History
Bethel Evangelical Church was established by Rev. John Davies (pictured left), who was then the minister of Trinity Presbyterian Church, on 1 April 1971, with a small group of worshippers from Trinity. John remained minister for several years, and established the work on a firm footing, seeing several conversions.
In 1972 the church moved into the old pegging office in Clydach, a building used by Social Security but owned by the Church of England. John later left to minister at Peniel Evangelical Church in Maesteg.
His place at Bethel was taken by another John, Rev. John Mainwaring (pictured right). John continued at Bethel for twenty years, until his retirement. For several years the church was unable to find a minister, but God kept the church together, and the church were even able to erect a new building (on the same site as the old one) in 2006. A year later, Mark Barnes was called to be Bethel’s third minister.
A brief history of the church was given by Hubert Davies, one of the founding elders of the church, at the opening of Bethel’s new building. You can listen to his memories below:
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