Bethany Community Church

EARLY YEARS

“Bethany began about 1900 as an Indian Mission.”* One short sentence is all we have in our records that hints at what Bethany’s beginnings were all about. We have no idea how many people banded together for this endeavor, who they were, or what they did. We do know that at least some of these people stayed together in fellowship as they went through several changes that finally led them to become Bethany Baptist Church, located in the Ballard area, in 1916.

On February 1, 1916, Bethany Baptist Church was organized by many former members of Second Baptist Church, a congregation which had disbanded. A few months later, the church was offered a building at 20th NW and NW 61st. Bethany remained here until 1969. The Washington Baptist Convention gave Bethany a gift mortgage of $2,200 to get started. As long as it remained a Baptist church, it was not expected to repay it.

The original “Articles of Incorporation of Bethany Baptist Church of Seattle” are on file in our church office. They are signed April 3, 1916 by the following five members: W.H. Sullivan, William T. Sparrow, Mrs. Clarence A. Bentley, Mrs. Nick Rudolph, and Howard West. These are the people who committed themselves to forming and maintaining the church community that has continued to this very day! On May 5, 1916, a Certificate of Incorporation was signed by Secretary of State I.M. Howell (grandfather of Bruce Howell, a former pastor here at Bethany).

Reverends Robert Gray, Berton Bronson, and Charles Barry were Bethany’s first three pastors. They ministered for different lengths of time from 1916 until the fall of 1929, when Rev. Antrim Nickell was invited to become pastor and then served for the next 15 years. He came to Bethany with his wife, Lucy, daughter Verona, and son, Gordon. The brief written history we have indicates that Rev. Nickell was not only loved and highly regarded by his congregation, but was also considered one of Ballard’s most prominent citizens.

Reverend Nickell experienced health problems and was assisted by Rev. Hugh P. Andrews from 1929-1931. At the close of his sermon on December 13, 1936, Rev. Nickell and his wife called Rev. and Mrs. Earle Cleveland to the front of the church where they formally handed over their positions as “pastor and wife” to the young couple.

Rev. Earle Cleveland and his wife Eunice were raised in Ballard and attended Ballard High School. Earle was converted and received his calling to the ministry under the leadership of Rev. Nickell, who affectionately called him one of “his boys”. The Clevelands had two sons, Lester and Douglas, and a daughter, Sheryl. They served Bethany Baptist until June 1943, and were instrumental in purchasing the house to the west of the church that was used as the Parsonage for the families of five pastors.

Rev. Earle Cleveland resigned in June of 1943, leaving Bethany Baptist without a pastor. During Rev. Cleveland’s ministry, a Canadian evangelist named Ralph Cranston was invited to preach one evening. He was well received as a “man of exuberance and fun, as well as a consecrated preacher of the Word”. On the day after Rev. Cleveland’s resignation, Rev. Cranston called on the Clevelands to see if the apartment in the church was vacant since his family was in need of a place to live until their next ministry was settled. The church let them use the apartment, and in the next couple of weeks voted to invite him to become the next pastor, which he accepted! He moved into the parsonage with his wife, Muriel, and their daughter Dawn. Another daughter, Jacqueline, was born soon after.

Rev. Cranston had promised his wife a trip back to England for a visit as soon as transportation was available (this was war-time), and when they were able to go in 1945, he resigned his position at Bethany. The church, however, refused to accept his resignation and gave him a year’s leave of absence. He recommended Rev. Ernest Maisch, a missionary on furlough, to fill in for him. When Rev. Cranston returned from England at the end of 1945, he once again turned in his resignation, which was finally accepted. Rev. Maisch continued as pastor until February of 1949.

GROWTH AND CHANGE

In June of 1949, Richard W. Bishop, an instructor at Northwest Bible College, was invited to become pastor of Bethany Baptist Church. Rev. Bishop provided leadership as this community continued to minister and worship as a church family. They were not a large congregation at this point, but had walked together through many changes in world and economic situations, as well as changes in their own Bethany Baptist Church. As they continued to grow, not in size but in strength, and knowing who they were as a community of believers, they gradually withdrew from the Washington Baptist Convention. In January 1955, the gift mortgage of $2,200 was paid off.

In May 1956, the name of the church was changed to Bethany Assembly and was unaffiliated with any particular denomination, as is the case to the present day. In December 1956, Rev. Bishop resigned and accepted a call as pastor of Faith Community Church in North Seattle.

Monday, April 1, 1957, was a significant evening in the life of our church. A small group of members were gathered, discouraged and wondering what to do. They had a new name and “identity”, but were once again without a pastor. Gordon and Carol Breda, born and raised in Ballard and at Bethany, had recently moved to Spokane. The Bredas had become acquainted with a young couple, a preacher and his wife, who were currently not employed by a church. Gordon told Bethany about this couple, and on that Monday evening (“in desperation”) the members had church clerk Eleanor Hansen telephone this couple. She received the response, “We’ll come with no strings attached.” The next Sunday, April 7th, John and Ione McCullough came to Bethany Assembly to visit and preach. The following Sunday, the membership voted unanimously to call John as pastor. The McCulloughs accepted and — along with their children, Don and Patti — began their ministry at Bethany Assembly on Easter Sunday, April 21, 1957.

