Bethesda celebrates its 75th anniversary

Seventy-five years ago, in an old tire store on Nevada Avenue in Detroit, a mother of three started a Sunday School for her children and others in the neighborhood.

Tomorrow, more than 3,900 Sundays later, what has become the Bethesda Christian Church will celebrate all that God has done.

M. D. "Mom" Beall was the mother that started the Sunday School. She wasn't looking to pastor a mega-church, but that's what grew from her efforts. Over the decades, what was then known as, the Bethesda Missionary Temple, grew and grew without any of the church growth methods advocated today.

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According to her obituary in the Detroit News in September 1979:

"Membership in the tiny church, with Mrs. Beall as pastor, 'just exploded,' said her son, James. When the church grew out of its tiny quarters, Mrs. Beall's husband, a builder joined the project.

"'Dad was the builder; mother the pastor,' her son recalled."

Today, Bethesda is a suburban church in Sterling Heights, Michigan, seating 3,000. It is non-denominational, and can be characterized as Pentecostal or Charismatic (if by Pentecostal one means, practicing speaking in tongues, and if by Charismatic one means, operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit).

After revival broke out in Saskatchewan in 1948, Mom Beall traveled to Western Canada to see what it was all about. Specifically, she went to meetings in Vancouver where the revival had spread, as well.

She returned ablaze with revival fire, and her church in Detroit became one of centers of what became known as, the Latter Rain Movement. Other cities with prominent Latter Rain churches were Portland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Memphis, and Houston.

Like far too many Pentecostal revivals, pernicious error crept into some of the churches. The most pronounced of these errors was a doctrine called, The Manifest Sons of God. Proponents of that doctrine taught that it did not matter what they did in their mortal bodies, because they had been spiritually glorified. Mom Beall and her children, who all followed her into the ministry, were grieved by such erroneous teaching and withstood it completely.

To my knowledge, the definitive work on the Latter Rain Movement is Dr. Richard Riss's, The Latter Rain Movement of 1948.

Balanced Biblical teaching and spontaneous, anointed praise and worship have been hallmarks of church life at Bethesda. In fact, the late Judson Cornwall, known for his teaching on praise and worship, stood in Bethesda's pulpit once and told the congregation, "I'm not sure why you've asked me to preach on praise and worship. The first time I ever heard the kind of praise and worship that I teach about, I was listening to a tape recording of this congregation." The beauty and harmony of Bethesda's spontaneous worship has been compared to a "heavenly choir" by many that have visited the church.

As noted, Mom Beall passed away in 1979. Her eldest, Patricia Gruits, is in her 80s now, but remains active in teaching and missions ministries. Her book, Understanding God, is a best-seller read worldwide.

The son quoted in the obituary, James Beall, went on to become one of the best-loved speakers in the charismatic movement of the 1970s. From articles in the Logos Journal to speaking at major events like the World Conference on the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem to teachings delivered to Roman Catholic charismatic audiences, James was in the thick of things. He wrote several books, including Laying the Foundation, a methodical teaching on the Christian life using Hebrews 6 as its springboard. He assumed both the pastorate of Bethesda and the microphone of the national radio broadcast, America to Your Knees, from his mother. After decades in Bethesda's pulpit he retired from daily ministry in 2004. He is seen in the photograph above, commissioning his daughter, Analee Dunn, to the senior pastorate.

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The youngest of the three, Harry Beall Jr., was for years Bethesda's minister of music and treasurer, in addition to ministering the Word there and in congregations throughout the United States. Now retired from Bethesda's ministry, he lives in Mesa, Arizona.

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I salute and thank Bethesda, its congregation and ministers, for 75 years of faithful service. Enjoy your celebration tomorrow!

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Bethesda's website can be accessed here. The bulletin for tomorrow's service can be seen here.