Bethel Church is a non-denominational American megachurch with 9,000 members in Redding, California, part of the neo-charismatic movement and known for its controversial teachings and practices. The church was established in 1952 and between 1954–2006 was affiliated with the Assemblies of God; it is currently led by Bill Johnson with a weekly congregation in excess of 8,000 people.
Bethel identifies with charismatic practices such as faith healing, prophecy, and raising the dead, with church services frequently including behaviors and experiences interpreted by participants as manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Bethel has its own music labels, Bethel Music and Jesus Culture ministries, which have gained popularity for contemporary worship music. The church runs the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry with over 2,000 students annually.
Bethel and its leaders have received extensive media coverage, both praising their influence and criticizing their unconventional beliefs and practices (including supernatural claims such as "grave soaking"), and their intersection with politics. It has also been criticized for multiple incidents of clergy sexual abuse and "cover-up culture". Politically, Bethel leaders have publicly supported conservative causes, including Donald Trump, conversion therapy, through sermons, social media, and advocacy. Former worship leader Sean Feucht ran for the United States Congress on a socially conservative platform. The church has faced scrutiny over its civic and political influence on Redding, practices that have been considered manifestations of the Seven Mountain Mandate.
History Early history and transition to non-denominationalism Robert Doherty founded the church in 1952, initially as a house church. In 1954, the congregation moved to a new location at Magnolia Avenue and became an affiliate of the Assemblies of God. M. Earl and Darliene Johnson were appointed pastors of Bethel Church in 1968.
In 1984, Raymond Larson became the senior pastor, and during his 11-year tenure, Bethel Church grew to over 2,200 members. This dramatic growth led to the purchase and construction of a new facility with more than of space in the new church building.
In February 1996, Bill Johnson – then a pastor in Weaverville and the son of former Bethel pastor Earl Johnson – was invited to lead the church. Johnson later wrote that he accepted "on a nonnegotiable condition – that his focus would always be the pursuit of revival," and one account says "the leaders unanimously agreed."
Johnson has written that during a 1995 visit to revival meetings associated with the Toronto Blessing he committed to make "the outpouring of the Holy Spirit" the focus of his ministry, a revival emphasis he brought to Bethel after becoming senior pastor in 1996. Attendance initially declined – Johnson later said "we lost 1,000 people" when the revival emphasis began – but subsequent reporting documented substantial growth, including an average weekly attendance of 8,684 by 2016.
In November 2005, the membership of Bethel Church voted unanimously to withdraw the church's affiliation with the Assemblies of God and become a non-denominational church; however, under Assemblies of God bylaws the church first needed to invite the District leadership to address the congregation.
On January 15, 2006, Bethel's membership voted to rescind the withdrawal and invited the district leadership to Redding. The district leadership met with the congregation on January 17, but the result was a near-unanimous vote to withdraw. In a letter, Johnson points out that this action was "not a reaction to conflict but a response to a call … we feel called to create a network that helps other networks thrive – to be one of many ongoing catalysts in this continuing revival. Our call feels unique enough theologically and practically from the call on the Assemblies of God that this change is appropriate." Margaret M. Poloma, John C. Green, The Assemblies of God: Godly Love and the Revitalization of American Pentecostalism, NYU Press, USA, 2010, p. 225
As of 2016, Bethel Church had 8,684 attendees a week. In 2018, as per its annual report, Bethel had 11,233 people that called "Bethel Redding home". In 2026 the congregation size was listed as 8,873. In 2025, Bethel Church raised $1,343,606 in tithes.
October 2015 Colorado Springs shooting On October 31, 2015, a shooting took place near downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado in which three victims and the shooter, Noah Harpham, died. Days before the shooting, Harpham published a blog titled "Is my dad in a cult? Even worse, is it satanic?" in which he questioned his father's involvement with Bethel Church and its pastor Bill Johnson, whom he accused of being a satanist trying to control the minds of his followers.
Three days after the shooting, Bethel Church issued a press release in which they called the shooter's father Thomas Harpham "a valued and loved part of Bethel Church," adding that he had attended the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry for three years and interned with the church as a third-year student. According to the statement, some members of the Bethel team had met Noah Harpham but had no recollection if he ever attended the church.
