“...when we can get a carpenter we will undertake to build a house, forty by sixty feet...the name of the house shall be Bethel, the Hebrew word for the house of God.” With these words by Bishop Francis Asbury, this church had its beginning on February 14, 1797, on the corner of Calhoun and Pitt Streets. The roots of Bethel Church, however, go much deeper in Charleston’s history. John Wesley, the father of Methodism, and his brother Charles made their first visit to Charles Town in 1736. They came as clergymen in the Church of England. John worked in the mission field and Charles was secretary to General Oglethorpe in Savannah, Georgia. Records indicate that John Wesley preached in St. Philip’s Church in 1737. During three visits to Charles Town by John Wesley, he had his COLLECTION OF PSALMS AND HYMNS printed at the Lewis Timothy Print Shop. It was the first hymn book to be printed in America.
John Wesley’s stay in Savannah ended in December 1737 when he returned to England. On May 24, 1738, in Aldersgate Street, London, his “heart was strangely warmed.” He then preached and organized societies which eventually became the Methodist Church.
Renowned preachers such as George Whitefield spent time in Charles Town after the Wesleys, but the official Methodist Church was not started here until Bishop Francis Asbury’s arrival in 1785. The American Revolution ended with the birth of a new nation, a change in a name from Charles Town to Charleston, and renewed prosperity for the aristocratic Charlestonians. Francis Asbury, a devoutly religious man dressed in somber black, arrived in this city of wealth and called it “the Sodom of the South.” Many Charlestonians were prone to drinking, smoking, card playing, horse racing, dancing, and most grievous of all, slave holding. Bishop Asbury knew the Methodist doctrine was needed in Charleston. He, along with Rev. Jesse Lee and Rev. Henry Willis, worked diligently to organize a Methodist congregation. They first met in an abandoned Baptist Church meeting house on Church Street. Soon finding the doors locked against them, they went to Stolls Alley for worship in Mrs. Stoll’s house. Despite public pressure due to their anti-slavery stand, the small Methodist congregation grew and purchased their first property on Cumberland Street in 1786. A building was erected the same year. It was called the Blue Meeting House and became the first permanent home of Methodism in Charleston. It served through many triumphant and turbulent times.
The early ministers experienced a public outcry against the church because of the Methodist belief, beginning with John Wesley, that one human should not hold another in slavery. The Cumberland Street Church had rocks thrown through the windows. On several occasions, the ministers were verbally and physically attacked, and one minister was nearly drowned by being “pumped” in a public trough. Despite these trials, the church grew in numbers, and by 1795, the membership decided to purchase a lot for burial of its members. They chose a piece of land “out in the country” at the corner of Boundary (Calhoun) and Pitt Streets and purchased it from Gov. Thomas Bennett. Bethel Church has been on this land since 1797.
The first church building on the new lot was a simple wooden structure measuring forty feet by sixty feet. This Bethel Church was dedicated in 1798 and finally completed in 1808. It contained galleries for the black members, a high pulpit and a sounding board. This sanctuary served the white and black members until 1852 when it was pushed westward on the lot facing Calhoun Street to afford the building of a new and larger sanctuary. The early building, now known as Old Bethel, continued to be used for Sunday School classes and other church functions. It was donated to the black congregation on August 22, 1876. Amid good will of both white and black congregations, it was moved across the street to its present location, 222 Calhoun Street, in 1882. It continues to serve as Charleston’s oldest standing Methodist Church building.
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BETHEL SANCTUARY
In 1852 construction of the present building was started on the ground where Old Bethel had served since 1797. Fulfilling the needs of a growing congregation, this outstanding Greek Revival style building was dedicated on August 7, 1853. The SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE stated that the architect was E. Curtis; the contractors, Rebb and Busby, and the building cost $18,000.00. Inside were galleries supported by Doric columns, occupying one end and the two sides of the church. These were used for seating the black members. A modern pulpit platform and carpeted chancel were used instead of the high pulpit and sounding board design of older churches. An EVENING NEWS article dated August 19, 1853 said that a large window was directly behind the pulpit and was flanked by richly ornamented pilasters of the Corinthian order.
Following the lean years of Reconstruction, a thorough renovation was undertaken in 1886. The fourteen-foot wide side galleries, no longer needed, were removed and other work was in progress when the earthquake of August 31, 1886 made further repairs necessary. During the 1886-87 period, an alcove was added behind the chancel for a pipe organ, carpet and pew cushions put in, and the installation of stained glass windows enhanced the beauty of the edifice. The tin coved ceiling was placed in the building during repairs following the hurricane of 1893. The unusual stenciling was applied to the interior walls in the late Nineteenth Century and is renewed each time the building is painted.
