Bethlehem Baptist Church (Minneapolis)

Bethlehem Baptist Church is an evangelical Christian Baptist megachurch and a multi-site church headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is affiliated with the Minnesota Baptist Conference and Converge. [1] The church has three campuses.

Bethlehem Baptist Church
Bethlehem Baptist Church
44°58′9″N 93°15′18″W
LocationMinneapolis, Minnesota
CountryUnited States
DenominationConverge
Weekly attendance4,600
Websitebethlehem.church
History
Former name(s)First Swedish Baptist Church
of Minneapolis
Founded1871 (1871)
Founder(s)J. L. Johnson
Clergy
Pastor(s)Jason Meyer, Pastor for Preaching & Vision, Downtown Campus

Steven Lee, Pastor for Preaching & Vision, North Campus

Dave Zuleger, Pastor for Preaching & Vision, South Campus
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History

In the early 1870s, J. L. Johnson became the first Swede baptized by immersion in Minneapolis—in 30-below weather. He and a growing number of Swedes joined First Baptist Church (Minneapolis), and eventually formed a Swedish Bible class.[2][3][4]

On June 22, 1871, they branched off, with First Baptist's blessing, and founded Bethlehem—originally as the First Swedish Baptist Church of Minneapolis.[5] [2][6] This was 7 years after the American Civil War ended, and 13 years after Minnesota became a State, in a hall at 2nd Street and Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis, with 22 charter members.[7][8] Pastor John Ring laid the foundation for the church,[9] which was the first Swedish Baptist church in the Twin Cities area.[2][7] In March 1872, the church bought a lot at 6th Street and 12th Avenue for $1,000 ($21,342 today); they broke ground in March of the following year on a new $4,000 wood frame church building.[10]

The church had four pastors in its first ten years. The fifth pastor, Dr. Frank Peterson, arrived in June 1881 to a church of 127 members.[11] On March 16, 1885, during Peterson's pastorate, the church burned and was irreparable.[2] In February 1888, 55 members of the church organized the Elim Swedish Baptist Church.[12] The congregation learned that the Second Congregational Church at 8th Street and 13th Avenue South—only 3 blocks from the burned site—was available for $13,500 ($384,150 today). The church bought the building and property in May 1885.[2] Peterson was of the view that Scandinavian immigrants made the best Baptists, because, as he put it in 1886, they were Protestants, religious, weren't communists or socialists, and very few of them were "peddlars, organ grinders, or beggars."[13] There were 445 members by January 1, 1891, when Peterson departed.[2]

Under Peterson's ministry, 12 young people became missionaries.[7] One was Ola Hanson who became a missionary to the Kachin people of Burma for 40 years. Hanson put the Kachin language into writing, produced an 11,000-word Kachin-English dictionary, trained 40 local pastors, and translated the Bible into Kachin.[14] The British government awarded him the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal. His story is told in a biography titled ‘Light in the Jungle’, by Gustaf Sword.

The church's first services in English started in 1893, on a bi-weekly basis.[2][8] The 6th pastor, Olof Bodien, came in 1893 and pastored until 1912. During that time the church suffered a fire (December 3, 1893) and a tornado (August 1904). History; First Baptist Church 1871–1921; p. 34. By this time a number of notable Swedish Baptists were members of the church.[15][16] The church had two pastors from 1912–18, when the 8th pastor, Eric Carlson, arrived. Membership rose to 834, and language tension grew during that time between old (Swedish) and young (English). The 9th pastor, Anton Sjolund, came in 1928, and membership reached 1,204. Services in Swedish continued until the mid-1930,[2][8] but on January 1, 1936, the church voted to move all services to English, except for one Swedish Sunday School class.[2] Nine years later, on April 13, 1945, First Swedish Baptist voted to change its name to Bethlehem Baptist Church (the same year that the Swedish Baptist General Conference in America dropped "Swedish" from its name).[5][2][7][17]

The 10th pastor, Eric Lindholm, came in 1949. He oversaw the building of the $500,000 ($4,551,540 today) Sunday School Building, dedicated at year's end 1957 and still in use. The 11th pastor, John Wilcox, came in 1959 as the church's first non-Swedish pastor (he was originally a Southern Baptist), and pastored Bethlehem for 7 years. The 12th pastor was Robert Featherstone, and the 13th, Bruce Fleming, pastored through the 1970s. By 1980, Bethlehem was a somewhat typical downtown Minneapolis church. Most congregants lived in suburbs and commuted, including the pastor. The average age of the now 300-person congregation was 75 years old when the pulpit became open. John Piper became the new senior pastor.[18]He had been teaching Bible at the denominational college, Bethel College. In 1983, Pastor Steller had a missionary epiphany, recognizing how the church's theology connected to world missions reaching unreached people, and a missions movement was born. The average age soon dropped from the 70s and 60s to the 20s.

