[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 62 (Thursday, April 29, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E721-E722]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 COMMEMORATING THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY OF BETHESDA PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
                      YORK COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN M. SPRATT, JR.

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 29, 2010

  Mr. SPRATT. Madam Speaker, I want to call the attention of the House 
to a landmark event in the Fifth Congressional District of South 
Carolina. On Sunday, May 2, 2010, the Bethesda Presbyterian Church of 
York County will celebrate its 250th anniversary. For 2\1/2\ centuries, 
Bethesda Presbyterian Church has kept the faith, preaching the gospel 
and bearing witness to its faith through Christian service and 
community leadership.
  Worship at Bethesda began in the 1760s among some one hundred forty 
families, most of whom had immigrated from northern Ireland by way of 
Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the low country of South Carolina. Bethesda 
Presbyterian Church was formally organized in 1769, and became 
instrumental in forming other Presbyterian churches in our area. 
According to church records, its outreach included two churches in 
western Mississippi.
  During the Revolution, after the fall of Charleston in 1781, Bethesda 
became a stronghold of resistance to the British. Its members figured 
prominently in the Battle of Huck's Defeat at the nearby Williamson 
Plantation. In the early 1800s, Bethesda was the site of evangelical 
meetings, now called the Great Awakening, which inspired the creation 
of churches throughout the upcountry of South Carolina.
  The Bethesda church buildings have undergone various changes over the 
years, but the church's exterior still reflects the simple, old meeting 
house design, and the cemetery on the grounds is as hallowed as it is 
historic. In 1977 the Bethesda Presbyterian Church was placed on the 
National Register of Historic Places.
  Despite the social changes of 250 years, war, economic crisis, and 
the ravages of time,

[[Page E722]]

Bethesda has remained an old rock of the faith, with a future as 
promising as its past. In view of its long and glorious history, I ask 
that this commemoration of the Bethesda Presbyterian Church's 250th 
anniversary be noted by the Nation through entry in the Congressional 
Record.

                          ____________________