Bethany History
Bethany Collegiate traces its roots back to a Sunday School started by John Wanamaker in southwest Philadelphia on February 14th, 1858.
'From twenty-seven children at the first meeting, the number of Sunday School scholars increased to over three hundred by July 8, 1858. By the following January, the school had advanced from meeting in a tent to a simple wood-frame chapel. Wanamaker named it the Bethany Sunday School, commemorating Mary and Martha's home where Jesus rested, and recalling Luke 24:50: 'And he led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.'" - From Occupy Until I Come: A.T. Pierson and the Evangelization of the World by Dana L. Robert
Since our official establishment in the Philadelphia Presbytery in 1865, Bethany has marked many years of distinctive ministry. Our pulpit has been filled with such notables as A.T. Pierson (who departed Bethany to succeed Charles Spurgeon), George Pentecost (former associate to Dwight Moody), and Billy Sunday (guest preacher). In 1948, Bethany Church was dedicated in Havertown in its current location on Township Line Road.
Bethany has built a legacy of reaching the world for Christ through its support of missions and outreach.
LINKS:
http://www.newwineconvo.com/
http://www.confessingchurch.homestead.com/
http://www.layman.org/