Bethel opened its doors on April 11, 1911, as a mission center of The Women's Baptist Home Mission Society, which is now known as the American Baptist Women's Ministries. The primary mission was to serve needy families living near or working in the meat-packing plants of the West Bottoms of Kansas City. Many of them were new immigrants from Eastern European countries. Our neighborhood has gone through many changes over the last 113 years, but our mission remains the same.