About Us 1926-2026
A small church big on Love; Our doors swing on welcome hinges!
Our Story
For more than 100 years, Bethany Baptist Church has been a place of worship, fellowship, service, and family in the Jamaica, Queens community. Generations have come through our doors to hear the Word of God, grow in their faith, raise their families, serve their neighbors, and walk together through every season of life. Through changing times and changing generations, Bethany has remained standing on the foundation of Christ and His promise: “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).
Our story continues in the spirit of “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5)—a church family united in Christ and committed to living out the faith we profess. Whether you have known Bethany for decades or are walking through our doors for the very first time, there is a place for you here. We remain committed to proclaiming Christ crucified, risen, and coming again, and to being a church where the Word of God is taught, faith is lived, love is demonstrated, and fellowship is shared.
Our Mission
"To glorify God by making disciples, nurturing community, and serving our neighbors with love and compassion."
What We Believe
Statement of Faith
The following articles represent the doctrinal convictions of Bethany Baptist Church, rooted in the Word of God and the historic Christian faith.
The Bible
We believe in the verbal, plenary, infallible, inerrant inspiration of the Bible. We believe in the unlimited inerrancy of the Bible. That is to say, we believe all historic facts, genealogies, account of creation and etc. to be true and without error as they appeared in the original manuscripts. We believe the Bible supersedes all other writings or books in revealing God and His plan of salvation for mankind (Koran, Book of Mormon and etc.) and is God's love letter to mankind. We believe the Bible is human in its penmanship but divine in authorship (2 Peter 1:21).
The Triune God
We believe that there is only one true and living God revealed in three separate, distinct, co-existent, co-equal and co-eternal personalities (Matthew 3:16–17). That is to say, we believe God is composed of three united persons without separate existence — so completely united as to form one God. We believe the three united persons exist as Father, Son and Holy Spirit (John 1:1; Acts 5:3–4; John 10:30–35).
God The Father
We believe God, as Father, reigns over His entire universe with providential care. He is omnipotent (all powerful) and able to do anything consistent with His own nature (Genesis 17:1; Exodus 6:3; 2 Corinthians 6:18). He is omnipresent (everywhere present at all times) and there is nowhere mankind can go to escape His presence (Psalm 139:7–11). He is omniscient (all knowing) and knows all things actual and possible, past, present and future, in one eternal act (Psalm 139:1–4; Hebrews 4:13). We believe God to be Father of all through creation, but Father spiritually only to those who have become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 4:10–11).
God The Son
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, pre-existed prior to His incarnation as God, was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin (John 1:1; 1:14). We believe in the vicarious death of Jesus Christ on the cross. That is to say, He died in the place of sinners, representatively, bearing the punishment they deserved, thereby satisfying God's righteous judgment against sin. We believe that after Jesus' bodily resurrection from the grave, He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father where He intercedes on behalf of all believers (1 John 2:1; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 12:2).
God The Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit is the third person within the Godhead. As such, He has intelligence (1 Corinthians 2:10–11), He possesses a mind (Romans 8:27), He is able to teach (1 Corinthians 2:13), He directs the activities of Christians (Acts 16:6–11), He is to be obeyed (Acts 10:19–21), He can be lied to (Acts 5:3) and He can be insulted (Hebrews 10:29). We believe all believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit as a gift at the moment of conversion (John 7:37–39; Acts 11:16–17; Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians 2:12; 2 Corinthians 5:5). We believe that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is permanent and cannot be lost. We believe that because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, every believer has his or her own unique gift(s) for the edification of the body of Christ, which is the Church (1 Peter 4:10; 1 Corinthians 12:4–11; Ephesians 4:11–12). We believe that it is the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit that places those who believe into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). We believe that there are many fillings of the Holy Spirit throughout the believer's life, but one baptism of the Holy Spirit. We believe that the filling, not the baptism, is lost when believers sin.
