About

What To Expect

Sunday worship services begin at 11:00 am and you are invited to dress comfortably in business casual, jeans or even shorts of a respectable length.

We encourage you to arrive about 10 minutes early so you can meet people and enjoy Christian fellowship.


Our Sunday Morning Worship Service includes:

Prayer requests & Prayers, Testimonies, Announcements, Worship Music, and Christ centered teaching straight from the Holy Bible.

We also celebrate communion regularly, joining in fellowship aroung the Lord's tabel.

Our congregational worship music is a blend of mostly traditional hymns (from song books) with a light mix of Christian contemporary songs

Pastor Jay teaches a Bible-based message with practical applications to help you live out your faith walk during the week.

Services usually last a little over an hour. Afterwards, you’re welcome to hang out, talk and have fellowship with others.

Fellowship Dinner

On the last Sunday EVERY month, join us immediately after worship service to share POT LUCK dinner and friendly fellowship in our Social Hall.

How We Began

Bethel Baptist Church began in 1955 when Pastor Herbert T. Ward began meeting together with community families Mr. Elvis Page's grocery store. They began to pray and seek God’s guidance as to how to reach West Lake Wales with the love and Good News of Jesus. These early gatherings grew to include meals, Bible study and helping one another. The time together was so rich, we couldn’t help but invite others to join us. Before we knew it, the store was packed, and we sensed God calling us to find a larger space, so more people could join us.

Mrs. Ward (a congregational member and no relation to the pastor) graciously donated property lot on west State Road 60. Soon after, Westside Baptist Church sponsored the construction of a new church sanctuary. God blessed and the church flourished reaching a membership of 125.

In February 2015, arsonists burned the church to the ground. It was four long years before the investigation and the reconstruction of Bethel's new sanctuary was complete. Bethel Baptist Church re-opened with a dedication ceremony and homecoming celebration on March 30th, 2019.

As our church has grown, so has our love for God and the people of Lake Wales. Our ministries include Wednesday night prayer and Bible Study, discipleship groups, and local, national and international mission's sponsorships. We encourage every member to be a minister: to be the hands and feet of Jesus at work, in their neighborhoods, as a part of other Lake Wales community organizations and through partnerships with missions organizations around the world.

Our Beliefs

Bible. The scriptures of the Old and New Testament as being verbally inspired by God and inerrant and infallible in the original writings, and that they are of supreme and final authority. We believe that the Bible reveals God, the fall of man, the way of salvation and God’s plan and purpose in the ages.

God. We believe in one God eternally existing in one essence, yet co-equal persons, the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The Father. We believe that the Father created all things in heaven and on earth. He created human beings out of a love for us and desires a personal relationship with each of us.

Jesus. We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten by God, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, and that He is wholly God and wholly man.

Holy Spirit. We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, who convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. He is the life of the believer and He empowers the preaching and teaching of the Gospel. He indwells all Christians at the moment they are saved whereat He baptizes all believers into the Body of Christ.

Man. We believe that mankind was created in the image of God, sinned, and thereby incurred not only physical death, but spiritual death, which is separation from God, and that human beings are born with a sinful nature.

Atoning Death. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died on Calvary’s cross for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice for our sin.

Bodily Resurrection. We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, His ascension into heaven and His present life there as High Priest and Advocate for us

Grace and Faith Alone. We believe that those who by grace through faith receive the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ are born again by the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God and heirs of eternal life.

Return of Christ. We believe in the blessed hope of the imminent coming of Christ in the air for His Church and His visible, personal return to earth to establish His Kingdom.

Eternal State. We believe that the righteous shall enter into full possession of eternal bliss in the presence of God, and the wicked shall be condemned to eternal death.

Holy Living. We believe that the believer, having turned to God in penitent faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, is accountable to God for living a life separated from sin and characterized by the fruit of the Spirit. It is his responsibility to contribute by word and deed to the universal spread of the Gospel.

The Church. We believe in the Church, whose mission it is to preach the Scriptures to the entire world, all of its endeavors being guided by multiple leadership and supported by the wise stewardship of God's people.

Two Ordinances. We believe that the ordinances of the Church, given by the Lord, are Baptism and the Lord's Table (Communion).

Non-Essential Elements. We have intentionally omitted any statements regarding areas of legitimate disagreement on which agreement is not essential for salvation and church fellowship.

Pastor, Jay Hartranft

Instrumentalist, Jeanne Freimuth

What To Expect

How We Began

Our Beliefs

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