[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 145 (Monday, September 26, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1359]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONORING BETHEL ASSOCIATION OF UNITED BAPTIST CHURCHES OF JESUS CHRIST 
                   CELEBRATING ITS 200TH ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JASON SMITH

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 26, 2016

  Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Bethel 
Association of United Baptist Churches of Jesus Christ celebrating its 
200th anniversary.
  A group of settlers to the Missouri Territory organized the first 
Baptist Church west of the Mississippi on July 19, 1806 near what is 
now Jackson, Missouri. Ten years later, six churches came together to 
form the Bethel Association. In 1834, at Pendleton Church in St. 
Francois County, the Bethel Association accepted the term ``United 
Baptist.'' The organization has continued to meet every year since its 
founding--except during the four years of the Civil War. The Bethel 
Association has established 87 churches throughout Missouri, Illinois, 
and Arkansas and there have been 250 ordained ministers in the 
organization to date.
  The Bethel Association today is made up of 11 churches and 
approximately 850 members in the Missouri counties of St. Francois, 
Madison, Ste. Genevieve, Wayne, Crawford and Iron.
  For 200 years of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it is my 
privilege to recognize the Bethel Association of United Baptist 
Churches today before the United States House of Representatives.

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