Despite these natural and man-made disasters Bethel, with its rich heritage and steadfast faith, has continued to be an important part of the spiritual life of the Methodist people of Charleston. During the War Between the States, Bethel Church was the only Methodist church in Charleston to remain open throughout the war. The Rev. E. J. Maynardie, Bethel’s minister, wrote in January 1865, “...although a shell has fallen but a few steps from the Church, yet every Sabbath the building is filled with serious and attentive worshipers.” This steadfast faith prevails today.
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SUNDAY SCHOOL BUILDING
Sunday School classes have been a part of Methodist heritage beginning with John Wesley. Bethel Church was prominent among the churches in Charleston to offer teachings to all of its members, both black and white. The early Sunday School classes, as well as study classes meeting during week nights, were held within the sanctuary buildings. After the move of Old Bethel to its present site on Calhoun Street, the needs for a chapel, facilities for Sunday School, and social gatherings were met by the building of a wooden structure behind the sanctuary in 1883. It faced Calhoun Street. It had a small uncovered porch with divided stairs and wooden hand railing leading to the street. The need for a larger, more substantial building on this site led to the wooden structure being turned ninety degrees and moved southward to the back of the lot and a handsome Greek Revival Sunday School Building was put in its place on Calhoun Street in 1912. Opening exercises were held on June 15, 1913. This brick stuccoed, columned structure, with a wide, high portico, provided Sunday School rooms, office space, a kitchen, a parlor, and an auditorium for social gatherings and weekday prayer meetings. These early Sunday School buildings were removed years ago. The wooden building of 1883 came down in the 1990s and the 1912 brick building was demolished in 1976. This gave much needed space for parking, and the Sunday School class needs were, once more, provided by building new facilities.
A new educational building was started in 1952. The red brick building faced Pitt Street beside the sanctuary building. Sunday School activities grew in the modern atmosphere of the class rooms. It provided a kitchen, and the Fellowship Hall became the center of activity for Bethel’s gatherings. This building served the needs until 1972 when the congregation decided to enlarge the facilities. This resulted in the Educational Building of 1952 being expanded to its present design. A Service of Dedication was held on June 16, 1974. This expansion added modern offices, a choir rehearsal room, a lovely parlor, and a chapel named to honor the Rev. W. C. Stackhouse.
In 1997 the Bethel Church congregation purchased the house at 51 Pitt Street. It was renovated to provide an excellent center for Bethel’s youth programs, other church functions, and office space for the Charleston United Methodist Church District Superintendent. It is known as the Chip Richbourg Center to honor the memory of Bethel’s beloved Youth Minister Bennie F. “Chip” Richbourg, III (1954-2004).
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PARSONAGE
A personage was erected on Bethel’s land and first occupied by Bishop Francis Asbury in 1803. The Bishop always referred to it as “our house.” On December 15, 1808, he said of it, “our house is a house of prayer ten or twelve times a day.” This parsonage was replaced by others that are within sight of Bethel Church today. 210-212 Calhoun Street was built by the Methodist Church in 1830 to serve as a home for all the Methodist ministers of the Charleston Charge. It was sold by the church in 1911. Directly in front of Bethel at 207 Calhoun Street is a handsome Federal style dwelling c. 1817 which was used as Bethel’s parsonage from 1881 until 1966. The present parsonage is located on James Island.
MUSIC
Music has always been a major part of worship at Bethel. The early congregations sang without the use of musical instruments. In 1874 “....after full consideration...an improvement in our singing is desired...by the use of an instrument of some kind.” This desire led to Bethel’s first organ: a melodian (pump organ) placed in the balcony.
During the repairs and restoration of 1886-87, the chancel area was redesigned for a choir loft and a hand pumped Felgemaker pipe organ. This tracker-action organ was placed so that its decorative pipes were set where a clear glass window had been behind the pulpit. Most of the pipes and other components were housed in a room built behind the decorative pipe display.
In 1934 a new Austin pipe organ with electro-pneumatic action was installed. It served Bethel congregations well with eighteen ranks of pipes and was known for its pleasing tone quality. Time and use took their toll, and the Austin organ was retired in 2004.
Bethel’s third and current pipe organ was built by the A.E. Schleuter Pipe Organ Company of Atlanta, Georgia. It is an electro pneumatic instrument containing three keyboards and pedals, fifty-one ranks of pipes and numerous modern technical controls. Some of the original Austin organ pipes were saved and incorporated with the new pipes. It is considered to be one of the best pipe organs in the Charleston area and was dedicated with great fanfare on March 28, 2004.
