News

We were happy that our 4th of July did not get washed out! We had a great time with bouncy houses, great food, music, fellowship, and, of course, FIREWORKS!

Many people from the church and community showed up and we only had three hotdogs left! That's a good party! God is good!

We are also happy that the American Heritage Girls at the church raised over $500 during the event with their bake sale.

Thank you to everyone who made this event possible, and, most of all, thanks be to God who has blessed our church so much!

We look forward to seeing you at our next event!

We want to wish a happy Mother's Day to all mothers everywhere. Nobody comes into this life without a mother. You have a special place in the hearts of all.

We are excited to know that Rural King is doing Church Week again, April 7th through April 20th. So what exactly is Church Week and how does it help Bethlehem? Glad you asked!

Here is what Rural King says about Church Week: This program provides an opportunity for those who shop at Rural King to support participating Christian churches, schools, and radio stations.

The wonderful thing is, 10% of purchases for people who submit their receipts for Bethlehem, Rural King will give to us as a donation. This is very generous. Here is what you need to know about how the program works.

Participant Information:

1. Your supporters can shop at their local Rural King store, or www.ruralking.com, and submit their qualifying receipt on our website, www.ruralking.com/churchweek. To be eligible, the receipts must be dated April 7-20, 2022, and be submitted to the website above by May 6, 2022.
2. Once the event has ended, 10% of each valid and qualifying Rural King receipt’s total (after sales tax) will be donated to the registered organization chosen by the customer.
3. Donations will be distributed to the organizations receiving them by the Rural King store designated during the application process.
4. For questions, please e-mail churchweek@ruralking.com

Let's support Rural King as they support us!

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!

UPDATE: This has been resolved.

Our online giving is temporarily unavailable as we are making changes to our service provider involving our departure from the United Methodist Church in June.

We are working to restore the service as quickly as possible and will let you know of any updates that are available.

In the meantime, you can still bring your tithes and offerings directly to the church during service or mail them to PO Box 966, Tompkinsville, KY 42167.

If you have any questions, please email giving@bethlehemchurchky.org or call the church at 270-385-0001.

We are pleased to announce that Bethlehem Church now has a dedicated phone number. You can reach the church for information at (270) 385-0001‬.

We are making other updates as well. Soon our One Call system will be updated. Details will be given in the coming weeks.

It is a day that we have been waiting for a long time. As of today, Bethlehem Church is free from the United Methodist Church.

The Kentucky Annual Conference met today and acknowledged and accepted the vote held in February to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church.

As of today, we are completely free and independent of the United Methodist Church!

Taryn Burnett represented our church, as well as Gamaliel UMC, as our lay delegate to Annual Conference. The vote was not unanimous, 22 delegates voted to not allow us to disaffiliate but only a simple majority was needed to pass and over 500 delegates voted to let us go free.

The disaffiliation is something that the church leadership has been working towards for over a year. It has been a long, drawn out process but it has finally come to a close. We will be celebrating our newfound freedom this Sunday Morning during our Worship Service!

The Kentucky Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church meets today virtually via Zoom Conference. On the agenda is whether or not the Conference will uphold the disaffiliation vote our church passed in February.

If the vote passes, Bethlehem Church will be officially free of the United Methodist Church. This is something our church leadership has been working towards for over two years.

Please be in prayer today as the delegates meet and vote. Updates will be provided as we have them.

Our new service times start this Sunday, June 6th. For the first time in over 15 years, Bethlehem Church will be starting a Sunday School program. Sunday School will begin at 9am.

Children's classes will be downstairs. There will be a group for elementary/preschool ages and another group for the teens. Adults will meet with Brother Paul Mills up in the sanctuary.

Sunday School will end at 9:30am and Morning Worship will begin at 9:45am. This will allow 15 minutes between Sunday School and Morning Worship and allow for those not at Sunday School time to get into the sanctuary before service. As Brother Paul has said, if you like a specific seat, you better come to Sunday School because it might not be there when you get here!

We are very excited about our new ministry opportunities and hope to see everyone there Sunday at 9am!

It has been a great day at Bethlehem Church. The congregation met at the church at 1pm to discuss, debate, and adopt the bylaws drafted by the Church Formation Committee. The meeting lasted about an hour and a half and after debate the bylaws were adopted unanimously. The church board of directors also accepted those in attendance into membership of the church and the congregation voted Taryn Burnett Financial Secretary for 2021.

Here is what you need to know:

• A copy of the bylaws can be obtained at the church website, but you must be a member of our Faithlife Group. All others can email the church for a copy.
• Our full Statement of Faith can also be found on our website.
• A membership class will be held on June 27th at 1pm to allow everyone else who would like to join Bethlehem Church the opportunity to do so. Details about this class will be announced soon.
• A new church logo has been commissioned and is the Cover Photo for this post. Thank you to BJ Dandurand for working hard on branding for our church!

We are very excited about everything going on at the church and look forward to what is yet to come!

Bethlehem Church, Where, as Always, God is Good!