Bethany Lutheran Church in Leland to celebrate 175 years

Congregation to host special services Sunday

Bethany Lutheran Church in Leland as it stands today.

One hundred, seventy-five years and a couple of days after its congregation first met in Baker, the members of Bethany Lutheran Church in Leland will meet Sunday morning for worship, and to celebrate its more than a century as a church.

Marilyn Abbott said after all these years, Bethany Lutheran still is a thriving, growing congregation that remains an important member of the community.

The church was founded in 1847, starting as a group of people meeting inside homes in Baker and Leland before the Lutherans partnered with a group of Baptists to build a church they could share together.

Abbott said the two groups shared a church until Bethany Lutheran decided to build its own two miles south of Leland in 1858. Nine years later, the congregation moved that church to what was then Leland’s southern edge.

“What blows my mind is that back in those days in the 1800s, they didn’t have the vehicles, the trailers we have to move buildings,” Abbott said.

The church, as in the actual building, was picked up and moved by horses.

Abbott said the congregation decided by 1904 church members needed a larger church, so they built at 235 E. Lundy Lane at the same location the church stands. That building only lasted 13 years, however, before a fire burned it to the ground.

“The foundation we have now is the foundation from that church,” Abbott said. “What they did is they cleaned up the debris and built a completely different church.”

Construction of that church, which is still standing for Bethany’s use every Sunday, cost $32,500.

Since that church has been built, Bethany Lutheran has grown quite a bit. One side of the church is now home to Bethany First Step Pre-School, a pre-school program that brings children into its building.

It also is home to the Five Loaves & Two Fish Food Pantry, named in reference to a story in John’s book of the Bible that depicted Jesus feeding five thousand people with just five loaves of bread and two fish.

This Sunday, Pastor Hope Johnson will run two worship services starting at 9 a.m. with a half-hour break in between that allows for a sharing of the church’s history.

The church will then host a dinner at 12:30 p.m. for fellowship and to celebrate Bethany Lutheran’s 175th anniversary.