Bethabara Moravian Church, Jamaica

Moravian work in the vicinity began in 1827 as an outstation of Fairfield and continued until 1837 when the adherents were sent to join New Broughton or Ebenezer (both Presbyterian). In 1839 the minister of Fairfield resumed the work (at the request of the adherents) with services held in a leaky building at Isles.{{Harvnb|Spence|2000}}. The ground breaking for the present church building was on 1840-01-16.

An elementary school was established in 1846 (in the church building initially) and an infant school in 1863.

Bethlehem Moravian College started here in 1861, closing in 1887 (after twenty six years) preparatory to the move to Malvern.{{Harvnb|Hastings|MacLeavy|1979|p=95}}.

Patrick Town (1882) and Sharon (1950s) started as outstations of Bethabara. Broadleaf is at present Bethabara's only outstation.[http://www.jamaicamoravian.com/ Moravian Church in Jamaica website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705233259/http://www.jamaicamoravian.com/ |date=2008-07-05 }}.

The Newport Branch Library had its origin in the church building (1950s).

The congregation hosted the provincial synods of 1983 and 1989.

Image:Bethabara Moravian Manse 1979.png

A cut stone and mortar structure with a small wooden belfry to the front. The exterior of the building was rendered and painted late in the 20th century.

A pipe organ was obtained from Germany in the early 1890s.{{Harvnb|Hastings|MacLeavy|1979|p=84}}.

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Image:Bethabara Infant School 1978.png

Image:Bethabara Junior School 1960s.png

The original infant school was to the left at the rear of the church with the junior school to the church's front right. Since these photographs were taken the infant building has been abandoned{{cite web|url=http://wikimapia.org/beta/#lat=17.9639991&lon=-77.5064823&z=19&l=0&m=h&v=1|title=Aerial view of Infant school.|publisher=|accessdate=18 October 2014}} and the junior building replaced with a much larger structure.{{cite web|url=http://wikimapia.org/beta/#lat=17.9634658&lon=-77.5068229&z=18&l=0&m=h&v=1|title=Aerial view of Junior school.|publisher=|accessdate=18 October 2014}}

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Opened on 1971-07-28 by Bishop Hastings.{{Harvnb|Hastings|MacLeavy|1979|p=205}}.

Adjacent to the church is a large and well used God's Acre of about 5000m².{{cite web|url=http://wikimapia.org/beta/#lat=17.9647364&lon=-77.507574&z=18&l=0&m=h&v=1|title=Aerial view of burial ground.|publisher=|accessdate=18 October 2014}}

Several Bethabara men went on to serve as Ministers of the Moravian Church including S J Swaby, Trevor Dawkins, Livingstone and Paul Thompson (brothers) and Robert Cuthbert who entered the ministry while his father was serving Bethabara.

S J Swaby, Robert Cuthbert, Livingstone Thompson and Paul Thompson have served the PEC as Secretary, President and Secretary.

Vivian Moses was consecrated as a bishop while serving in North America.

Reference:

F P Wilde's 48 years at Bethabara (and one year elsewhere) remains the longest service in Jamaica by a Moravian minister.{{Harvnb|Hastings|MacLeavy|1979|p=169}}.

{{reflist|colwidth=20em}}

• {{citation|last=Buchner|first=J H|title=The Moravians in Jamaica, History of the mission of the United Bretheren's Church to the Negroes of Jamaica from the year 1754 to 1854|year=1854|publisher=Longman Brown and Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ri9lAAAAMAAJ&q=The+Moravians+in+Jamaica }}.
• {{citation|last1=Hastings|first1=S U|last2=MacLeavy|first2=B L|author1-link=S U Hastings|title=Seedtime and Harvest (A Brief History of the Moravian Church in Jamaica 1754-1979)|year=1979|publisher=The Moravian Church Corporation|name-list-style=amp}}.
• {{citation|last=Spence|first=Travert|title=A Brief History of Bethabara (included in the souvenir program for the congregation's 160th anniversary)|year=2000|publisher=Bethabara Moravian Church|place=Newport, Jamaica}}.

• [http://wikimapia.org/#lat=17.9638281&lon=-77.5066996&z=18&l=0&m=b&v=8 Aerial view of the church].
• [http://wikimapia.org/#lat=17.964517&lon=-77.5068229&z=18&l=0&m=b&v=8 Aerial view of the manse].
• [http://wikimapia.org/#lat=17.9646854&lon=-77.5075901&z=18&l=0&m=b&v=8 Aerial view of the burial ground].

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Category:Congregations of Jamaica Province of the Moravian Church

Category:Moravian churches in Jamaica

Category:1827 establishments in the British Empire

Category:Churches completed in 1814