In Matthew 28, Jesus says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you…”
To make disciples of Jesus Christ.
To be a place for you to discover love, find purpose, and make a difference.
To connect, grow, and serve.
Presented on Belin Heritage Day 2022
The ancestors of the Rev. James Lynch Belin were French Huguenots, coming to America in the 1690s and settling in Charlestown, SC (Charleston). His father was James Belin, and his mother was Mary Lynch Belin. The Rev. Belin had four sisters, including his twin Mariah, and he was born in 1788 in Georgetown County after his family moved here for rice-growing opportunities.
The Rev. James Lynch Belin began his ministry on Waccamaw Neck plantations in 1810. He was ordained a Deacon in 1814 and ordained as an Elder in 1815 at the age of 27. While he ministered to white residents, he was also well known for ministering to enslaved blacks, an unusual practice that was acknowledged in his South Carolina Conference obituary.
The Rev. James Lynch Belin was ordained as an Elder in 1815. Later that year, he and his wife, Elizabeth, moved to Florida because of the Reverend’s respiratory problems. They returned to South Carolina in 1818. While in Florida, he purchased an orchard and continued his ministry. His wife, Elizabeth, died in 1821, and he married Charlotte in 1831; he had no children.
Although the Rev. James Lynch Belin entered the ministry for a “simpler” life, by 1824, he owned a large parcel of land, including Wachesaw Plantation and Cedar Hill, the site of the current Belin campus. The Rev. Belin gave his second cousin, Dr. Allard Belin Flagg, some property overlooking Murrells Inlet as a wedding present. There, Dr. Flagg built The Hermitage in 1849, and that relocated building is today a private home in Murrells Inlet.
The Rev. James Lynch Belin was ordained as an Elder of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1815. In the years following, he ministered to Methodists and residents of all races on the Waccamaw Neck. In 1835, he formally established the Waccamaw Neck Mission. That same year, a church was built at Oatland Plantation; ninety years later, that sanctuary was relocated to Cedar Hill, Murrells Inlet, and was named Belin Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
Belin Memorial United Methodist Church, named for the Reverend James L. Belin, Methodist Minister and benefactor to the entire Waccamaw Neck area, was built in 1925 with materials salvaged from the dismantling of the Oatland Methodist Church near Pawleys Island. Mrs. W.L. Oliver was instrumental in having the building moved piece by piece to the present marshfront site. The work was done during the ministry of the Reverend W.T. Bedenbaugh who lived at Cedar Hill Parsonage. The church sanctuary was first renovated in 1955 during the ministry of Revered J. H. Armburst.
In 1967, an education and administration building was completed during the pastorate of the Reverend Needham Williamson. In 1977, the sanctuary was moved approximately 75 ft. to the center of the Cedar Hill location and more than doubled in size. This ambitious project was completed in the spring of 1978 during the pastorate of the Reverend Wesley Farr.
In 1991, during the ministry of the Reverend W. Robert Morris, the Belin church family approved plans for the construction of a new sanctuary to be designed to mirror the older structure. The first worship service was held in the new sanctuary on September 6, 1992, by the Reverend Harold P. Lewis, newly appointed pastor of Belin.
On May 2, 1993, a Belin church conference voted to donate the original Belin sanctuary to the Joseph B. Bethea United Methodist Church, located off Highway 501, west of Myrtle Beach. The indebtedness on the new sanctuary was quickly and gracefully paid off, and the church was dedicated on March 29, 1998, by Bishop J. Lawrence McCleskey.
Almost immediately, the Belin family of faith determined to build a state-of-the-art Family Life Center, and it was completed and consecrated on December 12, 1999, under the leadership of Reverend Lewis.
In the spring of 2012, under the leadership of Sr. Pastor B. Mike Alexander, a monthly contemporary worship service was established in the Family Life Center with music led by our Youth Praise Band. By January of 2015, the contemporary services were renamed “The Harbor” and expanded to two services each week. Belin Memorial United Methodist Church is now a congregation of more than 2,000 members with an ongoing vision for both the present and the future. There is always a place for you at Belin Memorial to love God and love others!
