Our Purpose
Learn About Bethel Church
The Purpose of Bethel Church is:
Both Corporately and Individually, we exist to build passion for God in a vibrant relationships (upward), to partner with one another toward Christian maturity (inward), and to penetrate our community in the context of relevance (outward).
We believe the PURPOSE of the church is defined in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission:
Matthew 22:37 – Love the Lord with All your heart, soul, and mind; Love your neighbor as yourself.
Matthew 28:19 – Go into all the world, make disciples of all nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, our PURPOSE can be summarized in the following three mandates:
Love God with all you've got – Focus Upward
Love one another and make disciples – Focus Inward
Love the lost enough to go into the world – Focus Outward
Our Core Values:
Prayer – conversationally connecting with God
Worship – adoring God in word and lifestyle.
Fellowship – connecting with one another through relationships
Learning – the lifestyle priority of God's Word
Maturing – the spiritual growth goal of every believer
Reaching – into the church in service, and out of the church in evangelism
Our Beliefs
What Are Our Beliefs?
We believe in the historic Christian faith, reflected in these statements:
About God.
God is the loving Creator of all that exists, both seen and unseen. God is eternal and completely good, knowing all things, having all power and majesty. God exists as the Trinity, in three persons, yet one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God passionately desires relationship with us and towards this end continually invites us into a relationship of faith, friendship, learning, and service.
Genesis 1:1; John 14:6-9, 15-17 and John 16:7-15; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 John 4:9-10
About Jesus Christ.
God expressed himself in human form through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified for the sins of us all, was buried, rose again from the dead, and ascended to heaven.
Colossians 1:13-23 and Colossians 2:8-14; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8; Matthew 22:36-40 ; John 14:1-3; Hebrews 1:1-3; Acts 10:42-43; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
About the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit, sent from God to live inside all who believe in Jesus Christ, teaches, comforts, and empowers us, giving each follower diverse gifts, fostering unity, interdependence, productivity, Christ-like character, and love among Christians. The empowering of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father, is available for every Christian.
Acts 1:8; 2:4; Romans 5:5 and Romans 8; 1 Corinthians 12-14; Galatians 5:16-25; Ephesians 3:16, Ephesians 4:3-4, and Ephesians 5:18; John 14:26 and John 16:7-14
About the Bible
We believe that God speaks to us in the Bible, and that it is our privilege to seek to understand God's message and apply it responsibly to our lives. The Bible is our standard in all we say and do. We believe that God's unchangeable Biblical message ought to be presented in relevant and contemporary ways understandable by the people in our community.
Matthew 5:17-19; 2 Timothy 2:15 and 2 Timothy 3:14-17; Hebrew 4:12; 2 Peter 1:16-21 and 2 Peter 3:14-18; Psalm 19:7-11 and Psalm 119:9-16; Joshua 1:7-8; Acts 17:11
About Salvation
All people are created with dignity and value in the image of God, to live in a vital relationship with God. However, through our sin (failing to live by God's moral standards), we break our intended relationship with God and we experience the destructive consequences of that broken relationship, spiritually and socially, in this life and beyond. However, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to rescue us from those consequences and to restore our broken relationships with God and others, through Christ's death on the cross, a perfect act of redemption for each of us. Salvation comes to people on the basis of God's grace through their faith in Jesus alone. They receive the free gift of forgiveness and are spiritually reborn through repenting of their sin and believing in Jesus Christ. Good works and a holy life, although totally unable to save anyone, are the natural product of repentant, believing people.
I Peter 2:24, 3:18; Romans 3:9-28, Romans 6:23, and Romans 10:9-10; John 3:16 and John 5:24; Ephesians 2:1-10; Titus 3:3-8; James 2:14-26
While we believe in partnering with Christians from a variety of backgrounds and traditions to impact the world with the good news of Jesus Christ, Bethel Church of Liberty is affiliated with the Assemblies of God organization. For further information on the Assemblies statement of beliefs click here.
Our Story
Our Story?
In February of 2004, Lead Pastors Jonathan and Monica Gannon began taking “baby steps” towards planting a new church in Liberty, Missouri. An exciting adventure was born out of a vision to reach the city of Liberty by planting a vibrant and relevant church in the heart of a growing city. During the pre-launch and planning phase, the church met in the home of Ed and Glenda Kleppinger.
As a small group of 16, they began to pray and seek God for His plans to reach the city of Liberty. They searched out many facility options, and God opened a door with the Liberty School District to begin meeting at Lillian Schumacher Elementary School. Bethel
Church of Liberty was officially born on April 4, 2004 with 28 people in attendance.
Our first Sunday was full of excitement and faith as they set-up Bethel Church in the school for the first time. Since that day, God has blessed BC with new families and individuals as they saw the church family grow. Throughout the first year BC averaged 55+ in attendance on Sunday mornings, with an exciting Easter morning of 110 in attendance!
On August 21, 2005 BC
moved into the brand new South Valley Jr. High School. This beautiful facility became the new Sunday morning home. They anxiously anticipated all that God would do in the coming months and years!
In October 2007 BC purchased the building and land on Nashua Road (1025 Nashua Rd). They began remodeling and holding services there in December of 2007.
Two monumental happenings in the year of 2008.Lead Pastors Jonathan and Monica Gannon were sensing a redirection in the call of God upon their lives to resign and for Jonathan to become Global Outreach Director for Jewish Voice Ministries. Pastor Jonathan and Monica resigned their position on January 15, 2009 to pursue the call the Lord placed in their hearts.
On February 15, 2009 Bethel Church ratified the District Appointment of Pastor Les & Jody Clark to become Lead Pastors.
Bethel Church continues on the solid foundation that the Lord began through Bethel “that people can and must encounter God at critical moments and in life changing ways.”
