When establishing the Church, Jesus Christ said, “…upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” As Christ promised, the faith has never been lost but has been preserved in the Church through the centuries. Jude exhorted the Church to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints.” It is our firm conviction that we, along with other Primitive Baptists, are the descendants of that original or primitive Church, adhering to the doctrine and practice of Christ and the apostles.
The Church in America
The lineage of the Baptist Church is well documented. From its beginning with Christ and the Apostles, the Church carrying the primitive faith spread from Jerusalem across Asia Minor, Europe, and into the British Isles. Some of the first settlers in America brought it with them. Dr. John Clark established the first Baptist Church at New Port, Rhode Island, in 1638. The oldest Old School or Primitive Baptist Church in America today is old Welsh Tract Church near Newark, Delaware, having been constituted in 1701 in South Wales and emigrating as a body to America later that year.
The Church in Atlanta
In 1821, pioneers from Virginia and the Carolinas purchased from the Creek Indians the land that is present-day Atlanta. On August 15, 1824, Utoy Primitive Baptist Church was constituted on Utoy Creek in what was then a part of Henry County and is now Fulton County, making it the first Church ever established in Fulton County. Shortly thereafter, the Church built a log meeting house on Utoy Road (now named Venetian Drive) at the corner of Cahaba Drive. In 1828, a permanent frame meeting house was built. Later, brick was added to the building. It still stands today. The church cemetery is listed as a National Historic Landmark; several Revolutionary War and Civil War soldiers are buried there, along with many African-Americans who were members of Utoy before and after Emancipation. Dr. Joshua Gilbert, Atlanta’s first resident physician, is buried there. Utoy Church also has the distinction of having among its membership several community leaders as well as a former Dekalb county sheriff and a Georgia state senator.
In 1875 Utoy Church granted some of its members permission to constitute Atlanta Primitive Baptist Church, later to be known as East Atlanta Primitive Baptist Church. The old East Atlanta Church building still stands in the Inman Park area on the same ground once occupied by the Hurt House, which is depicted in the famous Cyclorama at Grant Park.
Bethany
In 1926, East Atlanta Church granted letters of dismissal to Elder J. A. Monsees and 25 other members for the purpose of forming a new church. On September 26, 1926, these 26 men and women constituted Bethany Church. The constitutional meeting was held at West Atlanta Primitive Baptist Church, located on Kennedy Street.
The name Bethany was suggested by Lonnie McClendon, one of the original members. Her reasoning was that their Lord had found refuge in Bethany of Judea. During the first year after its formation, Bethany more than doubled in membership. In 1927, the congregation built a new brick meeting house at 183 Moreland Avenue in Atlanta. In 1979 the church sold this structure and erected a new building at 3150 Lawrenceville Highway, in the Atlanta suburb of Tucker. It was completed and dedicated the first Sunday in April, 1980.