On a quiet stretch of Crestview Drive in Boardman, Ohio, Bethel Lutheran Church has been gathering Lutherans and their neighbors for more than 135 years. The congregation's longtime motto, "Making Jesus Known," is repeated in nearly every corner of the church, including on the white coats of the youth group on a Sunday morning. Bethel is a member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and it carries on the hymn-and-sacrament rhythm that has marked Lutheran worship since the Reformation.
Sunday Worship with Holy Communion Every Week
The center of life at Bethel is its Sunday morning service at 10:30 a.m. Holy Communion is celebrated every Sunday, a practice the congregation considers central to its identity. Each service is also broadcast on Facebook and YouTube, so members who are homebound, traveling, or simply curious can join from wherever they are.
Children are part of the Sunday rhythm too. Sunday School runs from 9:15 to 10:15 a.m. and serves ages from six months through twelfth grade, with a separate adult class. The children's choir rehearses at 9:00 a.m. and the adult choir at 9:30 a.m., so families with singers of any age can be in two places at once on a Sunday morning.
Christian Education from Wee Worship to Senior High
Bethel's education ministry is organized around a Lutheran-based curriculum from Concordia Publishing House. The youngest children, age six months, begin in the Wee Worship Sunday School classroom and progress through preschool and kindergarten classes, lower elementary, upper elementary, and a junior and senior high youth group that meets in the basement youth room. A large-group opening called the "Power Hour" gathers everyone for a short worship-style time before classes break out by age.
Adults have their own Sunday School class, and weekly Bible study opportunities round out the week. The Christian Education Coordinator, Beth Applegate, oversees the program and welcomes new arrivals.
A Music Ministry for Every Voice
Music Director Marc Pupino, organist Alison Morris, and a team of volunteer musicians shape Bethel's musical life. The adult choir leads services from September through May and presents cantatas at Christmas and Easter. A children's choir sings during the late service roughly once a month, and a bell choir provides music for holidays and other special services throughout the program year. A praise team offers special music across the calendar, and the congregation welcomes soloists and instrumentalists who want to share their gifts; anyone interested is invited to contact Marc Pupino.
The music ministry is rooted in the conviction that music both beautifies the liturgy and lifts up the Word, an idea captured in Psalm 150.
What Lutherans Believe at Bethel
Bethel accepts the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life. It confesses the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds as true declarations of the faith, and accepts the Unaltered Augsburg Confession as a true witness to the Gospel. The other confessional writings in the Book of Concord, including the Small Catechism, the Large Catechism, the Apology, the Smalcald Articles and Treatise, and the Formula of Concord, are received as further valid interpretations of the Christian faith.
The congregation summarizes the Lutheran tradition in three short phrases: grace alone, faith alone, and Scripture alone. Lutherans, Bethel notes, do not claim to have all the answers, and the church openly welcomes questions. The congregation is part of a reforming movement within the wider Christian church, and the ELCA has entered into full communion partnerships with the Moravian Church, the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Reformed Church in America, the United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church.
The Pastor and the People
Pastor Richard Kidd received his Master of Divinity from the Lutheran Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas in 2008 and his undergraduate degree from John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas in 1998. Before seminary he worked in radio broadcasting across several music genres. His first call was Gethsemane Lutheran Church in San Antonio, where he served for five years before coming to Bethel.
Pastor Kidd's wife, Shelia Kidd, holds degrees from Concordia University Texas and Youngstown State University and is a teaching fellow in the English department at Kent State University, where she is completing a Ph.D. The two share a love of blues, Americana, rock, and gospel, as well as reading. The pastor counts Martin Luther, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Søren Kierkegaard among his favorite theologians, and Bob Dylan among his favorite songwriters.
The rest of the staff includes Beth Applegate as Christian Education Coordinator, Marc Pupino as Music Director, Alison Morris as Organist and Pianist, and Jon Johnson as Building Manager.
Walking with Those Who Grieve
One of the most distinctive things about Bethel is its free Emotional Support Group, a twelve-session series offered in the fall of each year. The group is open to anyone in the community who is struggling, and it serves people dealing with grief after the loss of a loved one, anxiety, job loss, illness acceptance, family challenges, depression, divorce or separation, caregiving stress, aging, and domestic violence.
Sessions are led by Robert Marchese, MS Ed., CPC, CCMH, a forty-two-year veteran of mental-health work in Ohio who donates his time and expertise to attendees. Meetings take place on Tuesday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., with social time beginning at 6:30 p.m. Anyone interested can reach the group at Bethelgriefrecovery@gmail.com or call the church at 330-758-5745. The offering is anchored in 1 Peter 5: "The God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore and make you strong, firm and steadfast."
Youth Activities Beyond Sunday Morning
The senior high youth group meets on Sunday evenings at 6:00 p.m. and stays busy year-round. Members help fellow church members with home projects, take part in community-based service projects, and travel on mission trips. The youth have partnered with Group WorkCamp and Habitat for Humanity, run a Vacation Bible School, run a booth at the Canfield Fair called the General Store, and host an annual classic car and motorcycle show that is now in its tenth year as a major fundraiser.
Staying Connected
The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. A monthly newsletter is published, with archives going back several years. Giving can be made through the church's online giving portal or by PayPal. Bethel also runs an online apparel shop for congregation gear. The physical address is 425 Crestview Drive, Boardman, Ohio 44512, the phone is 330-758-5745, and the email is bethelbdmn@gmail.com.