Beulah Baptist Church in Russellville will celebrate its 200th anniversary on the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, June 3 and 4.

The weekend will begin with an outdoor gathering on June 3 at 3 p.m. "We are having a church family and alumni reunion and get-together on the church grounds. We will have a catered meal and activities for kids, including bounce houses," said Richard Farmer, a member of the Beulah Anniversary Committee.

The public is encouraged to attend a special worship service that will take place on June 4 at 10 a.m. Guest attendees will include pastor emeritus Roger Hunter, who was pastor at Beulah for nearly 25 years.

"We are going to have (alumnus) Philip Graybeal give a testimony and remembrance. I will be dressed up in an 1823 outfit and talk about what was going on nationwide in 1823 and talk about the beginnings and origin of the church," said Farmer.

There will be special music during the Sunday service, and the message will be delivered by current pastor Ed Arnold. "He grew up in the church and was mentored very well by Pastor Hunter," noted Farmer.

After graduating from Lancaster Bible College in 2007, Arnold became Beulah's assistant pastor and then lead pastor in January 2021. Other staff members at the church include Mark Freisleben, pastor of student ministries, and Noah Phenninger, music and worship pastor.

According to a history of the church, a group of Christians from Hephzibah Baptist Church in East Fallowfield belived there was a need for a Baptist church in the southern end of Chester County. In June of 1823 they established what is now Beulah Baptist Church. "They met somewhere in the village of Russellville, although the exact location is not known," noted Farmer.

In 1832, a meeting was held under an oak tree on a property along Route 896 north of Russellville to discuss where to build a permanent church building. The group bought the site where Beulah Baptist Church now stands for $27.75.

Over the subsequent 200 years, the church has undergone modifications and additions. "The right section (of the building) is the main sanctuary," Farmer stated. "The center section was the original church ... built in the early 1830s; it is now our vestibule/social area." The left portion of the church houses classrooms, and additional classrooms and a fellowship hall are located downstairs. The front portico with the steeple is the church's most recent addition, constructed in the late 1980s.

Farmer pointed out that church members come from the northern Maryland, Cochranville, Nottingham, Oxford and southern Lancaster County areas. Each congregation member will receive a 200th anniversary booklet on June 4. Additional copies will be available to purchase.

"On May 7, we dug up a time capsule that was buried at the 150th anniversary in 1973," Farmer added. "There was a VHS tape (of church photos and activities), which we converted into modern media, and a Sunday paper from 1973. We are planning on burying another time capsule later this summer or early fall, so we can collect things from this celebration."

The GPS address for Beulah Baptist Church is 3815 Newark Road, Oxford. For more information, call 610-932-9595 or visit http://www.bbcoxford.com or http://www.facebook.com/beulah.b.church.