On the corner of Western Street and Heuser Way in Tarentum sits a stout red brick building, home to a small church that has stood the test of time.

The Bethel AME Church serves a congregation of about 35 members and marked its 105th anniversary this year.

“We’re a small congregation, so everybody knows everybody. … Everybody has to play a part,” said longtime church member Janice Johnson.

Johnson began attending Bethel AME 35 years ago when she first sent her daughter to the church’s Sunday school. Now, she is a trustee of the church and a member of its choir.

For Twyla Glasgow, Bethel AME is the church of her grandparents, her parents and her childhood. She left the church for a brief period but returned in 2002 after several hardships were thrown her way, she said.

Her grandson, Donovan Glasgow, was born blue and seized for 10 hours after birth. He was put into the neonatal intensive care unit, and doctors told the family he was unlikely to survive. At the same time, her father was struggling with late-stage cancer.

“It was just a period of being totally alone without a support system,” Glasgow said.

That’s when she and her father decided to return to the church, where they found a strong sense of community.

“People shy away from children with disabilities,” Glasgow said. “Donovan’s brain was gone, and he was in a wheelchair, but everybody still said hello. He was still one of them.”

Glasgow felt that same support when her father died and when her grandson’s death soon followed.

Since then, Glasgow has wholly reciprocated the affection and care she felt from the church. Her roles in the church include steward, choir member, lay organization president and head of the kitchen for the church’s monthly dollar spaghetti dinners.

“I love my church,” Glasgow said. “I love the history of my church. It’s the only church that was born out of racism.”

The original AME, short for African Methodist Episcopal, church was founded in 1787 by Richard Allen, a former slave who felt the intense discrimination against African American Christians in Methodist churches at that time.

Tarentum’s Bethel AME originated with the Rev. Lula Moore, who believed the area needed an African Methodist Episcopal church. What began as meetings in Moore’s small grocery store expanded to a full congregation in a brick-and-mortar church building.

Moore’s great niece, Karen Moore, is the head trustee of the church today.

According to her, the structure of the AME denomination, which assigns its ministers to a location each year, pushes the church closer together.

“The core (the congregation) has to be strong, because with AME churches, you don’t know where the pastor is going each year,” she said.

Bethel AME has had 25 pastors in 105 years.

“I’ve seen quite a number of pastors come and go,” said Ruby Hughley, 92, the church’s oldest member. “And I’ve seen members come and go. We’ve had good years and bad years financially, but Bethel has the tenacity to stick in there.”

Hughley joined the church in 1950, when she was 20 years old. During her decades with the church, Hughley has served as a church steward, trustee, president of the gospel chorus and president of the singing chorus.

Like most churches across the country, when the pandemic began, Bethel AME moved its Sunday services online. Despite being an older congregation less familiar with technology, its members quickly learned to use social media to keep their community alive.

Bethel AME still streams its Sunday sermons online through Facebook. The comment section under the stream is often dotted with “Good mornings” and “Amens” from the congregation.

The other ingredient for the church’s longevity is community involvement.

“Back in the day, from the early 1900s to the late ‘60s, the church was a central part of any Black community,” Glasgow explained. “That’s what allowed the church to grow, because it was a place people could meet.”

Bethel AME continues to serve its community, for community enrichment and for its own survival, members said.

The church regularly organizes school supply drives, free clothing banks/closets, fish fries and dinners where a dollar buys a meal complete with spaghetti and meatballs, salad and a bread roll.

Based on interactions between Bethel AME and its surrounding community, it is easy to see how much the community loves the church, said Pastor Linda Moore.

For the church’s 105th anniversary dinner, Bethel AME reserved a large banquet room at a local hotel. Despite the church’s modest membership, the room was packed. Members of the community, most not from the same denomination, came to support Bethel AME members and celebrate with them.

Although the majority of the congregation is on the older side, younger members are beginning to take on bigger roles in the church to continue its legacy.

“I can see some of the younger people springing up. It’s going to be OK,” Hughley said. “We don’t have many young people, but as long as we stick together it’ll be OK.”

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