Covenant News

North Miami Church Turns Seventy-Five

NORTH MIAMI, FL (June 12, 2003) - Bethany Evangelical Covenant Church, the second church established in the Southeast Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), celebrated its 75th anniversary on Sunday.

About 100 attended various events, which included services that ran all day Sunday. Special guests included Southeast Conference Supt. Kurt Miericke and David Kersten, Executive Minister of the ECC's Department of the Ordered Ministry. Miericke spoke at the Sunday morning worship service.

Following lunch at the church, Kersten, a former pastor at Bethany, spoke at the afternoon celebration. David Caron, Director of the Center for Dominican Studies at Barry University in nearby Miami Shores, gave a greeting from Barry University president Jean O'Laughlin. A local musical ensemble also performed in the afternoon service. Later in the afternoon, the church celebrated the groundbreaking for an addition to a school that is part of the church campus.

Jacque Destinosse, representing the city of North Miami, brought a proclamation from the city during a special celebration Sunday afternoon, telling guests that June 8 was declared Bethany Covenant Church Day in North Miami.

"The best part was the inclusion of so many people during the worship service," said Bethany pastor Andy Anderson. "We had four different languages used in the music during the service and it was wonderful to include so many persons in the celebration day--from the food, an international potluck, to involving different people from the community. And receiving a tribute from the city was simply wonderful. It made for a nice day."

Bethany's ministry began with meetings in the mid-1920s at the home of David Johnson, who operated a local dairy farm. The church officially organized on March 19,1928 with the help of pastor A.B. Ost and joined the Covenant a year later as the Swedish Evangelical Mission Church. The first full-time pastor was Hilding B. Jacobson, who ministered from July 1928 to November 1929. Oscar Osterberg, pastor from 1934 to 1940, led the church's first building project (1936).

In the early 1950s, under pastors David E. Bergstrom and Carl Peterson, the church assisted in the opening and development of Covenant Palms of Miami, Inc., a retirement community, and grew to 128 members, according to church records. The congregation relocated to another part of Miami in the 1960s and dedicated a new building on November 27, 1966 under the leadership of L. Daniel Anderson. Later, a group of people from Bethany Covenant helped in the growth of nearby Palmetto Community Covenant Church.

Pastor Andy Anderson has been senior pastor at Bethany Covenant since 1987 as the church has integrated a Haitian/Caribbean congregation and transformed its ministry in a changing neighborhood. The church currently has an average worship attendance of around 75. The church is gearing up for a number of youth-oriented events this summer, including a Vacation Bible School. Bethany Covenant and Barry University are cooperating in a community housing fair later this fall.

For more information the church and its ministries, call 440-442-5050.

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