Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church's congregation was founded in 1801. Services were held uninterrupted except for a Sunday in November 1862, because of an "Army passing down the pike and the house having sick soldiers in it." The church was first called Difficult and was located near Big Difficult Creek, whose name was chosen because the fords on the creek were hard to predict. By 1810 a permanent church had been built and renamed Bethlehem. Bethlehem Church was constituted by Elders John Hightower, Alexander Devin, Joseph Logan, and eight members: James and Margaret Atwood, Wm. and Dorcas Strait, Wm. and Mary Thos., Polly Richey, and Thos. Spillman. Elder Joseph Logan was the first pastor. Enslaved people were members by 1819. The church voted to erect a new house of worship in 1847, and the present edifice was built in 1910.