COVID-19 pandemic In 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, Bethel Church closed the healing rooms and moved healing operations of 700 people online. The church also suspended faith healings at hospitals. The church's official position was to follow the recommendations of health officials, and that "wisdom, modern medicine, and faith are meant to work together", but the church simultaneously upheld belief in God's ability to heal supernaturally. Some in the church community held differing views. Kevin Dedmon, a longtime teacher of the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry stated that "there is no way this thing can live in the presence of God", and "we declare no fear and we declare healing in Jesus' name." Later in the year, Chuck Parry, the director of Bethel's healing rooms claimed that numerous people were healed from COVID-19 through the church's remote Zoom calls, alongside other claimed miracles, such as healing cancer, blindness, and waking people up from comas. By October 2020, Shasta County had the highest COVID-19 case rate in California and Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry in Redding asked its entire 1,600-person student body to self-quarantine as the number of coronavirus cases among students and staff rose to 137 since classes started a month previously.
In October 2020, Bethel's senior leader Beni Johnson was criticized after posting a video in which she mocked wearing masks while shopping on the California coast, saying "If you'll do the scientific research, these masks are worthless and they're people's security blankets. We won't be shopping and giving them any money because you have to wear a stupid freaking mask that doesn't work". When asked about the video, Shasta Community Health Center CEO Dean Germano said it was disconcerting to see leaders disavowing masks. Beni Johnson later apologized for "the insensitivity and making light of this pandemic" while maintaining that she still questions the importance of a mask, but that she wears one when the situation requires it.
Beliefs and practices
Focus on miracles Bethel Church emphasizes the belief that miracles described in the Bible continue to occur today and can be performed by believers. These include faith healing, prophecy, raising the dead, speaking in tongues, casting out demons, and regeneration of limbs and girls' hymens. Church services may involve behaviors such as uncontrollable laughter, falling to the floor, shaking, screaming, and dancing – described by leaders as manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Leaders claim to have witnessed supernatural occurrences, such as appearances of angels and unexplained physical phenomena, including what they describe as "balls of electricity" and "glory clouds" – glitter-like particles seen falling from the ceiling during worship services. Videos of these events have been shared by the church on its official YouTube channel.
Bethel has produced theological materials expanding on its views of the supernatural. One such publication, The Physics of Heaven, co-authored by leaders associated with the church, explores connections between charismatic Christianity and concepts sometimes associated with New Age spirituality. Critics such as Gary Hal Graff have argued that the book departs from orthodox Christian doctrine.Bill Johnson, Bethel Church, and the NAR: A Balanced Observation and Study Co-author Kris Vallotton has described the book as "a foretaste of things to come," and another contributor wrote, "It wasn't that I wanted to become a New Ager. I just wanted to find out if maybe they had discovered some truths the churches hadn't."Introduction to The Physics of Heaven
Resurrection prayer campaign In December 2019, Bethel Church launched a global prayer campaign seeking the resurrection of Olive Heiligenthal, the two-year-old daughter of Bethel Music artist and worship leader Kalley Heiligenthal, after she was pronounced dead. The campaign attracted widespread attention on social media and from national news outlets. During this period, a GoFundMe page was created, raising over $74,500 by January 2020. The prayer efforts concluded six days after Olive's death, when the church released a statement announcing that the family would transition toward planning a memorial service. The campaign drew criticism from some religious scholars and journalists, who argued that it encouraged unrealistic expectations of divine intervention in matters of life and death.
Theological classification Bethel describes its senior leadership as an "apostolic" team. Sociologists Brad Christerson (Biola University) and Richard Flory (University of Southern California) identify Bethel and Bill Johnson as prominent examples of Independent Network Charismatic Christianity, a loose set of networks that often overlaps with what reporters and critics call the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). Scholars and journalists have described these networks as promoting "dominionist" teachings; particularly the Seven Mountains Mandate, which urges Christians to "take dominion" over seven spheres of society: religion, family, education, government, media, arts and entertainment, and business. Johnson co-authored a book advancing this teaching. Johnson has denied formal ties to the NAR label, telling Christianity Today he is "not completely clear on what it is."
Ministers at Bethel produced a number of publications about religion and business (e.g. Money and the Prosperous Soul: Tipping the Scales of Favor and Blessing by Stephen K. De Silva). Bethel's teachings have been described as aligning with prosperity gospel - the belief that God rewards faith with wealth.
The church endorses Brian Simmons' The Passion Translation of the Bible, which Bill Johnson describes as “One of the greatest things to happen with Bible translation in my lifetime.” Multiple scholars have described it as a solo effort and an interpretive paraphrase rather than translation. They have criticized it as being unfaithful to the original manuscripts and lacking a disclosed committee for the translation.
Characterization as a cult