I’ve visited a few churches in my lifetime, including Westminster Abbey, Westgate Chapel, Turning Point Community Church, and Portugal’s Monasterio de Batalha. I’ve lit candles and explored hidden spaces in cathedrals in Oxford, Edinburgh, York, and Salamanca.

Only one church, however, has three hidden spaces of its own that I have yet to see anywhere else: this church, Bethany Presbyterian, with its darkroom, prayer room, and children and family library.

Darkroom

Abbie Berry created the Bethany darkroom ten years ago, transforming a former men’s bathroom (and later a storage room) into a photographer’s heaven. She enlisted Paul Steenstra to help with lumber and shelving, and Gary Kyle for pro bono electrical work, and they quickly became her “helpmates” as the project began to take shape. Donations came in after an announcement was published in the bulletin, and soon Abbie could offer periodic summer classes on darkroom techniques and developing film and prints in the summer. Abbie says, “Paul and Gary were instrumental, as were the people in authority that let me do things” to get the darkroom up and running. She plans to offer some summer classes this year.

Prayer Room

Just two years later, Bev Carlson began a ministry in the prayer room off of the sanctuary: prayer during and for the Wednesday Night Dinners. Although the weekly dinners started before the prayer nights, this didn’t stop the latter from morphing quickly into a ministry. Bev was soon joined by Joan Nelson. Joan says, “Bev felt the call to pray, and asked me to join her. This was something I’d never done – I felt a little like Moses, asking, ‘Why me?’” Joan had previously helped cook food for the weekly dinners, but decided it “wasn’t really my thing. This [prayer time] has been one other way we can outreach within our community.”

Children and Family Library

About six years ago, an anonymous donor gave Bethany a sum of money for the express purpose of creating a children’s library, located just off the upstairs bathroom. Jill Bell had the “delightful job” of finding books, music, and movies to supply families with media and literature “that couldn’t be found elsewhere, [particularly things with] a faith emphasis,” she says. Jill worked with Delene Deforest-Dale to clean and paint the room. Delene and others donated furniture to help make the new library more welcoming. A screen was also set in place to protect little hands from the furnace.

The library is a popular place with a wide variety of people, including Bethany’s challenged children with their Buddies, little ones in need of quiet space, parents, parents-to-be, and grandparents. A wide range of fiction and non-fiction books, parenting resources, and children’s movies are available for checkout via an honor system or to enjoy in-house.

From photography to fellowship and family growth, Bethany provides unique opportunities for ministry. These three hidden spaces – not so hidden anymore – have a rich past and an equally rich future, as new generations of saints enter the church walls and enjoy that which God has provided.