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Bethel Church of God in Christ marking 95th year
By LINDA M. LINONIS
YOUNGSTOWN
Bethel Church of God in Christ has nurtured faith and fostered a caring church family.
The observance of its 95th anniversary this weekend celebrates both aspects with guest speakers and a host of activities.
Recently, a group gathered to discuss the church and what it has meant in their lives. Mattie L. Butler joined in 1953; Harrietta Farmer in 1937; Margaret Folsome in 1950; and Anna Foster participated from 1988-93. Her father, the late Elder Frank Foster, was pastor. Foster is a member of St. James COGIC and Farmer is at Nevels Temple COGIC; both retain ties to Bethel.
Folsome discussed organizations at the church. She said the deacons assist the pastor and minister to needs within the church. Participants in the Mothers Board visit the sick and young mothers. “Whatever comes up,” Folsome said.
A missionary group goes out into the community and conducts religious ministries. The nurses help anyone who might get ill at church.
Sunday school takes place at 9 a.m. before the service at 10 a.m., and sessions are for children and adults. A praise team leads the congregation in music that includes traditional, Gospel and contemporary selections.
Elders Jimmy Hooks and Robert Mitchell and ministers R.G. Brown, Roy Lewis and Robert Reynolds also assist the pastor and fill in on various duties. Folsome said the church also conducts revivals.
The women noted that Bethel plays a part in history because it is the oldest COGIC in Ohio. The pastor of 22 years is Superintendent Ross Johnson, an elder, who is district superintendent of Greater Mahoning Valley District of the Ohio North First Jurisdiction COGIC, overseeing 10 churches.
Foster said the church had a broadcast on WBBW radio for some 30 years, ending in the late 1980s. It featured music and a message. Dinners also hold a special place at the church, where peach cobbler, fried chicken and potato salad were favorites.
Butler relayed the story that as a young woman, she became ill and doctors gave her a poor prognosis. “My family came to see me,” she recalled. Her uncle, Reuben Lockett, who she described as a “praying man,” came and prayed. The day after, she began to get better. He told her to go to Bethel, where it would “change her life,” she said. “My life did change ... I saw everything differently, and I was saved,” Butler said. She became church secretary and continues in that role.
Farmer said that Lockett also came to pray for her father, who had been injured and was paralyzed. She said he recovered and “had a love of Jesus the rest of his life.” Farmer added she has had four sicknesses and “God healed me.” “I’m 86 and will be here until I die,” she said.
Folsome said her family went to a Baptist church, but her uncle’s wife invited her to a COGIC revival. “I was saved, and turned my life over to the Lord,” she said. A cancer survivor, Folsome said she believed “in faith as a healer.” At Bethel, she played the piano and the organ for some 50 years and also taught at vacation Bible school.
“There’s a beautiful love here at the church ... it’s the strength of family and friends,” Foster said. “It remains a family.”
The women concurred that faith born, nurtured and grown at Bethel has been an integral part of their lives.
Superintendent Johnson said he is honored to be a part of the celebration and legacy of the church. Under his leadership, Bethel has become a certified Urban Initiative COGIC with a ministry focus on education, economic development, crime prevention, family and financial literacy. An example is an after-school program for junior-high students, overseen by minister Reynolds, a retired Youngstown teacher.
That kind of community involvement led to the church obtain three vacant lots adjacent to it on Glenwood. Superintendent Johnson said the plan is to build a community center, where the Urban Initiative ministries will expand from within the church to the community. “We’re working on funding and grants,” he said, noting the cost is projected at $3 million. The time frame is three years.