About Bethany

Where it began

Bethany Church Columbia was started by Bethany Church in Ellicott City, Maryland on Mother’s Day in 2013. Thirty-five members went with the new church staff to get started in this endeavor. We began by focusing on relationships and having the message piped in from Ellicott City. After two years we began to see the need to make a change in the way we did things, beginning with hiring CJ Matthews as our full-time pastor and viewing ourselves as a church plant. Since that time, Pastor CJ has been our main preacher and we have seen God continue to grow and shape our church to the vibrant community of believers we are today! 

We hope you’ll come check us out and consider becoming apart of what God’s doing to advance His Kingdom here in Columbia

What we believe

  • The 66 books that make up the canonical Scriptures were written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and are infallible truth and free from error in the original texts (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:20-21).

  • There is only one God who reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each member of the Trinity has distinct personal attributes, but there is no division of nature, essence, or being (Genesis 1:26; Matthew 3:16-17; John 1:14; John 10:30).

  • Jesus died the death that we deserved to die as penalty for our sins. Anyone who repents and believes the gospel will be saved. Salvation is by grace through faith. There is nothing that we can do to earn our way to heaven (John 3:16-17; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 10:9- 10; 1 John 2:2).

  • Baptism is a public profession of faith that our Lord commanded all believers to partake in after entering into a relationship with Him. The method of baptism is by immersion. Jesus Himself was baptized by being immersed into water (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 8:26-38).

  • Marriage is a covenant between one man and one woman that is binding until death. Scripture does not permit a believer to marry an unbeliever. Scripture gives some grounds for divorce, but it should be avoided when possible (Genesis 2:18-25; Matthew 19:3-9; Ephesians 5:22-33; 2 Corinthians 6:14).

  • We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the just and the unjust—the unjust to judgment and eternal conscious punishment in hell, as our Lord Himself taught, and the just to eternal blessedness in the presence of Him who sits on the throne and of the Lamb, in the new heaven and the new earth (1 Thessalonians. 4:13-18; Revelations 20:11-15; Revelations 21:1-8).

People helping people find peace and purpose in Jesus.

People helping people find peace and purpose in Jesus.

Our Mission

Our partners

Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware

The Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware (BCMD) is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of more than 500 autonomous Baptist churches in Maryland and Delaware.

Send Network

Send Network is a partnership of people just like you—churches and church planters—planting churches everywhere for everyone.

Mid-Maryland Baptist Association

The MMBA is a partnership of nearly sixty churches located in the Baltimore-Washington D.C. area. Our network of congregations empowers one another to effectively engage the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.