To get a good picture of the history of Bethany United Church of Christ we need to first take a look at the history of three other churches that are all predecessors to what is now Bethany. These churches are New Elm church of Black Wolf, Wisconsin; New Bethel Church of Van Dyne, Wisconsin; and First Evangelical and Reformed Church of Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
New Elm Church’s Story
In June of 1851 a constitution for the church was drafted and accepted by the founding members and their families. In 1852 the first building was built and a cemetery was established along side of it on the church property. In 1857 the church building burned down and a new building was immediately built on the other side of the road but still on church property. In 1866 a schoolhouse was built and classes were offered four days a week. In 1876 the church joined the Swiss Classis of the Reformed Church of the United States.
In 1884 the first organ was purchased and installed in the church. In 1905 the church building was moved back from the road to where it currently resides today and a new mission start was begun by the minister of New Elm in the south end of Oshkosh. In 1914 the first English services were held replacing the formerly Swiss services. In 1946 the current pastor implanted a vision of New Elm joining with two other small churches to form one large church.
In 1957 a meeting was held between New Elm, New Bethel, and First Evangelical and Reformed church to discuss the possibility of merging and building a new church between the three. New Bethel and First agreed to merge but New Elm, who was currently yoked with First, chose to stay separate. In 1961 the land was purchased for the new church. In 1962 the building was built and the new church formed as Bethany. Later that year Bethany broke off the yoke because their new church was too large to share their pastor. New Elm realized that they could not make a go of it on their own and decided to close their doors allowing whoever wanted to go and join Bethany.
New Bethel Church’s Story
In 1891 a schoolhouse was built next to the church and the minister taught school in the new building four days a week to educate all the children from the neighboring farms. In 1905 a new parsonage was built to better serve the needs of the ministers and the church.
In 1925 the Ladies Aid was organized to better serve the needs of the New Bethel community and provide another way for the woman of the church to serve God and to fellowship with one another. This service group was shortly renamed to the Women’s Guild, which stayed with the church through the merger into the late 1980’s early 90’s when the guild dissolved.
In 1926, New Bethel made the transition from German services to English in worship. In 1928 the church members decided that the church needed to be spruced up and began a remodeling effort that included adding a sacristy for communion preparation, new hard wood floors, new stained glass windows, a new alter and alter coverings, a new pulpit and chairs, a new baptismal font, new pews, and purple wall hangings. All of the items were presented to the church by the Woman’s Guild, which had only been organized three years previous.
In January of 1957 a meeting was held to discuss a merger between New Elm, New Bethel, and First E&R churches. The idea was finalized and in a vote New Bethel and First Evangelical and Reformed church decided to merge and form Bethany.
First Evangelical & Reformed Church’s Story
On September 8th, 1909, the group organized themselves into a Missional Church under the care of the Board for Home Mission of the Reformed Church. The church stayed a missional church from 1909 until July 1, 1928. The church took the name, ‘First German Reformed Church.”
In 1918 the Baptist church merged with another church creating the need for a new building for First Church, the board quickly made some calls and purchased the 11tj Ave. and Minnesota St. church property. They immediately began extensive repairs and remodeling to both the church and the parsonage.
In 1924 the members remodeled the church installing a metal ceiling and metal walls along with electricity and light fixtures. By July 1st of 1928 First German Reformed Church had arrived as a church and no longer a mission start being completely self sustaining with her own beautiful building and was now referred to as First Reformed Church.
In 1954 the Evangelical Church in the US and the Reformed Church in the US merged forming the Evangelical and Reformed Church. New Bethel was of the Evangelical denomination, New Elm and First Reformed of the Reformed denomination. When the merger took place, First Changed the name of the church to First Evangelical and Reformed Church.
In 1957, a meeting was held at First E&R church to discuss the possibility of New Elm, New Bethel, and First E&R churches merging together into one church and purchasing the land on 24th Ave. to build a new church. In the vote New Bethel and First E&R churches chose to merge and form Bethany.
Bethany United Church of Christ’s Story
On May 11, 1958 at a special meeting the church voted to purchase 10 lots on 24th Ave. On January 15, 1961 the church voted to name the new church Bethany United Church of Christ and a ceremonial groundbreaking took place. In December of 1961 the new building was completed and dedicated. In 1962 a parsonage was built upon the land on the farthest eastward lot.
In 1974 the east end of the building was added on and the inside of the church the building was remodeled. This included moving the entrance to the sanctuary, adding a new vestibule, a church office, larger rooms, storage space, and better work areas. The bell tower was added to the church with the old New Bethel bell minus its harness used to complete the tower. The parking lot was completed upgrading the space from dirt and gravel to a blacktopped surface.
In 1975 Bethany began a new ministry to serve the needs of Oshkosh called Wonderland Nursery School. This was a preschool started and run by the members of the church to meet a need in the community. The preschool was in operation a few days a week for a couple of hours a day. After a short time is became evident that people wanted a longer preschool program and so some church members started Mom’s Day Out Preschool using the space at Bethany on the days that Wonderland was not in session. By 1980 Mom’s Day Out had supplanted Wonderland Nursery School with its longer school days and more flexible schedule.
In the early eighties a vision of building a retirement community for UCC church members in town on the church property took hold and in 1983 the ground breaking took place along with most of the construction. By early 1984 Bethany Park Village was an unassisted living retirement community with 12 living units. In June of that year the building was dedicated and people began moving in.
On Feb. 17, 1985 Bethany held a Mortgage burning service as all the debt for the church building was finally paid off. In 1989 after realizing that the church did not have the resources to run the Bethany Park Village and it was sold to Oshkosh Truck along with the parking lot between the complex and the church.
In 2000 we had a new ceiling installed in the office, hallways, and entryway. To open up our gathering space in 2001 we remodeled the foyer removing three walls and creating a better space to socialize before and after our worship together. In 2008 we installed new windows in our worship space and rebuilt our front entryway.