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. On June 22, 1871, they branched off, with First Baptist's blessing, and founded Bethlehem—originally as the
First Swedish Baptist Church of Minneapolis. This was seven 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 23
charter members. Pastor John Ring laid the foundation for the church, which was the first Swedish Baptist church in the
Twin Cities area. 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. On March 16, 1885, during Peterson's
pastorate, the church burned and was irreparable. There were 445 members by January 1, 1891, when Peterson departed. 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. By this time a number of notable Swedish Baptists were members of the church. The church had two pastors from 1912 to 1918, when the eighth pastor, Eric Carlson, arrived. Membership rose to 834, and language tension grew during that time between old (Swedish) and young (English). The ninth pastor, Anton Sjolund, came in 1928, and membership reached 1,204. Services in Swedish continued until the mid-1930, The tenth pastor, Eric Lindholm, came in 1949. He oversaw the building of the $500,000 ($ today) Sunday School Building, dedicated at year's end 1957 and still in use. The eleventh pastor, John Wilcox, came in 1959 as the church's first non-Swedish pastor (he was originally a
Southern Baptist), and pastored Bethlehem for seven years. The twelfth pastor was Robert Featherstone, and the thirteenth, 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. 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 enlarged its space. 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. In September 2006, Bethlehem launched 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 facility in Lakeville. In 2021, Kenny Stokes became Pastor for Preaching and Vision. In 2022, it ended its multisite network and its North and South campuses became stand-alone churches. By 2025, it had 2 Sunday services in its 900-seat sanctuary. == Controversies ==