Some considered it a healthy innovation. Others considered it an experiment, unnecessary and dangerous. But without a doubt, the first camp meeting ever to be held by the forefathers of the Missionary Church was a stunning success. It opened Friday evening July 30, 1880, and continued for ten days. It met in an eight-acre wooded grove, owned by a gentleman named Simon Fetters, located seven miles south of Elkhart, Indiana.

Daniel Brenneman was the District Superintendent who oversaw the organization for this first camp meeting. The District at the time was composed of the Bethel Church and seven other congregations who met in barns, schoolhouses, and homes. Since Bethel was the only actual church, the first Fetter's Grove gathering was called the "Camp Meeting of the Bethel Circuit".