In September 1910, Brother J. H. Bird began a Baptist mission in the City of Newark. For a time, the group met at 690 7th Street in the home of Arthur Houston. As the group grew larger, the fellowship began to meet at 507 North 4th Street. In the summer of 1914 Bethlehem Baptist Church was reorganized and presided over by Rev. E. D. Samuels of the North Clinton Baptist Church in East Orange.

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The Church bought a parcel of land at 587-589 North 4th Street and subsequently built the church building that sits there today. The original cornerstone was laid in June 1924. In the following years, the church continued to meet the spiritual needs of its members, grew in membership and expanded the footprint of the church building, and served the people of the North Ward.

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In 1986, Bethlehem called Rev. Toney E. Jackson, Sr. to be its Pastor. Rev. Jackson, for whom North 4th Street has been posthumously renamed, was a teacher by training with a passion for God and God's people. Rev. Jackson served the people at Bethlehem for 30 years, and during that time he led and encouraged leaders and lay people alike. He licensed the first two women preachers in Bethlehem's history, Minister Thelma Turner-Smith and the Late Minister Candace Coleman. Rev. Jackson was best known for building a solid spiritual foundation at Bethlehem through prayer, teaching, and preaching. However, he also led the total refurbishment of the church, and purchase of two parcels of property in the area: a two-family house, and a parking lot.

 

In Bethlehem's 119th year, it called Minister Fred L. Sullivan, II, M.Div. to be its eighth pastor. Minister Sullivan, previously an Associate Minister at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Hackensack, NJ under the leadership of Pastor Gregory J. Jackson, was blessed to have met Pastor Toney Jackson in that capacity. They shared a connection as Morehouse Men who were in God's service in the Church. Pastor Sullivan began his service at Bethlehem on the first Sunday in March 2019, was blessed and privileged to be ordained in front of his Bethlehem family on the second Sunday in March. On June 23, Reverend Sullivan was officially installed as Pastor. Pastor Sullivan was pleased to become part of the history of Bethlehem Baptist Church, along with Lady Alonda Sullivan, and their daughter Pierce. 

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Bethlehem today is a fellowship of loving people working to follow God. We are devoting ourselves to the teaching of the spiritual leaders and seeking to disciple others in the way of Jesus' commission. In 2020, we are women and men who are socially distant, but spiritually connected.