Bethany Christian Church sits on the north side of Anderson, Indiana, just off the intersection of Rangeline Road and Cross Street, and it has been opening its doors every Sunday here since September 1898. The building is easy to spot from the road, with a large Main Entrance sign marking the south-side parking lot. Step inside, and a volunteer at the Welcome Center will hand you a bulletin, show you where the kids check-in is, and answer whatever you came in wondering.
The church calls its heart "Following Jesus Together: Transformed by Grace." Members describe themselves as "imperfect people deeply grateful for God's grace." Twice on Sunday morning, at 9:00 and 10:30, the lights come up and that gratitude is the point of the room.
Two Sunday Mornings, One Communion Table
Bethany runs two identical-style services each Sunday, both open and live-streamed for those who cannot make it in person. Communion is observed every Sunday at both services, with the small piece of bread and small cup of juice shared during the gathering. The communion table is open to any believer who wishes to participate; membership is not required.
The worship is described as a deliberate blend. Listeners will hear newer worship songs and time-tested hymns in the same set, performed by choirs, ensembles, soloists, and worship bands, with a full range of instruments including guitars, keyboards, drums, brass, and woodwinds. Song lyrics and key scripture verses are projected on the large screens so the room can follow along.
Visitors are not expected to give. The offering is received during the service, but the church is clear that your presence, not your generosity, is what they are celebrating when you walk in.
What a First Visit Looks Like
The team at Bethany has thought hard about the first-time guest experience, and a FAQ page on the site spells out the practical details plainly.
Parking is in the main lot on the south side of the building, accessed from Rangeline Road. Drive back until you see the Main Entrance sign and park anywhere that looks comfortable. The Welcome Center is to the left of the front doors, staffed by volunteers who would love to greet you and point you to a classroom, a coffee, or a seat in the service.
Dress is "whatever makes you feel comfortable." You'll see everything from Sunday best to jeans and a t-shirt in the same room, and the church's only concern is that you show up.
For those who are deaf or hard of hearing, assistive listening devices (amplifiers) and printed copies of the morning's sermon are available at the Welcome Center. Just ask a volunteer when you arrive.
Brite Kids, From Nursery Through Sixth Grade
The kids' ministry, branded as BCC Kids, is built on the Brite curriculum from Awana and runs every Sunday morning during both services. It is staffed by background-checked, approved volunteers, and a guided check-in station is the gateway for every child.
Families are asked to arrive about ten minutes early so the team can check children in and walk the family to the right classrooms. The environments are organized by developmental stage:
- Nursery for newborns through 18 months, sitting right next to the main Kids Check-In.
- Toddler and Preschool for 18 months through 4 years, on the lower level of the Children's area.
- Pre-K and Kindergarten in the Early Elementary area, also lower level.
- Discovery Zone Kids' Worship for first through sixth graders at the 9:00 service, an energetic worship experience upstairs.
- At the 10:30 service, nursery, toddler, and PreK/K classrooms continue on the lower level. First and second grade small groups meet in the Early Elementary area; third and fourth grade small groups meet on the upper level next to the Discovery Zone; and RESOLVE, the small group built specifically for fifth and sixth graders, meets in a customized upstairs space for pre-teens.
A Blessings Class is also offered at the 10:30 service for children who need a slightly different setting.
Parents who want to stay current can subscribe to the BCC Kids quarterly newsletter by email or sign up for the text alert list, with one weekly text and occasional instant alerts. The 5th and 6th grade ministry also runs its own Facebook group for parents and students.
Students in Grades 7 Through 12
Bethany Student Ministries serves seventh through twelfth graders under the banner "Belong, Grow, Live like Jesus." The weekly rhythm has three touchpoints.
On Sunday mornings at 9:00, students are encouraged to sit with their families in the main worship service. At 10:30, a youth Sunday School class meets upstairs in the Attic. Then Sunday Night Youth, branded as S.N.Y., runs from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on campus. S.N.Y. is the high-energy large-group gathering, with a massive group game, a relevant teaching time, and dedicated breakout groups tailored to junior highers and high schoolers separately. Adult leaders are a regular presence in the room.
For parents, a 10 Things for Parents to Know PDF and a Parent Cue partnership offer family-level resources. Every student participating in trips or special activities needs a Parental Consent and Medical Release Form on file for the 2026-27 school year.
One of the most distinctive student ministries is Just Pray. Adults commit for a year to pray for a specific student and to send an encouraging note once a month, helping bridge the generational gap while making an eternal difference in a young person's walk of faith.
Adults: Sunday School, Circles, and a Wednesday Night
For adults, Bethany builds community in circles rather than rows.
