The Start of a Great Church
Bethlehem Healing Temple
Bethlehem Healing Temple was started in 1968.
The Founding Congregation
Central Christian Church
The church building that Bethlehem Healing Temple now occupies was first build by the congregation of the Central Christian Church. A group came over from Hammond, Indiana and pitched tents on the location known as 700 Jefferson Street in Gary, Indiana.
In 1919, they started building the church. A.R. Wicked was the architect who built the church in what is known as the “Renaissance Revival” style. “Under the broad designation "Renaissance architecture" nineteenth-century architects and critics went beyond the architectural style which began in Florence and central Italy in the early 15th century as an expression of Humanism; they also included styles we would identify as Mannerist or Baroque.” - (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Revival_architecture)
The church was finished in 1923. This building is one of three building erected in 1921-1925 still standing and is occupied and used weekly.
The building was later sold to the second congregation to occupied the building, Primera Iglesia Cristiana Hispana.
Primera Iglesia Cristiana Hispana
Primera Iglesia Cristiana Hispana, an Hispanic congregation was the second congregation to occupy the building located at 700 Jefferson Street.
In 1996, Bethlehem Healing Temple bought the building from Primera Iglesia Cristiana Hispana to become the third congregation to occupy the building.