Creation
We believe that man, the earth, the heavens and all life was created by God (Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 44:24; Colossians 1:16–17). We believe micro evolution is provable and observable while macro evolution is completely false. That is to say, micro evolution describes changes within a species over time while the species remains distinct and never evolves into something completely different. So, a cat will always be a cat although there may be observable changes in cats over years. Macro evolution, which we believe to be completely false, says one species can and does become a completely different species over lengthy periods of time. Furthermore, the fossil record proves macro evolution to be incorrect.
The Fall of Man
We believe that Genesis Chapter 3 describes the historical event of sin's entrance into the realm of humanity. We believe Adam and Eve were historical people who sinned against God in time and space. If Adam and Eve were not literal people who brought sin into the human race at one point in history, then there was no point in Jesus dying on the cross. We believe that as a result of Adam and Eve's sin, all are sinners from birth/conception (Psalm 51:5; Genesis 8:21; John 9:34) and stand in need of a savior from birth.
Salvation
We believe that salvation is the free gift of God that cannot be earned through any works of righteousness (Romans 3:23–24; Ephesians 2:8–9). We believe God's gift of salvation is bestowed upon all who put their faith in the finished work of Jesus on Calvary's cross. We believe that at the moment one puts their faith in the finished work of Jesus, they are indwelt with the Holy Spirit and thereby placed/baptized into the body of Christ permanently. We believe that there is no salvation in any of the world's religions nor do they provide access to the true and living God. That is to say, we stand on the words of Jesus found in John 14:6: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (1 Timothy 2:5; Acts 4:12).
The Great Commission
We believe it is every Christian's duty, Minister and Laity, to seek the fulfillment of Christ's Great Commission. That is to say, every believer should be active in some form of evangelism to the lost — there are no exceptions (Matthew 28:18–20).
The Resurrection
We believe the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the very nucleus of our Christian faith as it validates the claims of Jesus Christ while setting our Christian faith apart from any other religion. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, Christianity and other religions become like oil and water — they will never mix. We believe that Jesus rose from the dead in the same body that was nailed to the cross. That is to say, Jesus' resurrection was literal and physical, not spiritual (John 20:26–27; Luke 24:39).
The Second Coming of Jesus Christ
We believe in the literal, physical advent of Jesus to the earth to establish His kingdom on earth and to reign in righteousness (2 Thessalonians 1:6–10; Zechariah 14:4). We believe in the personal, imminent, pre-tribulation coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to rapture His church (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18).
The Sovereignty of God
We believe that God is sovereign and He does as He pleases. God is not governed by any circumstances outside of Himself, but only by His own good pleasure. God thereby determines the result of all people, events and things. We believe that the result of God's sovereignty is that His purpose will be achieved no matter what. Nothing can thwart God's plan: history will be worked out according to the pre-determined will of God regardless of what we believe, think or feel.
Tongues
We believe that the tongues from Acts and 1 Corinthians were for the infancy stage of the church and are not normative in the current church. That is to say, one may or may not speak in tongues at conversion or at any time in their Christian walk (1 Corinthians 12:30). We believe that tongues is evidence that one has been indwelt by the Holy Spirit but tongues are not the only evidence. We believe that the manifestation of any spiritual gift is evidence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:11; 1 Corinthians 12:1–30). We believe in the Bible order given for tongues in the church. That is to say, when someone is speaking in tongues there should be an interpreter and the number of those speaking should be limited to two or three at one time. If there is no interpreter, the one speaking in tongues should keep quiet in the church (1 Corinthians 14:26–28).
Homosexuality
We believe homosexuality is a sin and carries the same penalty as any other sin (Romans 1:26; Leviticus 18:22). That is to say, homosexuality is not singled out as a sin greater than another sin. We believe same-sex marriages are unbiblical and should not be performed by the church. That is to say, same-sex marriages go against God's design for lifelong partnerships between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:18–25). We believe it is unchristlike, unloving and unbiblical to exclude or in any way deter any homosexual that has acknowledged their behavior as sin from their God-given right to be a member of any church. That is to say, homosexuals must acknowledge the fact that their lifestyle is sin and come to any church looking for help and not think it is the church's responsibility to change its biblical position on homosexuality.