In 1991, the church had to do something no other downtown Minneapolis church had done in 60 years: find more room.[8] Bethlehem enlarged her worship space; the building purchased in 1885 was demolished for a larger, 1,400 seat sanctuary.[2] One of the stained glass windows from the original building is on display in the foyer. Another building addition came in 2003. In 2002, the church expanded its downtown ministry into the northern Minneapolis by creating a second campus. Instead of building a larger worship center downtown, nearly half the congregation began worshiping in Maranatha Hall at Northwestern College in Roseville.[8] In June 2005, the church moved into its current North Campus facility in Mounds View.[8] In September 2006, Bethlehem launched its third campus at Burnsville High School.[8] In 2012, Jason Meyer became the senior pastor. [19] In September 2018, the church moved into its current South Campus facility in Lakeville. On July 26, 2020 the congregation voted to approve three pastors for preaching and vision, one for each campus. In 2020, the church would have 4,600 people.[20]

Campuses

The church has three campuses: the main campus in downtown Minneapolis and satellite campuses in Mounds View and Lakeville.

References
  1. Converge, Members, converge.org, USA, retrieved January 16, 2021
  2. "Bethlehem Baptist Church (Minneapolis, Minnesota): An Inventory of its Records at the Minnesota Historical Society". Retrieved November 25, 2009.
  3. Wagner, E. Glenn, Escape from Church, Inc.: The Return of the Pastor-Shepherd, p. 210, Zondervan (2001), ISBN 0-310-24317-3, ISBN 978-0-310-24317-5, accessed November 27, 2009
  4. Weaver, C. Douglas, In search of the New Testament church: the Baptist story; Baptists: History, Literature, Theology, Hymns, pp. 232–33, Mercer University Press (2008), ISBN 0-88146-105-9, ISBN 978-0-88146-105-3
  5. "Historic Churches; Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, MN". Baptist General Conference Archives. Retrieved November 25, 2009.
  6. Olson, Adolf (1952), A centenary history, as related to the Baptist General Conference of America, Centenary, Baptist General Conference of America, Baptist Conference Press.
  7. "Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota". Minnesota Historic Sites. Retrieved November 25, 2009.
  8. "Bethlehem Baptist Church". Retrieved November 26, 2009.
  9. Schön, Anders, History of the Swedes of Illinois,, Volume 1, p. 576, The Engberg-Holmberg publishing company (1908), accessed November 27, 2009
  10. Peterson, Penny A., and Olson, Nathan Weaver, "Mill Ruins Park Research Study", pp. 8–9, May 2003, accessed November 27, 2009
  11. Nelson, Olof Nickolaus, History of the Scandinavians and successful Scandinavians in the United States, pp. 470–71, O. N. Nelson & company (1899), accessed November 25, 2009
  12. Atwater, Isaac, History of the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Volume 1, p. 208, Munsell (1893), accessed November 27, 2009
  13. Anderson, Philip J., and Blanck, Dag, Swedes in the Twin Cities: immigrant life and Minnesota's urban frontier, Volume 14 of Studia multiethnica Upsaliensia, Minnesota Historical Society Press (2001), ISBN 0-87351-399-1, ISBN 978-0-87351-399-9
  14. Vedder, Henry C., A short history of Baptist missions, The Judson Press (1927), accessed 27 November 2009
  15. Strand, Algot E., A History of the Swedish-Americans of Minnesota: A Concise Record of the Struggles and Achievements of the Early Settlers, Together with a Narrative of what is Now Being Done by the Swedish-Americans of Minnesota in the Development of Their Adopted Country, Vol. 2, pp. 640, 692, 726, Lewis Publishing Company (1910), accessed November 25, 2009
  16. Marquis, Albert Nelson, The book of Minnesotans: a biographical dictionary of leading living men of the state of Minnesota, pp. 18–19, A. N. Marquis & Company (1907), accessed November 25, 2009
  17. Leonard, Bill J., Baptists in America, pp. 112–13 Columbia University Press (2007), ISBN 0-231-12703-0, ISBN 978-0-231-12703-5
  18. Rose French, Fiery preacher leaving pulpit, but this won't be his last word, startribune.com, USA, December 29, 2012
  19. Alex Murashko, Successor to John Piper Overwhelmingly Approved by Bethlehem Baptist Church, christianpost.com, USA, May 21, 2012
  20. Hartford Institute, Database of megachurches in the US, hartfordinstitute.org, USA, retrieved January 16, 2021
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