Bethlehem Baptist Church (Minneapolis) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Bethlehem Baptist Church |
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Worship service in 2013
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| 44°58′9″N 93°15′18″W / 44.96917°N 93.25500°W | |
| Location | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Country | United States |
| Denomination | Baptist |
| Weekly attendance | 900 |
| History | |
| Former name(s) | First Swedish Baptist Church of Minneapolis |
| Founded | 1871 |
| Founder(s) | J. L. Johnson |
| Specifications | |
| Capacity | 900 |
Bethlehem Baptist Church is a Christian church located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is part of the Baptist family of churches. The church is connected with a group called Converge.
Contents
The Church's Journey: A Look at Its History
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How It All Began: The Early Years
In the early 1870s, a man named J. L. Johnson was the first Swede to be baptized in Minneapolis. This happened in very cold weather! He and other Swedish people joined the First Baptist Church. Soon, they started their own Swedish Bible class.
On June 22, 1871, this group decided to form their own church. The First Baptist Church supported their decision. They named their new church the First Swedish Baptist Church of Minneapolis. It started in a hall in Minneapolis with 23 founding members. This was the first Swedish Baptist church in the Twin Cities area.
Pastor John Ring helped set up the church. In March 1872, the church bought land for $1,000. A year later, they started building a new wooden church. It cost $4,000 to build.
Challenges and Growth: Fires and New Buildings
The church had four different pastors in its first ten years. In June 1881, Dr. Frank Peterson became the fifth pastor. At that time, the church had 127 members.
On March 16, 1885, the church building caught fire and was completely destroyed. But the church quickly found a new home! They bought another church building nearby for $13,500 in May 1885.
Pastor Peterson believed that people from Scandinavia made good Baptists. By January 1, 1891, when he left, the church had grown to 445 members.
Spreading the Word: Missionaries and Language Changes
During Pastor Peterson's time, 12 young people from the church became missionaries. One of them was Ola Hanson. He became a missionary to the Kachin people in Burma for 40 years.
Ola Hanson helped the Kachin people in many ways. He created a written language for them and made a large dictionary. He also trained 40 local pastors and translated the Bible into the Kachin language. The British government even gave him a special award for his work. His life story is told in a book called Light in the Jungle.
In 1893, the church started holding some services in English, twice a month. The sixth pastor, Olof Bodien, led the church from 1893 to 1912. During his time, the church faced another fire in December 1893 and a tornado in August 1904.
By this time, many well-known Swedish Baptists were members of the church. The church had two more pastors before Eric Carlson became the eighth pastor in 1918. The number of members grew to 834. There was some tension between older members who preferred Swedish and younger members who wanted English services.
Anton Sjolund became the ninth pastor in 1928, and membership reached 1,204. Swedish services continued until the mid-1930s. On January 1, 1936, the church voted to have all services in English, except for one Swedish Sunday School class.
Nine years later, on April 13, 1945, the church changed its name from First Swedish Baptist to Bethlehem Baptist Church.
Modern Era: New Buildings and Campuses
Eric Lindholm became the tenth pastor in 1949. He oversaw the building of a large Sunday School building, which cost $500,000. This building was finished in 1957 and is still used today.
John Wilcox, the eleventh pastor, joined in 1959. He was the first pastor who was not Swedish. He led Bethlehem for seven years. After him, Robert Featherstone and Bruce Fleming served as pastors through the 1970s.
By 1980, Bethlehem was a typical downtown Minneapolis church. Most members lived in the suburbs and traveled to church. The average age of the 300-person church was 75 years old when the church needed a new pastor.
John Piper became the new senior pastor. He had been teaching Bible at Bethel College. In 1983, the church realized how important it was to share their beliefs with people around the world. This started a big movement for missions. Soon, the average age of the church members dropped from the 70s and 60s to the 20s.
In 1991, the church made its space bigger. The old building from 1885 was taken down to create more space for education. One of the beautiful stained glass windows from the original building is now on display in the church's entrance area. Another building addition was completed in 2003.
In 2002, the church started to expand its ministry by creating a second location in northern Minneapolis. Instead of building a bigger church downtown, almost half the church started worshiping at Northwestern College in Roseville. In June 2005, the church moved into its current North Campus building in Mounds View. In September 2006, Bethlehem opened its third campus at Burnsville High School.
In 2012, Jason Meyer became the senior pastor. In September 2018, the church moved into its current South Campus building in Lakeville. On July 26, 2020, the church members voted to have three pastors for preaching and vision, one for each campus. In 2020, the church had about 4,600 people attending.
In 2021, Kenny Stokes became the Pastor for Preaching and Vision.
In 2022, the church decided to change its structure. Its North and South campuses became independent churches.
By 2025, Bethlehem Baptist Church held two Sunday services in its main building. This building has a sanctuary that can seat 900 people.
What Bethlehem Baptist Church Believes
The church follows a Baptist confession of faith. This means they have a set of beliefs that guide their church. They are also a member of Converge, which is a group of churches that work together.
See also
In Spanish: Iglesia Bautista de Belén para niños
