{"id":117,"date":"2017-09-20T20:59:39","date_gmt":"2017-09-20T20:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/?page_id=117"},"modified":"2017-10-11T15:01:47","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11T20:01:47","slug":"welcome","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/welcome\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Bethel<\/h3>\n

If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve visited Bethel – or you’re considering doing so. My name is Josh McFarland, and I’m the pastor here. I’d like to personally welcome you and tell you a little bit about what to expect from our church family.<\/p>\n

Our desire is to know, serve, worship and celebrate God. We believe that people everywhere are called to this kind of life through the gospel of Jesus Christ which is revealed in the scriptures and incarnated through the life of the church, the body of Christ.<\/p>\n

Because the proclamation of the gospel is central to knowing God, we cherish the ministry of preaching the word; however, we also believe that our present freedom in Christ gives us the ability to celebrate God’s glory here and now, which is why we dedicate our fellowship to worship as well as to teaching the word.<\/p>\n

Our conviction is that Jesus Christ is Lord of all, and this good news is for everyone everywhere. That’s why Bethel church members have always been generous supporters of international evangelism and relief work. We give our youth regular opportunities to participate in overseas ministry and make a priority of praying for our co-workers around the world.<\/p>\n

When you worship with us at Bethel, we hope that you’ll feel welcomed by our church family; but more importantly, we hope that you’ll hear from God, and that you’ll be able to glorify him together with us.
\n\"Pastor<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Bethel If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve visited Bethel – or you’re considering doing so. My name is Josh McFarland, and I’m the pastor here. I’d like to personally welcome you and tell you a little bit about what to expect from our church family. Our desire is to know, serve, worship and celebrate God. We believe that people everywhere are called to this kind of life through the gospel of Jesus Christ which is revealed in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-117","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","ctfw-no-image"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9vaGn-1T","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18,"url":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/core-values\/","url_meta":{"origin":117,"position":0},"title":"Core Values","author":"Garry Gardner","date":"September 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Who we are We are followers of Jesus Christ, who are being made whole & wholly committed. Why we exist Bethel church exists in the heart of Iowa to... Proclaim the Gospel Help people grow in their faith and Connect Jesus' followers to the worldwide kingdom of God in fellowship\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Logomrk_wrdmrk-hrz-color.jpg?fit=1200%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Logomrk_wrdmrk-hrz-color.jpg?fit=1200%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Logomrk_wrdmrk-hrz-color.jpg?fit=1200%2C400&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Logomrk_wrdmrk-hrz-color.jpg?fit=1200%2C400&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Logomrk_wrdmrk-hrz-color.jpg?fit=1200%2C400&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23,"url":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/beliefs\/","url_meta":{"origin":117,"position":1},"title":"Beliefs","author":"Garry Gardner","date":"September 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Who Is Jesus Christ? The person and work of Jesus Christ is summed up in a name given to Him before birth: ...Immanuel which means \u201cGod with us\u201d (Matthew 1:23). As God, He has \u201clife in himself,\u201d with neither beginning nor ending, eternally the same, with all power and authority\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/CMA_Logo_red-300x292.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":94,"url":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/youth\/","url_meta":{"origin":117,"position":2},"title":"Youth","author":"Garry Gardner","date":"September 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"As a team of Christ-followers,\u00a0we\u00a0believe that we have a responsibility not only to accept Christ as individuals but also to dynamically impact the world around us for Him. Because of our desire to make a difference, Bethel Youth Group offers a number of challenging opportunities to grow in Christ. In\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59,"url":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/beliefs\/water-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":117,"position":3},"title":"Water Baptism","author":"Garry Gardner","date":"September 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Water baptism was established by Christ in connection with His Great Commission to the apostles (Matthew 28:19). He said that new disciples were to be baptized in the name of the Triune God. The Christian and Missionary Alliance believes Jesus meant this to be a permanent practice called an ordinance.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66,"url":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/beliefs\/spiritual-gifts\/","url_meta":{"origin":117,"position":4},"title":"Spiritual Gifts","author":"Garry Gardner","date":"September 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"What are spiritual gifts? Spiritual gifts are supernatural empowerments given by the Holy Spirit to the followers of Christ so that Jesus can continue His ministry through us. Luke affirms in Acts 1:1\u20132 that his gospel account of Jesus\u2019 life was simply about all that Jesus began to do and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56,"url":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/beliefs\/christ-our-healer\/","url_meta":{"origin":117,"position":5},"title":"Christ Our Healer","author":"Garry Gardner","date":"September 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Jesus\u2019 Healing Ministry Jesus Christ came from heaven, suffered, died and rose again, not just to save us from the penalty and power of sin, but also from the effects of sin. A great portion of Christ\u2019s earthly ministry was dedicated to healing the sick. He healed all kinds of\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":503,"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/117\/revisions\/503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}