They came to a church community of approximately 49 active members, averaging forty years old, made up mostly of four families. During the first 6 years, most of the older family heads went “home to glory” and not a single marriage took place within the church.

Some of the younger members began to draw students from SPU and UW, many of whom stayed on at Bethany Assembly, married, and became leaders in the church. By the mid-1960s, so much growth had occurred that it became evident that additional space was needed. A Building Fund was established and a Steering Committee formed to determine if Bethany should build elsewhere or remodel where they were. In 1968, Pastor John called the membership to a special meeting to discuss these building plans, as he felt God urging them to move out on a decision. The Steering Committee was dissolved, and a Building Committee and Finance Committee were appointed.

Very suddenly, in May of 1969, a building on North 80th and Stone Avenue N was put up for sale. Pastor John called Eleanor Hansen at work saying, “I’ve bought a church. Will you come and sign with me?” The congregation voted to buy it, and within a few weeks the congregation that had occupied our new building decided to purchase our old building! The papers were signed on June 24, 1969, and Bethany Assembly had a new home at 8023 Green Lake Dr. N, our present location.

During the next six months, the building was remodeled. An older portion of the building was torn down and rebuilt into what is now the overflow cafe and old church office. The balcony was added, and much refurbishing was done to the entire building. Approximately 5,000 volunteer hours were invested in this new church home!

NEW HORIZONS

The first service in the new chapel was January 18, 1970, with the dedication being held on Easter Sunday, March 29, 1970. In the spring of 1971, Bethany Assembly changed its name to Bethany Community Church. Greg Macpherson, Kent McClain, Rex Auker, Dudley Miller, and Bruce Howell all came to Bethany to serve with Pastor John as a result of the growth during this time. To solve problems of space for Adult Sunday School classes, five rooms were rented from Bagley Elementary across the street. In November of 1977, an architectural firm was hired to draw plans for an addition to the north, adjacent to the foyer. Just before construction was to begin, the church across the street notified us they were moving and wanted to sell their building and the house next to it. Arrangements were made to buy this property in the spring of 1980, and we acquired what has become our present Christian Education building.

By this point the church had grown from 49 active members in 1957 to close to 300 by 1980. Bruce Howell continued as Assistant Pastor. As the congregation increased, the need for additional pastoral staff was realized. In October of 1980, John Mason joined the staff as part-time Minister of Music, taking on the full-time ministry of Music and Youth in 1983. In September of 1981, Dana Wright was called as Minister of Christian Education.

The 1990s brought changes in staff as well as Pastor John’s retirement in September of 1993 after 37 years of dedicated leadership to the Bethany community. Interim Pastor Dick Jessup provided leadership for several months, and in December 1995 after many months of prayer and interviews we were ready to embrace our new pastor, Richard Dahlstrom, and his family. As the church continued to grow, Scott Becker (Associate Pastor, Christian Education), Ryan Kyler (Director of Youth Ministries), and Ruth Raynard [Trigg] (Director of Children’s Ministries) all came to Bethany and began co-laboring alongside Richard, along with several interns. Ed Park was on staff for a time, with an emphasis on College Ministries.

The history of Bethany Community Church closes with a quote from Eleanor Hansen, who attended Bethany for many, many years and served faithfully in many capacities. In her notes on Bethany’s history, she wrote, “Years ago, while still in the old building in Ballard, in a dream I saw streams of people coming into the church. Recently, on a Sunday, as I stood in the foyer before the 11:00am service, I saw my dream fulfilled.”

*all quotes are taken from a short history of Bethany Community Church written in 1983 by Eleanor Hansen.

Update:

In 2004-2005, attendance was regularly over 1,000 people across five different Sunday services (9am, 10:45am, Video Cafe in the CE building, 5pm, and 6:45pm). Believing that healthy things grow, Bethany was at a critical decision point, to build facilities for ministry or stifle growth. In April 2005, Bethany Community Church started on a capital campaign, “Share Life,” to raise $7 million for a new 600 seat sanctuary on the northwest corner of 80th and Stone. God has opened doors in many ways: the previous purchase of four consecutive houses on 80th, the building of a parking lot in a win-win partnership with Bagley elementary, the signing of the lease with the school district, favor with neighbors and zoning/building officials, the city council approval of vacating the alleyway, and the purchase of a house on 80th and the subsequent house exchange with Mr. Martinez (on 81st). Demolition for the new sanctuary took place in December of 2006.

In January 2006, the church celebrated Pastor Dahlstrom and his family’s 10 years of ministry at Bethany. Tabitha Ministries launched that month as well, with the chapel basement being transformed into an auxiliary women’s shelter three nights a week.

On February 10, 2008, Bethany celebrated its first Sunday in the New Sanctuary.