Bethel Baptist Church was organized as Buck Creek Baptist Church on May 10, 1834, with presiding clergy Robert Marsh, Mede White, Thomas Norris, and Job Wilson. Its building was erected in 1836, when it was renamed Bethel Baptist Church, and a larger structure was erected in 1907. After it was destroyed by lightning, it was rebuilt in 1977. In 1890, Mary Jane Thornton from Bethel became the first Baptist missionary from Tuscaloosa County and served with Lottie Moon in the China Mission. As a youth, Gov. Lurleen Burns Wallace attended Bethel Church, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Morgan Burns, are buried in the Bethel Cemetery.