2021 In Review

2021 has come and gone. It was a challenging year as Covid still continues to disrupt everything, but the work of God never stops, and His church never stops. And 2021 certainly did not stop Bethlehem Church. Here is our year in review.

In 2021 we took a major step in leaving the United Methodist Church and becoming just Bethlehem Church. This was a long and difficult task but we believe that the issues with sexuality, as well as other issues, mandated us that we leave the denomination and in June we officially became an independent, non-denominational church.

We took on the task of forming a new church organization and writing by-laws, as well as coming up with a comprehensive statement of faith. We believe that this statement is faithful to the text of Scripture and honoring the Lord in everything that we say and do.

In July we held our first fireworks and cookout for the Fourth of July celebration. The event was a huge success, and everyone had a wonderful time.

We also started Sunday School and our Kid's Corner. We have three Sunday School classes, Children, Teens, and Adults. This is something we had not been able to do in the past, but God has allowed us the ability to hold these classes. Kid's Corner is a five-minute devotional during Sunday Worship for our kids and is led by a great team of people.

In the Fall we had our Fall Harvest Celebration with another Chili Contest and other contests that were had as well as plenty of candy for the kids.

We have overcome the struggle of having Brother Paul out for several months due to heart issues and, ultimately, having a heart transplant. We look forward to his future return. However, the church really stood together during this time with many people picking up the areas that needed help and a special thanks goes to Brothers Eric Davis and James Jones for filling in preaching so many Sundays.

In December we had our first annual business meeting as Bethlehem Church and elected our first class of Deacons. Nick Burnett, Brandon Dandurand, and Charles Turner lead us in 2022.

We have also seen attendance double since leaving the United Methodist Church showing us that God will bless us if we are faithful to Him and His Word. Our online ministries are also strong having over 100 subscribers to our podcast each week and may visits to our website and sermon pages.

Bethlehem Church continues to grow and seek the Lord as we are shown time and time again that God is ALWAYS Good!