Political Correctness
We believe the church should avoid political correctness whenever biblical teachings and principles would be compromised to be considered politically correct. That is to say, the church will obey God and not man (Acts 5:29).
Healing
We believe that the context of Isaiah 53:5 — "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed" — is emphatically clear and refers to spiritual healing, not physical. That is to say, "transgressions" and "iniquities" are not physical illnesses but spiritual. We believe that Isaiah 53:4 does refer to physical healing; however, the physical healing Isaiah is speaking of is a reference to Jesus' healing ministry (Matthew 8:16–17). We believe that God is still healing the sick and Jesus' death on the cross made provision for physical healing. That is to say, although provision has been made for physical healing through the finished work of Jesus on the cross, God does not heal everybody (2 Timothy 4:20; 1 Timothy 5:23). We believe that God is sovereign and may choose not to heal or He may choose to heal — there is nothing we can do to change the will of God for our lives.
Prophecy
We believe that God still speaks through prophets as He has done in the past. However, there are many charlatans that claim to be prophets but are not. We believe that true prophets of God prophesy in the name of Jesus Christ and what they say comes to pass — there are no exceptions. We believe false prophets, those whose prophecies do not come to pass or are untrue, should be openly rebuked for the sake of the church. We believe the gift of prophecy is serious and not to be taken lightly. We believe that God is against those that prophesy falsely and speak lies in His name (Ezekiel 13:6–9; Deuteronomy 18:20).
Prosperity / Word Faith Movement
We believe that the current Word Faith/prosperity movement is preaching and teaching another gospel that is not taught in the Bible. That is to say, for example, the Bible does not teach the idea that we are little gods with the power to create our own reality by speaking words of faith over our lives. Nor does the Bible teach the idea that we have the power, with our words, "to call things that are not as if they already were." According to the Bible, it is God who calls things that are not as though they were (Romans 4:17). We believe that a large number of preachers and teachers have crept into the church and are preaching and teaching another gospel that is harmful to the body of Christ. We believe the church needs to develop a Berean attitude towards all preachers and teachers and search the scriptures to see if what they are saying is correct and true.
Physical Death
We believe physical death can best be described as the separation of the soul/spirit from the body. We believe that reincarnation is not taught in the Bible. That is to say, we die one time and after that there is judgment (Hebrews 9:27). We believe the soul/spirit is eternal and never dies nor sleeps after separating from the physical body (Revelation 6:9–10; Luke 16:22–24). We believe that every believer goes immediately to be with the Lord when physical death occurs (2 Corinthians 5:8).
Our Leadership
✦ Celebrating 25 Years in the Pastorate ✦
Senior Pastor
Bishop Prelate Darren M. Duncan
For 25 years, Bishop Prelate Darren M. Duncan has faithfully led Bethany Baptist Church with a steady hand, a servant’s heart, and an unwavering commitment to the Word of God. His leadership has helped shape not only the life of this congregation, but generations of members who have been taught, encouraged, challenged, and loved under his pastorate. Through seasons of celebration and seasons of change, Bishop Duncan has remained committed to the work God entrusted to him and to the people he has been called to serve.
"Love Is What Love Does!"
25th Pastoral Anniversary — June 7, 2026
Bethany Baptist Church Family
Proudly Presents This Award To
Bishop Prelate Darren M. Duncan
In Honor & Recognition of His
25th Pastoral Anniversary
June 7, 2026
"Your faithful leadership, steadfast devotion, and unwavering commitment to God's Word have been a blessing to this congregation and community. Thank you for 25 years of dedicated service."
Bishop Adite Holt
Assistant Pastor
Pastor Joel Jackson
Associate Pastor
Bishop Douglas Stukes
Associate Pastor
Elder Karim Lewis
Sunday School Superintendent
Sister Tamika Wallace
Church Treasurer
Sister Dawn P. Edwards
Church Administrator
Join Us for Worship
At Bethany Baptist Church, we gather to worship God, grow in His Word, and encourage one another in faith. Whether you are visiting for the first time or looking for a church home, there is a place for you here.