Bonnie Hardacre, chair of the bicentennial, said it’s a privilege to be able to celebrate 200 years.
“I think it’s a great honor and privilege. I think it’s quite a privilege for a small church to survive this long,” she said.
A family by the last name Miller bought a quarter section of land in 1815 along Donnels Creek to build a house, and some of those acres were later donated to build the church.
Several people came together and organized the church in 1822. The first members met in log cabins when the weather would not permit service outside. When outside, service was held in a woods or grove, and a board was placed on two logs for the preacher to stand on with a board between two trees to hold a Bible and song book.
In 1836, Bethel Twp. began talking about having a church building, which was built in 1837 on the land donated by the Miller family. In 1879, 100 members of the church voted to build a new brick church, the current church building now at 6370 New Carlisle Pike in Bethel Twp.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
At the church also sits the Bethel Baptist Cemetery, which is actually a private graveyard attached to the church that started out as a cemetery for the Miller family.
As a gift to the church for the bicentennial, Hardacre said they are working to fix all the headstones at the cemetery damaged over the years. To help pay for the cemetery renovation, the church sold calendars made up of old pictures and wooden replicas of the church and collected donations from the members.
Along with this, the church is planning other events and activities, including a reenactment of baptisms in the creek, where they were held before the 1930s; recognizing members that have been with the church over 50 years with a ceremony; performance of old songs; as well as setting up displays that feature newspaper articles, old pictures of the church, memorabilia and things they’ve done throughout the year.
Many members of the church are descendants of the initial members. The historians of the church include Jean Harris, Dave McWhortor (of the New Carlisle History Society), Bob Suther (of the Medway History Society), Chris Lovelock (of the Donnelsville History Society), and Hardacre.
For more about the church, visit www.bethel.today or call the church at 937-882-6697.
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