Over a Century of God’s Sustaining Grace

Bethlehem Baptist Church was organized in 1871 as the First Swedish Baptist Church of Minneapolis. There were 22 charter members. During the 1880s, First Swedish Baptist Church bought a building at 13th Avenue and 8th Street, where we've been for over a century. In 1893 bi-monthly services in English were added. It wasn't until the mid-1930s that the Swedish services were discontinued. By the 1940s our membership had filled the building.

Expansion
We expanded our education space in 1955 and built a new sanctuary in 1991. In 2003 the Education for Exultation campaign funded the further expansion of education space.

Treasuring Christ Together
In 2004, we embraced the Treasuring Christ Together (TCT) vision. TCT is a multiplying movement of campuses, new churches, and a global diaconate (funds and relief teams to relieve suffering around the world), all united around our mission statement to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. Believing multiple campuses will yield more long-term effectiveness than the centralized enlargement of one downtown campus, we embraced the vision of a multi-campus church.

Multiple Campuses
In September of 2002, 900 of our members and regular attendees began to worship on Sunday mornings at Northwestern College. By the fall of 2005, a permanent North Campus was launched in Mounds View. In September of 2006 we also began to worship at a South Site at Burnsville High School.

Missions and Outreach
Through the years we also have been involved in starting several new churches, many in the Twin Cities area. Striving to be seedbed for missions and outreach, Bethlehem will, we pray, play a major role in the development of new churches in both domestic and foreign fields for years to come.