Bethany United Methodist Church might be considered a small country church, but we are very active and involved in our community. We start our regular Worship Service at 9:00 am with Sunday School following from 10:15 am until 11:00 am. We celebrate Holy Communion the first Sunday of every month, plus on special occasions like Maundy Thursday and Christmas Eve. We have a range of Sunday school classes from nursery to seniors. We meet every Tuesday morning at 8 am, at a local restaurant where we fellowship together with the pastor and any other members that are able to attend.
In order to make ourselves known in the community, we have several activities orchestrated by our Age-Level and Family Ministries committee. They include an Easter Celebration where we invite children in our church as well as our community to come and participate in an Easter Egg hunt. Of course, we have games, crafts and story-telling. In June we celebrate Pentecost with a picnic at our church. All members are invited as well as other guests.
What would the summer be without Vacation Bible School? We have a week-long Vacation Bible school that is usually the third week in June. We are fortunate to have of our senior youth take part in helping out with Bible school. Our Vacation Bible school takes place in the morning and we extend a warm welcome to other children in our community. On July 4th, we celebrate with a picnic at a member’s home or at our church picnic shelter where everyone is invited to come and bring a guest. We enjoy the outdoors, play games, eat and enjoy the fellowship.
In the Fall, we have our Harvest Celebration. It is another chance to invite neighbors and community members to attend. We usually celebrate Thanksgiving with a lunch together on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We end the year with our Christmas program. Some years it includes adult actors in a play. It always includes our Christmas Pageant with the children. It is the last Sunday evening before Christmas.
All of the happenings that take place at Bethany are conveyed to our congregation by a weekly bulletin insert that provides the dates for upcoming events. We also communicate through a phone system called One All Tell All that has been very effective getting messages to the congregation in a timely manner when needed. Current events are also posted on our Bethany Facebook page.