This is the sign over the front door of the church. Bethel was founded as a Methodist Episcopal Church in 1856. The original church was destroyed by a tornado and the current church was built in 1894. Many of the early burials of the Bethel congregation are actually in the south third of the nearby Freedom Baptist Cemetery. The vacant spot where Freedom Baptist Church stood until 1999 was originally favored as the location for Bethel until families who lived further east (such as the HAGANs, DUNNs, MARKs, and GRIFFINs) convinced the whole congregation to build further east on the spot where Bethel now stands. Today Bethel Church is now an independent non denominational Christian Church. Before the church left the United Methodist conference, the sign you are viewing had the letters "M. E." between "Bethel" and "Church" despite the merger of the Methodist Episcopal Church with the Methodist Epicopal Church in 1968 which were the largest two churches that were part of the new United Methodist Church.

This is the view of Bethel Church from the rear or north side standing in the cemetery.