
be used for church groups. Prior to that
time there had been a church
- bus formerly a school bus which,
the youth,
had used extensively, In the past there
had been area youth rallies, when the
youth-in all the area Christian Churches
would get together once a
month. The church bus had broken down and a van was purchased which
is still in use.
In July, 1983,
work began on the Education Building which is a large fellowship hall with
improved kitchen and rest room facilities and a large classroom. There is a
full basement which provide room for expansion. Much of the work on
this building was done by church members. Many times the same men were
there night after night after working all day at their jobs and then they
worked all day on Saturday. This building was dedicated to the Lord's
work August 3, 1984.
We will finish posting the entire story
soon.
