The year of 1834 was when our building was built but it is not the beginning of our congregation. The early members had previously belonged to a church in Warrenton, but often held meetings in different houses in the neighborhood until our church was built in 1834.
The original building committee consisted of John Blackwell, 1791-1886, of “Clifton”; his brother-in-law, John Hancock Gaskins, 1781-1851, of “Aldersbrook”; and his son, Alfred Gaskins, 1805-1873, of “Glen Lonely”. The land was given by James Blackwell, 1805-1864, of “The Meadows”. It is said that in giving the land, Mr. James Blackwell said that it must be a free church, and it has always been so. The stone was furnished by Alfred Gaskins, and was quarried on his farm “Glen Lonely” (Wildcat Mountain). The members contributed the teams for hauling it, while the masons were members of the Kerns family. It is most certain that slave labor was used to build our church. One of those slaves, Harriet Settle, was a strong, muscular black woman who preferred the work of men to that done by women. She hauled part of the rock with an ox-cart and carried it to the masons. Those masons’ work was so well done that for more than a hundred years the building stood practically untouched, except for some repairs to the roof. In 1888, two towers with vestibules and a connecting gallery, were designed by James Blackwell and added to the original building.
The original building was completed and dedicated in September 1834. The name “Bethel” was given it by Miss Ann Eustace Blackwell (1825-1914), the youngest surviving daughter of John Blackwell. It is said that at a revival meeting held soon after the dedication every workman who had helped in the construction joined the church. It is also said that Ellen Blackwell used to go around the community with a bucket to collect articles that were made by the members of the Missionary Society.
The Blackwell family was instrumental in Bethel Church throughout its history and the history of the community. Mrs. Louise Blackwell was organist, and Miss Nannie Blackwell was a Sunday School Teacher. Joseph Hancock Blackwell, 1832-1905, a member of the Bethel Church was “Chief of Rangers” for the Mosby Rangers.
In 1893, the Methodist Church inquired as to the possibility of acquiring the Bethel Church in simple title. The piece of property had been held by the Blackwell family through the years. And on April 11, 1893, the small piece of ground on which the church stands was transferred to the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
From 1916 the church continued to grow under the leadership of Sam Lunsford, a most faithful and devoted member who almost single-handedly kept the church open as a part of the Methodist connectional system. In 1968, when the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren Churches merged, we took the name Bethel United Methodist Church. Also in 1968, Bethel split from Warrenton United Methodist Church and, with the help of Rev. Harry Meredith, became a station church. We were unable to maintain our station church status and in June 1973, Bethel joined with Gainesville United Methodist Church to become a two-station charge. Finally in June 1988, Bethel again became a station church when it split with Gainesville and took on a student pastor.
From 1988 until 2002, Bethel had a proud heritage of second-career student pastors that have helped the church to grow both spiritually and numerically. During this period, the congregation was able to nurture, train, and encourage four student pastors who have been ordained in the Virginia Conference and are now serving other growing churches in our conference. The fifth student pastor graduated and stayed to serve Bethel Church and to transition into a vital station church with a full-time pastor.
In the last 20 years, Bethel’s growth has been underwritten by sound financial planning and sacrificial giving. Every year, we have increased our budget, we have paid all of our apportionments, and have been able to increase our outreach, expand our nurture activities, and improve our facilities. A pavilion was built and paid for in 1997. We built a parsonage in 1993 and paid off our loan in 2001. Today we have a refurbished sanctuary and a new social hall and have begun to pay off the two notes we incurred.
Bethel Church has a proud history of worship and service. We are working now to establish an endowment fund that will assure and underwrite our mission to live our faith and share God’s love. We hope to make disciples for Christ and serve our community long into the future.