Sunday mornings offer a variety of adult Sunday School classes running between the two worship services, from deep theological study to practical life application. A printed listing of current classes is available through Pastor Tim Fair.
On Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., adults of all ages gather for "The Word of Jesus," a study of the teachings of Christ. Two women's circles meet monthly during the school year, the Miriam Circle on the second Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. and the Lydia Circle on the third Thursday at 11:30 a.m., both at the church building. Young at Heart, a fellowship for adults ages 55 and older, gathers in the Fireside Room on the second Wednesday of each month at 10:30 a.m. A Young Adults community for ages 18 through 30 meets on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month at 6:30 p.m. in Room 128.
The Forge, a monthly men's breakfast hosted by the Men of BCC, opens its doors at 6:30 a.m. on the second Friday of every month. The Women Speak, a ten-week women's Bible study currently in its third installment, runs each fall as a workbook-based study women can take in person or work through on their own.
Music and Worship on Purpose
Worship is led by Gabriel "Gabe" Ohmes, the Music and Worship Pastor. The team's stated philosophy: "We won't try to WOW you. Our worship is not about impressing people; it's about honoring God." Songs are intentionally chosen across styles to express trust, faith, and gratitude. The Pay Choir, the Worship Bands, and the Handbell Choir are open to new participants, and the handbell choir has a regular place in the church life, including among staff and members who have made music a long habit.
Deep Roots: Since September 1898
Bethany has been meeting in Anderson since September 1898. The church's own history page describes it as a community "rooted in faith and alive with every generation." In the room on any given Sunday you can find people in their nineties, babies in the nursery, and every life stage in between. That history shows up in leadership, too: several elders are second- and third-generation Bethany members who grew up in these classrooms, were married in the building, and now serve as deacons, elders, and ministry leaders.
Two former Bethany ministers have gone on to plant or pastor other churches in the area, including Southern Heights Christian Church and Tri-County Christian Church in Middletown, both of which trace their roots back to Bethany. The current elder Jim Harless served as the founding minister of Tri-County and returned to Bethany upon his retirement.
A Pilgrim Way of Living
The phrasing on the Who We Are page is "A long obedience in the same direction," borrowed from a quotation about the Christian life. The church describes itself as a community of pilgrims who move toward God at a pace of about three miles per hour, paying attention to the people around them and the beauty of everyday life. Pilgrimage is the organizing metaphor. Transformation is not instant; it grows day by day as members walk with Jesus.
Several practices reinforce that rhythm:
- Communion every Sunday, a weekly celebration of Christ's sacrifice.
- Baptism by immersion, following the church's practice.
- Imperfection acknowledged, with the church admitting it often misses noticing visitors and asking those visitors to introduce themselves.
- Scripture as the center, with Bible reading plans made available for members and the broader community through a downloadable 2026 Bible in a Year plan.
What Bethany Believes
Bethany holds the Bible as the inspired Word of God and the final authority in matters of faith and practice. The church teaches one true God existing in three persons, the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and holds that salvation is a free gift found in Christ alone.
The "What We Believe" page lays out a five-step path drawn from Scripture for anyone ready to follow Jesus: acknowledge the need for a Savior, believe that Jesus is the Son of God, confess Him as Lord, repent and turn from sin, and be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Baptism by immersion is practiced publicly, after candidates work through the steps above with the leadership. Communion is open to all believers every Sunday, no membership required.
Hands and Feet in Anderson and Beyond
Bethany is explicitly local in its outreach. "We love our city," the Missions and Outreach page reads, "and are deeply committed to serving the needs right here in our own community."
The church's two primary local partners are Operation Love Ministries and The Christian Center. Operation Love runs a food pantry and assists families with clothing, household and medical equipment, prescription help, emergency financial needs, crisis intervention, and needs assessment. Bethany underwrites Operation Love with monthly financial gifts, supplies it with food and clothing donations, and sends volunteer teams to help stock the pantry.
The Christian Center is a faith-based, non-denominational nonprofit serving the hungry, hurting, and homeless of Madison County. Their services include shelter, meals, clothing, hygiene products, household necessities, recovery programs, and financial and life-skills education. Bethany supports The Christian Center financially and through prayer and volunteer service.
Bethany also partners with A Heart for Kids, a local tutoring and mentoring ministry, and runs an annual Dine and Donate day at a local Lee's Chicken to support that work. On the disaster relief side, the church sends work teams with IDES (International Disaster Emergency Services). In the wake of recent Madison County flooding, Bethany has pulled together a coordinated response: relief resources are linked from the church's homepage, IDES assessment forms are available online, and volunteer slots open on named work days throughout the year.
Internationally, Bethany partners with national and international missionaries and ministries through regular financial support, prayer, and short-term trips.
