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Francis Asbury
Early
We are a simple country church with a long history. Lane's is the oldest church in the area, dating to 1794 when Methodist Bishop Francis Asbury purchased Cox's Meeting House, one-and-a-half miles from our present location. William Cox was a local plantation owner, and his Meeting House was used for worship by different denominations during the early republican era. Asbury preached here several times on the circuit from New Bern:
"Monday, Feb. 25, 1799: It was cold to purpose and we had twenty four miles to ride to William Cox's on Neuse River, near the mouth of Contentney! Here my text was I John 4:16-17. We hence fled through the counties of Craven, Lenoir, Glasgow, and Edgecombe."
The old log Meeting House would burn during the Civil War. It was rebuilt soon after and ultimately given to a local Black congregation, now Alum Springs Church of Christ.
Bethany Church on British Road
Reconstruction
Our present land was purchased in 1868 by and a wood sanctuary built soon after. As the Methodist Episcopal Church South expanded, Lane's was part of the Neuse, then the Craven, then the Dover circuits and supplied by circuit-riding preachers. Like the old Cox house, the church was named after the local Lane family.
In 1891, several families from Lane's founded Bethany Methodist Church led by Reverend J. G. Johnson. Rev. Johnson would also establish Epworth Methodist and Dover Methodist.
Our Church
Modern
In the 2010s, Bethany Church merged back with Lane's Chapel.
In the 2020s, a long-coming schism occurred in the United Methodist Church over conservative (mainline) and liberal (evangelical) lines. The membership of Lane's Chapel prayerfully decided to cease affiliation.
Lane's remains committed as always to listening to God's Holy word, to loving our neighbor, and to expanding the kingdom in obedience to the Great Commission. We do hope you will join us.
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