affiliation and history

Bethany Bible Chapel began as a small Plymouth Brethren assembly of believers in Jesus on Oak Street in Conway in 1960, led by Hilmon Horton. Later, under the leadership of Dave Rickert, we moved to a new building on Fourth Avenue. Finally, we settled into our current building on Four Mile Road in 2001. Today, as a non-denominational church grounded in the gospel of Jesus, we welcome all who have been saved by God's grace through faith in Christ alone to come worship with us, regardless of their denominational affiliation.

STATEMENT OF FAITH

(Taken from the Church By-laws…Article VIII)

  • We believe the Bible is, in the fullest sense, the very Word of God, verbally inspired of God, inerrant, authoritative, and all-sufficient, being the supreme and final word in all matters of faith and Christian behavior.

  • We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons. The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.

  • We believe in the holy incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who ever was the Son of God, but Who, that He might do the will of His Father, condescended to become a man, being sinlessly begotten of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary, and of her brought into the world, very God yet truly man.

  • We believe in the Personality of the Holy Spirit of God, the third Person of the Trinity, and that it is He who convicts of sin, quickens unto life, and regenerates the sinner, making him a child of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

  • We believe in the fall of man as described in Genesis chapters 2 and 3.

  • We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins, satisfying the demands of God’s holy law against us as sinners, and thus “putting away by the sacrifice of Himself”. He made it possible for God to be just and yet the justifier of all who believe in the Lord Jesus as their personal Savior. Therefore, because of the value that God attaches to the finished work of Christ, the sinner is now saved eternally from the penalty of sin, not on the grounds of his prayers, but alone through the blood of Christ.

  • We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of Christ, of which He gave indisputable evidence, appearing unto many, and companying with them for a period of forty days, until He, in the presence of credible witnesses, ascended up to Heaven, where He is now enthroned at His Father’s right hand, and engaged for us there as our Advocate and Great High Priest, “ever living to make intercession for us”, in the presence of God.

  • We believe this present Church Age began with the coming of the Holy Spirit of God on the Day of Pentecost, and that it will continue until the second coming of Christ for His People, the time of which coming is not indicated in Scriptures; but we believe it will be personal, pre-millennial, pre-tribulation, and in fact, may be at any time and any moment that the Church may be complete. Then the living saints changed, the dead raised, all will be caught up to be forever with the Lord. (I Thessalonians 4:17)

  • We believe that all true Christians are constituted by God a “Holy Priesthood”, and as such are privileged to approach Him in worship which, as God is a Spirit, must be in Spirit and Truth. They are also made a “Royal Priesthood” that they may serve God in making known the virtues of the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture teaches no separate classes in the Church as clergy and laity, all saints being equal in their privilege of worship, excepting the women are forbidden in Scripture to take a public place in teaching and preaching the Word. (I Corinthians 14:34, I Timothy 2:11-12)

  • We believe that all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are part of the Church, which is His Body; but that there are also local Churches or Assemblies on earth for which man is responsible and which believers may be received into (Romans 16:2) and put from (I Corinthians 5:13).

  • We believe in the Scriptural reception into an assembly as determined by the elders, that is the person being received should profess salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ and desire the fellowship of God’s people and also desire to remember the Lord as described in paragraph 13.

  • We believe that God, for the edification and perpetuation of the Church, has, by His Spirit, distributed “gifts” among men. The gifts of Apostle and Prophet existed in the early Churches only; those of Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher we have with us still, and are by us to be acknowledged and manifested according to the Word of God. And while it is the responsibility of Christians to give of their substance for the care of such work and workers, yet there is no Scripture for a hired ministry, either arranged or implied. The servant must look to His Lord for support. “For the laborer is worthy of his hire.” (Luke 10:7)

  • We believe that the Lord Jesus left for the obedience of His people two ordinances, memorial in character, which are to continue during the Church Age – baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism which is by immersion in water in the name of the Trinity showing forth our union with Christ in death and resurrection, and the Lord’s Supper, when we partake together of bread, symbolic of His broken body, and the cup, telling of His shed blood, doing this during His absence in remembrance of Him who died for us, looking forward to His soon coming again. This memorial feast is to be held as often as agreed upon by the elders of the Assembly and is for believers as described in paragraph 11.

  • We believe that the Scriptures teach that the work of God should be supported by the people of God alone, and that those not Christians are to hear the Gospel freely. The Scriptural way of raising money for the support of God’s word, whether in the Gospel or for the benefit of His saints, is by voluntary offerings by believers, all schemes violating this principle being wrong.

  • We believe the marriage relationship to be holy and ordained of God for His glory, our comfort, and perpetuating the human family. The marriage ceremony is not a civil ceremony but an act of obedience to and worship of God. We believe God’s plan for human sexuality is to be expressed only within the context of marriage, that God created man and woman as unique biological persons made to complete each other. God instituted monogamous marriage between male and female as the foundation of the family and the basic structure of human society. For this reason we believe that marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female. (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5-6, Mark 10:6-9, Romans 1:26-27, I Corinthians 6:9) Divorce is to be avoided if possible and is allowable for one cause only – adultery. Marriage between the children of God and unbelievers is condemned in Scripture as an unequal yoke, and any violation of this kind brings sorrow and spiritual disaster.

  • We believe in the personality of Satan as a real, active and malicious being, the arch enemy of God and man, who, having fallen from his estate in which God created him, encompassed the ruin of our first parents, and he is now seeking to defeat God’s purpose in the world and among His saints by the use of diabolical and subtle devices. God’s judgment is that he shall be cast into the Lake of Fire forever.

  • We believe in the conscious and eternal punishment of the wicked after death. As the spirits of the righteous at death go to be with Christ in Heaven, their bodies being left behind until at Christ’s second coming they are raised incorruptible and reunited with their spirits and so they shall forever be with the Lord; in like manner the spirits of those who die out of Christ descend into Hell, their bodies being raised and reunited with their spirits at the Great While Throne, their eternal destiny from there being the Lake of Fire. In either case, the departed spirit, in the interval between death and resurrection is not asleep, but fully conscious, whether in bliss or woe.