Walking Together Through Hard Seasons
The Support Ministries at Bethany are built for the parts of life that don't fit on a Sunday morning.
The Bereavement Support Group has been meeting since 1993. It is free and open to anyone in the community who has lost a loved one, gathering on the second Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. in the Fireside Room. Special speakers, grief recovery videos, annual memorial services, and open sharing times fill out the year.
The Care Ministry sends volunteers to visit shut-ins, deliver communion to those who cannot make it to the building, and acknowledge birthdays and anniversaries. The volunteer team coordinates on the fourth Tuesday of March and September.
Loved Ones at Home (LOAH) extends that care to members who are temporarily or permanently homebound, hospitalized, or living in a care facility. The team keeps them connected to the church family and helps meet practical needs where family resources are stretched.
Weddings, Facility Rentals, and Other Uses of the Building
The facility is available for weddings, funerals, ministry gatherings, community meetings, and private events. A Wedding Packet covers guidelines, fees, and reservation details; ministry-related and non-ministry event forms are downloadable from the site. The campus map is also published as a PDF, and groups reserving space are asked to call the church office to verify date and room availability before submitting paperwork.
Bulletin Archive, Newsletters, and the BCC App
Communication is unusually well organized here. Weekly bulletins are archived as PDFs going back through the current calendar year, and a monthly newsletter called The Bethany Bridge runs alongside. The BCCAnderson mobile app, free in the Apple App Store and on Google Play, delivers announcements, event sign-ups, sermon access, digital bulletins, giving, and reading plans to a phone. The app is the easiest single place to follow everything happening across the ministries in one place.
Safety and the Check-In System
Children's safety is treated as the highest priority in BCC Kids. Apart from guided parent or guardian tours, only fully background-checked, approved volunteers are admitted into children's ministry areas. The check-in station is the only entry point, and a family contact information form (with allergy and medical-release options) is required for any child whose family has not previously registered.
The children's ministry has also invested in trauma-informed training for its volunteer team. An "Intro to Trauma" and an "Intro to Trauma for Churches" video series are required viewing on the volunteer side, and a separate "How to Teach Kids Theology" video series walks new teachers through the core curriculum philosophy.
Bulletin Links, Bulletins, and the App
The bulletin archive on the church's media page goes back week by week, with digital bulletins archived as PDFs. Recent editions can be downloaded on the spot, and earlier editions are kept on file for visitors who want to catch up on a week they missed.
Leadership
The pastoral team is led by two Co-Pastors. Chris Bell grew up in Hagerstown, Indiana, served several years as a youth ministry volunteer at Bethany, and joined the staff in August 2013 as Student Minister before stepping into the Co-Pastor role in January 2024. He and his wife Ariel have two sons, Miles and Paxton.
Tim Fair is an Indiana native who joined the staff in 2008 as Student Minister and later moved into Family Life and Community Involvement before becoming Co-Pastor in January 2024. He and his wife Courtney have two children, Isaac and Cana, and a dog named Rocky.
Jeramy Hunter is the Student Pastor. A native of Muskogee, Oklahoma, he joined the Bethany staff in January 2024 and married his wife Angelee in October 2024.
Gabriel "Gabe" Ohmes is the Music and Worship Pastor and joined the staff in 2010. He grew up in rural Missouri west of St. Louis and has three sons with his wife Rachel. Rachel Ohmes serves as Children's Pastor and joined the staff in 2022 after eleven years of teaching in BCC Kids.
Larry Gibson coordinates everything that happens in the tech booth, having served as a youth coach and Sunday School teacher with his wife Dixie for many years. The rest of the staff includes a Business Manager, an Administrative Assistant, two Secretaries, and two custodians, all of whom appear on the staff page.
The Elder team includes Todd Davis, Mark Hahn, Jim Harless, Kevin Huff, Ralph Marcum, Steve Sperry, Donovan Anderson, Ben Tryon, and Barry Wilson. Their service spans everything from deacon leadership and safety teams to choir, life groups, missions, and Sunday School teaching. Several are multigenerational Bethany members who have served in many capacities over decades.
Quick Practical Information
- Address: 1920 N Rangeline Rd, Anderson, IN 46012 (at the intersection of Rangeline and Cross Street).
- Phone: 765-643-5713.
- Sunday services: 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
- Live-stream: Services are broadcast live; the link is at bccanderson.org/watch.
- Giving: Available online through Fellowship One Giving, in person during services, or by mail to the church address.
- App: BCCAnderson on Apple and Google stores.
From the September 1898 meeting that started it all to a fall Family Festival on the grounds, Bethany Christian Church in Anderson is a place where the long obedience is in the same direction every Sunday morning, and the room always has room for one more.