A new sign has gone up at Bethany Evangelical Free Church, 301 Riverside Drive, showcasing the unique congregations that call Bethany home. The sign announces services in four different languages.
One of Madison’s oldest congregations, which celebrated its centennial ten years ago, Bethany also hosts Iglesia Nueva Vida (Spanish), the Greater Madison Chinese EFC congregation, and Lao Fellowship.
The church’s language page explains that Bethany started as a Norwegian language congregation in 1906. As late as 1982 WNWC radio was still broadcasting recordings from Bethany’s Norwegian language services.
Bethany is the mother church for two of Madison’s largest churches, Door Creek and Blackhawk, which have borne much of the growth of the Evangelical Free Church in Madison. But, as the sign indicates, Bethany remains a vibrant congregation. David Carlson, a native of Washington State, has been pastor at Bethany since 1994.