Welcome

Welcome to Bethel Baptist Church. We have been serving the Manheim community and Lancaster County Pennsylvania for several decades and serving our Lord Jesus Christ for generations. Our mission is to fulfill the words of Christ by sharing Christ’s love in the Church, community and world.  We welcome you to join our congregation and participate in sharing our mission of faith.

Bethel Baptist Church is located at 532 Lebanon Road, Manheim, PA  17545.

We want to share Christ’s love with you and to help you envision the doors that can be opened and opportunities for new life and hope through Him.

Our doors are always open. Please join us for our weekly services and fellowship or join us for one of our future events.  Listen to past sermons online.

Homecoming 2012

We are very excited about Homecoming 2012 this coming Sunday, June 3rd.  Our service will be at 10am instead of our normal 10:45am.  Jim Gibson and Dr. Terry Douglas along with several other former pastors will be there to celebrate with usThe Legacy and the Futureof Bethel Baptist Church.  And we will have a fellowship meal following the service!

Easter Egg Hunt – RAIN OR SHINE

It looks like it will be wet and nasty outside, but we are going to have a sweet time inside anyway.  Come and join us at 10 am regardless of the weather.  If it is rainy, we will have a mini-Easter carnival inside.  There will be cookies, crafts to do with your kids, and and some fun carnival games like Mini-Duck Pond, Ball Toss, Duck Walk (think Cake Walk), and an opportunity to hunt for Easter Eggs in small groups!  Hope to see you there!

Easter Egg Hunt – Manheim, PA

Easter Egg Hunts are really timeless.  Generations of children have enjoyed hunting for easter eggs.  Bethel’s annual Easter Egg Hunt has truly been a wonderful event.  We pray for good weather, but in the event of rain, Bethel has planned an alternative mini-carnival inside.  So come rain or shine!

March 31, 2012

10:00 am

AGES:  2-12

COST:  FREE

Chocolate Extravaganza (Ladies Event)

Ladies, do you enjoy spending time with other women?  Do you enjoy sharing your favorite recipes?  Do you want to learn some tips in working with chocolate in making delicious deserts?  Then you don’t want to miss Bethel’s Chocolate Extravaganza.  Donna Frain, Chocolatier, is going to lead a fun, hands-on, evet on March 17th from 3:00pm – 4:30pm.  RSVP is requested.  You can RSVP to bethelbaptistchurch@dejazzd.com or by phone to Morgan Stuart 717-875-7149.

Bad Girls of the Bible: The Sinful Woman (Guest Blog)

The story of the Sinful Woman is found in Luke 7:36-50. Similar accounts to this are also found in Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:1-9 and John 12:1-8. However, the belief is that these are actually different accounts and that through the oral traditions, terminology became standard between the stories and is the cause for the similarities. The other accounts include Judas complaining about the price of the perfume and the number of poor people that it could help. The account in John refers to Mary as the one who is anointing with the perfume.

The whole town knew of this woman’s reputation, but her name is not remembered. Her sins are not even detailed as with many of the other Bad Girls we have studied, but it is assumed that she was a prostitute. She recognized her sins and wanted to see Jesus to beg for forgiveness. He was invited to a feast and she followed carrying an alabaster flask of perfume that she probably hid in her tunic.

This perfume would have been very expensive and very potent. A very small dab of this perfume would have drawn a great amount of attention to herself, yet she hid the flask and did not use it on herself. She saved it for the King of Kings, the only person that would understand and appreciate her sacrifice.

She cried so many tears that it became necessary to dry Jesus’ feet with her hair. Jesus did not push her away. He was not disgusted by her weeping. But it wasn’t just that He didn’t stop it, He accepted it as an act of worship! Then she poured the perfume on Jesus feet. The smell of the perfume would have filled the entire room. It would catch the people’s attention and they would have noticed the events that were occurring.

Jesus was left to explain this act to His Pharisee host. The woman was still sitting and watching and probably crying, but she was left there listening to the whole conversation. She hears Jesus acknowledge her sin, but He doesn’t condemn her. Jesus also shares that it was her faith that saved her and not this act of worship.

Simon, the Pharisee, was one of the religious elite of the time, yet he did not understand true faith and heartfelt worship when he saw it. He thought that you had to be cleansed and free from sin to be accepted by Jesus. Ritual was his form of worship. How often do we fall into that category? How often do we feel like we can check off worship just because we went to church or to Bible Study? But these acts alone are not worship. Worship is a state of mind, of the heart. We must truly let go of our sins and repent and most importantly open our hearts to God and to His forgiveness in order to truly worship the Lord with our whole being. Do not be afraid of what other people think. They will always talk. The only thing that matters is what God thinks!

Morgan Stuart

Bethel Baptist Church

Bad Girls of the Bible: Michal (Guest Blog)

Michal was the younger daughter of Saul. She fell in love with David after he defeated Goliath. Saul offered his first daughter, Merab, to David, but he declined. Saul then saw Michal’s love for David and offered her as a wife at a very low bride price of 100 Philistines. Saul thought that the price would be sure to bring about David’s death, but David succeeded, and doubled the number to 200. This made Saul even more jealous of David. Saul plotted to kill David, but Michal heard of the plot and helped him to escape. Michal was then given in marriage to Palti by Saul (even though she was not Saul’s to give).  After Saul’s death 14 years later, a negotiation occurred between Abner and David. Part of the treaty included Michal being returned to David.

When David returned to Jerusalem with the Ark of the Covenant in 2 Samuel 6, there was a huge celebration in praise of God. Three months later, the Ark finished the trip with similar celebrations including music and dancing.  David removed his robe and tunic and danced through the street worshipping and praising the Lord. He did this while Michal watched from the window. As a woman, she would not have been allowed to participate in this celebration, but she would not have done it anyway. She had hardened her heart against both David and God. So she confronted David. She went to him and called him out. Clearly, David responded in anger, and we do not hear of Michal again.

Michal may have been right to be upset that David was showing off parts of himself to everyone in the city that should have been hers. But her real problem was that she did not see her sin. Worship eluded her. She then took that unconfessed sin and jealousy of David’s ability to worship and allowed herself to lose control. She burned David with her words of anger and in essence took away his chance to worship as well.

We must rise above our circumstances and situations. We cannot let them determine our actions. The only thing that should matter is our desire to please God. Clearly, Michal had lost track of that.

Morgan Stuart

Bethel Baptist Church

Our World is Falling Apart (Feb 2011)

Our World is Falling Apart (Feb 2011)

The headlines have changed, but there is still great uncertainty in our world today.  As I sat in the safety of my home office in PA, I watched as tremendous storms and tornados went through TN, KY, and IN.  And I was reminded once again how our world is falling apart, but am thankful that God is in control.  Link above is to a blog entry from over a year ago.  Uncertainty will always be with us.  But so is God!