Bethany Baptist Church Chicago IL

Our vision

At Bethany Church, we pursue whole-life worship at home, in community, and to our world.

If you are looking for a contemporary church marked by genuine community with solid preaching and vibrant worship, you've found it!

Our Worship

Church worship is a powerful way to connect with God and connect with one another. Teaching and music are biblical and relevant for real people in real life. Our expository sermons expose the truth of Scripture progressively through books of the Bible through an engaging preaching style. You might even enjoy a bit of humor!

Join us for communion on the first Sunday of each month.

Sunday Service is at 10:30am. See you then!

Our Passion

One of the distinctives of Bethany Church is that we don't focus only on connecting with God and connecting with each other. As a contemporary church, we connect with our community and we use that to stir our passion to connect with our world. Twenty-percent of every dollar we receive goes to outreach to fulfill the Great Commission.

Our people

Our Senior Pastor, David Cross, brings sound biblical teaching each week as a doctoral candidate in Christian Apologetics and Culture. Our Youth Pastor, John Orton, leads a vibrant youth group to engage many youth from our surrounding area in addition to our church youth. John Platt and Kaitlynn Rivera round out our team through musical worship.

 

Question: What are the service times at Bethany Baptist Church?

Answer: Our Sunday services are at 10:30am. We usually finish up between 11:30 and noon.

Question: Is there a dress code for attending Bethany Baptist Church?

Answer: No, there is no dress code. We welcome you to come as you are. We want you to be comfortable to focus on the Lord, not what you are wearing.

Question: What kind of programs do you have for children at Bethany Baptist Church?

Answer: We have a variety of programs for children of all ages, including Kids Church during the service, mid-week AWANA on Wednesdays at 6:30, and Vacation Bible School during the summer.

Question: Tell me about your doctrine?

Answer: We look to the Bible as our guide for doctrine. If there are questions from modern culture, we search for the way the Bible would answer modern culture.

Question: What denomination are you?

Answer: We are affiliated with Converge which was formerly known as Baptist General Conference.

Question: What makes you different?

Answer: One of the main things that sets us apart is our heart for the lost. We strive to be a witness in all we do whether that is to the person across the street or across the globe. In fact, 20% of our church budget is committed to outreach.

Question: How do I get plugged in?

Answer: The first step to getting involved is to submit a Connection Card so that we can keep in touch! Also, we have membership classes (aka. Pizza with the Pastor) three times each year. Check the calendar for the next one coming up!
 

Download Bethany Baptist Church vCard with Service Times

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Download Pastor David Cross vCard with bio

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https://bethanybc.com/  

 

 

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The union of two churches

Bethany Baptist Church was formed in August 1979 by the union of two churches, the “The Church of the Open Door,” an independent evangelical church, and a second church that stood under the Converge Midwest banner, “Bethel Baptist.” Upon the merge, the site of “Bethel Baptist,” which was in Harwood Heights Illinois, was chosen to create the church as we know it today, “Bethany Baptist Church.” This marriage of the two churches was facilitated by a Pastor named Fred Lutz, who would become the first Pastor of Bethany.

Pastor Lutz & Pastor Tanis

As Pastor Lutz was only a part-time pastor at that time, a man named Pastor Bernard Tanis was hired as the Associate Pastor in 1982. Later on, following the retirement of Pastor Lutz, Pastor Tanis would go on to become the next Lead Pastor of the church. Under Pastor Tanis’ leadership, Bethany would grow in not only attendance but also in our building's structure. The church engaged in a major project to build a new west wing, which includes Sunday School Rooms, a nursery, the pastor’s office, a kitchen, and the community conference room we refer to as the “Friendship center”. And while numerical growth was fantastic to see, the heart of Bethany Church remained in missions. During Pastor Tanis's time as lead pastor, we would begin Bethany’s long history of both supportive long-term missionaries as well as sending out short-term mission teams. Under this model, our missions team has thrived and still remains a focal point of the church today. After pastoring Bethany for 13 years, Pastor Tanis would go on to take a leadership position with Converge Midwest.

Pastor Rob Nelson

In 1994, a man named Pastor Rob Nelson took on the role of Lead Pastor at Bethany. With a passion for relationships and mentoring, Pastor Nelson led Bethany’s congregation which would continue to be a thriving body. With our congregation realizing that more ministerial opportunities were needed and desired within the church itself, Pastor Rob led the church through two more major building projects. Discerning that both our children’s ministries and adult ministries alike found community in physical activity, the first project consisted of building a new gymnasium. Since its inception, the gym has gone on to be host to our AWANA program, weekly youth group ministries, open gyms, housing for visiting churches, and so many other event possibilities. The second major project was the overhaul of the basement, which aside from simply needing more space, created new Sunday-School rooms, storage and organizational spaces, and an updated and bigger youth room. Alongside that, we were blessed with being able to even make the basement ADA compliant with an elevator for possible access purposes. Building growth aside, it was during the time of Pastor Nelson’s leadership that the worship style gradually changed from a solely traditional format to a more contemporary style of service. After 20 years of service at Bethany, Pastor Nelson entered retirement in 2015.

Pastor Rick George

In 2017, Pastor Rick George became the fourth Lead Pastor in Bethany’s 40-year history. During his tenure, Pastor George was able to guide the church through a change in the church’s polity by helping update our church’s bylaws as well as leading a transition to an Elder-Lead congregation. Further guidance was needed as Pastor George was also able to help the church through the terrible reality that was COVID-19. With his expertise in technology and a vision of what the congregation needed throughout that period, we were able to navigate through a time that consisted of Zoom worship, masks, and a sometimes overwhelming mentality of fear that perpetuated so many people. With prayer, dedication, and sound leadership, Bethany Baptist persisted through a hard time, and amongst the hardships, blessing shone through. Bethany saw no staff cuts, salaries were able to be managed and met, and all commitments to missionaries were maintained and satisfied. Following the pandemic and the fulfillment of his vision at Bethany, Pastor George felt the Lord calling him out of the church and resigned in early 2022.