About Us

Welcome to Bethany United Church of Christ. We are a place for being yourself, a place to explore believing, and a place of belonging to Christ and to each other. Because Jesus taught extravagant welcome and radical love, Bethany UCC offers an open and affirming welcome to all persons, for that is how God has welcomed us. No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here!

We believe that God is Still Speaking and at Bethany UCC the foundation of our ministry is listening, listening for how God is calling us to match our gifts to the world's needs. We embrace community through participation in local, national, and global ministries. Ministry happens both inside and outside the walls of our building.

Bethany UCC is part of the United Church of Christ denomination, and our member churches are communities of faith that seek to live out the teachings of Jesus. UCC congregations are autonomous, with no official denominational hierarchy, yet we are in mutual, willing covenant with one another through Regional Associations and Conferences. Bethany UCC is part of the Western North Carolina Association of the Southern Conference of the United Church of Christ.

It is my great honor to minister among and with the people of Bethany UCC. As a follower of Jesus, I heard the call to congregational ministry when I was a young woman. Now, as an ordained minister, I served in three North Carolina congregations before finding my home at Bethany UCC. My husband Tim and I have two adult children who now have families of their own. At Bethany, we found a community of faith where it is safe to share doubt, a family of believers who once were strangers, and the Body of Christ, blessed, broken, and shared.

There is a place for you here, too.

Grace and Peace,

Rev. Kathy Naish

The Church of Firsts. Since 1957, the United Church of Christ has been the church of firsts, weaving God’s message of hope and extravagant welcome with action for justice and peace. Together, we live out our faith in ways that effect change in our communities. The UCC's many "firsts" mean that we have inherited a tradition of acting upon the demands of our faith. When we read in Galatians: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus"—a demand is made upon us. And so we were the first historically white denomination to ordain an African-American, the first to ordain a woman, the first to ordain an openly gay man, and the first Christian church to affirm the right of same-gender couples to marry. We were in the forefront of the anti-slavery movement and the Civil Rights movement. Our response to the demands of our faith is woven into the history of our country.

A Church of Extravagant Welcome - Today, we continue to change lives throughout the world. We work alongside more than 200 mission partners. We labor ceaselessly to fight injustice, in the United States and abroad. We instill our vision into our youth and young adults, forging leaders who will imagine new dreams. And we sustain and develop church leaders, pastors, and our local churches to live their faith in exciting new ways. We believe in a God that is still speaking, a God that is all-loving and inclusive. We are a church that welcomes and accepts everyone as they are, where your mind is nourished as much as your soul.

We are a church where Jesus the healer meets Jesus the revolutionary, and where together, we grow a just and peaceful world.