The Bethel Church (formerly Bethel Baptist Institutional Church) is a historically-black

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

megachurch A megachurch is a church with an unusually large membership that also offers a variety of educational and social activities, usually Protestant or Evangelical. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research defines a megachurch as any Protestant C ...

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

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, in the

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. Founded in 1838, it is the city's oldest Baptist congregation. The attendance is 12,000 members. The senior pastor is Bishop Rudolph W. McKissick Jr. The historic church building is on the

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History

Established under co-pastors James McDonald and Ryan Frier, in 1838, Bethel Baptist is the oldest

congregation in

. At its inception it had only six charter members, four whites and two blacks, the latter of whom were held as slaves by white members. The first meetings were held at "Mother Sam's", a local plantation. Membership quickly grew, with most early congregants being enslaved African Americans who received day passes from their masters to attend services. In 1840 a dedicated meeting house was erected at Duval and Newnan streets. The first church building in Jacksonville, it was sold to

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in 1844. In 1861 the congregation built a permanent church structure in the west

LaVilla LaVilla is a historic African American neighborhood of Jacksonville, Florida and a was formerly an independent city. It developed after the American Civil War and was eventually annexed to the city of Jacksonville in 1887 and is now considered pa ...

neighborhood at Church and Julia streets. Bethel Baptist was interracial until after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

and emancipation. Whites decided to segregate the congregation by race. At this time members were already facing a split over which pastor to follow, and white congregants tried to force the blacks, now

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), abolitionism, emancipation (gra ...

, out of the church. They took their case to court, but the court ruled in favor of the

, who were the majority of the congregation, and ruled that they were the rightful owners of the Bethel Baptist name and property. In this period across the South, many black Baptists were withdrawing from white-dominated churches to set up their own outside white control. They soon also established regional association and eventually a national organization. As a result, the whites formed Tabernacle Baptist Church, which they eventually renamed as First Baptist Church. It is now one of the largest churches in the United States. Tabernacle Baptist purchased the Church Street property from Bethel Baptist Church, as was required by the court. Cataline Simmons served as the black church's first pastor. In 1868 Bethel Baptist relocated to a large new building on Union and Pine streets. In 1895 they replaced this structure with a large brick building. This burned in the

Great Fire of 1901 The Great Fire of 1901 was a conflagration that occurred in Jacksonville, Florida on May 3, 1901. It was one of the worst disasters in Florida history and the third largest urban fire in the U.S., next to the Great Chicago Fire, and the 1906 S ...

, which destroyed much of downtown Jacksonville. In 1904 the current edifice was built by architect M. H. Hubbard from

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. The 1904 building combined elements of

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and

Romanesque Revival architecture Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

. This building, located at 1058 North Hogan Street, was added to the

in 1978. Through this time Bethel Baptist continued to grow considerably, but political infighting led to parts of the congregation splintering off and founding new churches. By 1890 there were 1,200 members and the church received more than $3,000 in pledges every year. In 1894 it was recognized as an Institutional Church by the state of Florida, authorizing it to undertake social and educational work. The late 20th century congregation opened a new larger church complex in 1988, next to the 1904 church. The three-story addition serves as an educational and administrative building. The campus was further expanded with a $7.5 million building that contains a new

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...

, conference center, space for youth and other support groups, and bookstore. In 2006, the church's average attendance was 12,000 people.

References

{{Authority control Churches in Jacksonville, Florida Baptist churches in Florida History of Jacksonville, Florida National Register of Historic Places in Jacksonville, Florida Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Florida Evangelical megachurches in the United States Megachurches in Florida Religious organizations established in 1838 1838 establishments in Florida Territory