Bethania Lutheran Church Of Santa Barbara
Bethania Lutheran Church is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The ELCA is committed to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by providing meaningful worship services in a variety of settings, teaching the faith, and witnessing to the love of Christ in words, actions and truth. The ELCA is making Christ known and proclaiming hope for a new millennium.
Located in the picturesque Santa Ynez Valley in Solvang, the church was formed by Danish immigrants who started the Atterdag Folk School and Bethania. The church was incorporated in 1911. The people met for services at the folk school first and then in the present church building, completed in 1928, at 603 Atterdag Rd.
Hans Skytt and crew built the church using a photograph of a church in Denmark as the plans for Bethania.
Jes Schmidt, a shoemaker and artisan, designed and carved the pulpit, baptismal font, altar and pastors’ chairs for a church in Denmark. When that agreement changed, he contacted Bethania. Eventually he sold these appointments for $1000. Johannes Jaeger, a member of Bethania, carved the two smaller acolyte chairs in the same style of the pastors’ chairs.
The pulpit has the figures of John, Peter, Paul, St. Ansgar, Martin Luther and the empty tomb of Christ represented. Inscribed in Danish are the words, "Blessed are those that hear the word of God and keep it."
A ship hangs from the ceiling. Many Scandinavian churches have such model ships. Because the people are sea faring, a ship is natural part of church. The church is the ship that carries us over life’s stormy waters. Often a person who survived a life-threatening sea journey would commission a model of the original, and then dedicate it to a local church in honor of the rescue.
The people of Bethania constructed a pipe organ in the sanctuary. The Phelps organ was completed in 1981. The organ has a beautiful range of sounds with its 1024 pipes. It is one of the few pipe organs in Santa Barbara County. In the church, the acoustical sound is exquisite.
