Hans Skytt and crew built the church using a photograph of a church in Denmark as the plans for Bethania.

Jes Schmidt, a shoemaker and artisan, designed and carved the pulpit, baptismal font, altar and pastors’ chairs for a church in Denmark. When that agreement changed, he contacted Bethania. Eventually he sold these appointments for $1000. Johannes Jaeger, a member of Bethania, carved the two smaller acolyte chairs in the same style of the pastors’ chairs.

The pulpit has the figures of John, Peter, Paul, St. Ansgar, Martin Luther and the empty tomb of Christ represented. Inscribed in Danish are the words, "Blessed are those that hear the word of God and keep it."

A ship hangs from the ceiling. Many Scandinavian churches have such model ships. Because the people are sea faring, a ship is natural part of church. The church is the ship that carries us over life’s stormy waters. Often a person who survived a life-threatening sea journey would commission a model of the original, and then dedicate it to a local church in honor of the rescue.

The people of Bethania constructed a pipe organ in the sanctuary. The Phelps organ was completed in 1981. The organ has a beautiful range of sounds with its 1024 pipes. It is one of the few pipe organs in Santa Barbara County. In the church, the acoustical sound is exquisite.

Moving to the front of the church again, you can see two stained-glass windows. Both panels were designed by Rick Marzullo and formed by Carol Petersen. The panels depict our Danish heritage as well as our new home of the Santa Ynez Valley. The Bible is open to a passage, "I am the bread of life…"

The bread of life feeds the people of Bethania as well as visitors to our congregation: through worship, education and fellowship.