Love people
Because we're the House of God's love, we love others the way God has loved us: sacrificially. We do this by supporting and partnering with local organizations that have the same mission as us. This includes the Pregnancy Help Center of South County, Feed My People, and CarePortal, as well our own Community Cupboard. This is how we love our most vulnerable neighbors: pre-born babies, mothers, the poor, foster children, and orphans.
PHC South County
Pregnancy Help Center of South County is a Christian resource located in St. Louis County for women facing an unplanned pregnancy. They offer many services for free, including:
1. Pregnancy tests
2. Ultrasounds
3. Support programs
4. Pregnancy and parenting education
5. Adoption consultation
1. Pregnancy tests
2. Ultrasounds
3. Support programs
4. Pregnancy and parenting education
5. Adoption consultation
Feed My People
Feed My People is a Christian Food Pantry and Thrift Store located in South County. Their mission is to show God’s love and compassion to all His people, but particularly to His people in need. You can help fulfill this mission by:
1. giving food
2. giving household items
3. volunteering on-site
4. donating money
1. giving food
2. giving household items
3. volunteering on-site
4. donating money
CarePortal
CarePortal is care-sharing technology that drives action for local children and families in crisis. When a child or family in need requires help from a child-serving professional, the child-serving professional vets and types needs into CarePortal. CarePortal alerts nearby churches to needs, and then churches partner to ensure that the child and family is helped.
Community Cupboard
Community Cupboard is Bethesda's own, home-grown food and prayer ministry. Once a month, anyone in need is welcome to come to our location and receive a box chock-full of important food staples for any pantry. We distribute dozens of these boxes every third Saturday of the month from 11:00am to noon, and most importantly, we also take time to learn the name of every person who pulls up, pray with them, and offer to help in any way that we can.
Preach the Gospel
Because we're Evangelical, we will always preach the Gospel at every Worship Service, at every event, and in our everyday lives. Everyone must be born again by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit uses the Gospel to bring about this new life. So, we tell others about Jesus' substitutionary death, resurrection, Lordship, and forgiveness of sins through faith alone, and we support and partner with local and global missionaries and organizations like ReachGlobal to accomplish this goal. Bethesda has always given at least 10% of its donations back to gospel-preaching missions, and we will continue to do so into the future.
Pursue Unity
Because we're Free, we pursue unity by discussing our differences and accepting them, not by sweeping them under the rug, and by having a blended service that is both contemporary and traditional. It's not odd for us to go from blasting "A Mighty Fortress" on the organ to singing "Death Was Arrested" with the drum pounding. We truly have something for everyone. This is also why we partner with other unifying groups like the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA), the Evangelical Association of Reformed & Congregational Churches (EA), and the Gospel Coalition (TGC).
Worship Together
Because we're a Church, we prioritize worshipping in-person. It's all about relationships. Our society is separated enough, so we emphasize bringing people together for real face-to-face fellowship. We do this by gathering weekly on Sunday mornings, as well as meeting throughout the week in our Community Groups. If you visit, you'll notice that plenty of people show up early and stay well after the service has ended, because that's when the real fellowship takes place. We also do this by implementing the 9Marks of a healthy church.