AGAWAM — Bethany Assembly of God is in the midst of a $3.5 million renovation of its sanctuary and lobby. The Pentecostal church has thousands of members from across Greater Springfield into Connecticut — and the congregation is seeing rapid growth that started in a small chapel on a trolly stop in Springfield.
There is a street and a park near Bay State Medical Center that are named after the Atwater family. George Atwater was a famous, millionaire industrialist noted for creating the Springfield Street Railway along with several businesses including a textile mill in South Hadley.
After Atwater’s daughter Mabel married into the highly religious Weaver family, she used part of her share of the family fortune to found Peace Chapel in 1904. She purchased the land in Springfield, paid for construction and covered the pastor’s salary.
“The church was at the corner of Springfield and Armory Streets. She founded it there because it was a trolley stop,” said Brad Martin, 69, a lifelong member of the church who has also written a book about Bethany.
“Mabel built the church for poorer people who couldn’t get downtown, or didn’t live downtown, in some of the more exclusive areas. She did it for the forgotten people,” he said.
Becoming Bethany
Peace Chapel changed its name to Bethany Assembly of God in 1917 but stayed where it was for many decades. The increasingly popular church purchased several adjacent parcels of land, expanding six times to accommodate a Sunday congregation that ballooned from around 100 people to more than 500 weekly worshippers by 1965.
By the mid to late ‘70s, the church had run out of places to expand and it was time to move.
“The church was growing exponentially, and parking was a big problem because it was in a residential area. They found a piece of property in Agawam, which was a cornfield, owned by a guy named Al Christopher,” said Martin.
The local farmer, affectionally known as the ‘Corn King,’ sold Bethany 49 acres of land where the church is currently located along Route 57. The place of worship opened in 1983. Other than building a children’s wing with classrooms and an auditorium in the mid 1990s, the building hasn’t changed much, until now.
As part of the multi-million dollar renovation, the sanctuary — the church’s primary place of worship — is being gutted, making way for new flooring, furnishing, fresh paint along with updated lighting and sound systems.
While there won’t be any additional space, a couple of walls are being torn down to expand the lobby and add a café, which is part of the 20,000-square-foot renovation.
Lead Pastor Stephen Thee, who has been with the church for 15 years, said parishioners are funding the project, which shows their dedication to the church and its mission.
“They have an understanding of the long-standing history and legacy of the church,” said the 39-year-old pastor. “They believe our mission is vital, not only for the past, but for the future. They have a strong desire to continue to be a light for God in the Pioneer Valley and around the world, and to preach the gospel.”
Mission critical
Thee said Bethany’s mission continues to be founded on what Mabel Weaver set in motion when she founded Peace Chapel 120 years ago. She and her husband, Albert, were missionaries, converting non-Christians to the faith in New York.
When the couple moved to Springfield, he conducted Bible studies with families in their homes while she built the church.
“Her father George had great affection for the church and clergymen. Throughout his life, even though he was a businessman and one of the early capitalists, he would always have ministers stay at his house. He would support them. I think Mabel inherited that from her father,” said Martin.
It was unheard of for women to join the clergy during Mabel Weaver’s lifetime — but it wasn’t so rare for them to take leadership roles in the Pentecostal church.
“One of the features of Pentecostalism is, from very early on, they believed women should be included in the work of God. [Founding a church] is not necessarily unheard of by any stretch. Probably, in the broader church world, it would be a little bit rarer,” said Thee.
Bethany Assembly of God’s budget for missionary work is approximately $500,000, said Martin. The church helps fund the activities of some 200 missionaries along with aiding local food banks and a broad range of other philanthropy.
The church’s congregation has not only expanded but is increasingly diverse, including Hispanics, African Americans along with people from Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana, said Martin. It is evidence that Mabel Weaver’s vision for her small chapel remains a focus of the Agawam congregation.
“You can be a fortress church, or you can be a frontier church,” said Martin. “The fortress church says, ‘We’re going to cloister ourselves in these four walls.’ The frontier church goes out into the community. We go out into the world, and people appreciate that.”
Bethany Assembly of God typically hosts its annual Singing Christmas Tree concert in December. This year, because of the renovation, the concert will be Jan. 10-12, 2025, once construction is completed.
