In October 1929, Pastor Edward Jeffreys held an evangelistic and healing campaign in the Subscription Room in Regent Street, Stonehouse. Many healings were reported, along with about 300 decisions for Christ. A group led by Mr. Leonard Cave, Miss Lottie Shill and Mr. Cyril O’Brien formalized the converts into a congregation and rented an unused building from Wycliffe College. This had been a Fundamental Baptist chapel. The founders called the new congregation Bethel Church and adapted the building into a comfortable place of worship. Later, the congregation affiliated with “The Assemblies of God in Great Britain and Ireland”.
In the mid-1970s, the owners gave notice that they needed the building for their use, and the congregation sought new premises. There were a number of pastors in the intervening years, including Revs Dennis Barton, Bill Richards, Rodney Hallum and, at the time of the move, Alan Baker, who oversaw the purchase and conversion of the new site.
The congregation explored several sites until purchasing a disused and derelict garage, which had previously been Moss Motors and coincidentally was approximately as old as Bethel Church. Much of the conversion work was undertaken by the congregation, who also raised the money, taking a mortgage from AoG Property Trust to complete the funding. This new building was officially opened on June 20, 1981, and is the current building on Bath Road, Stonehouse.
Pastor John Clack took over in 2001, serving until his retirement in 2019 when Pastor Robert Hurter assumed the pastor and senior leader role. The church currently has a regular Sunday morning attendance of approximately 60 people. In 2023, Bethel Church Stonehouse planted a new church for a Tamil congregation led by Sam Sridharan. This church meets every Sunday before the main service and has an attendance of 15.
Bethel Church continues to thrive as a beacon of faith and community in Stonehouse, adapting and growing through the decades.