Pietistic Baptists: It’s Who We Are. Is It Who We Will Be? A “Friends of the History Center” Brunch Featuring*: “The Baptistic and Pietistic Roots of the BGC” with Dr. Stanley Anderson, Bethel University “The BGC in the 21st Century” with Rev. Vic Winquist, Minnesota Baptist Conference When: April 18, 2009 • 9:30 a.m. Where: Calvary Baptist Church, Roseville, MN Cost: $6.50 per person (pay at the door) Registration: Call Stephanie Reinders at 651.635.8053 *In addition, we will have a panel of experts available to answer your questions. An offering will be accepted for the Dick Turnwall History Center Endowment.
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Remember Dr. Bob Smith? An mp3 compact disc with 71 sermons by “Dr. Bob” is being made available by his family. Cost is $30 per disc, postage paid. You may send your order and check made out to “Lucy Elliott” to Lucy Elliott, 744 Randy Ave., Shoreview, MN 55126. You can also email Lucy at gnlelliott@juno.com.
Steering Committee of the Friends of the Baptist General Conference History Center James Spickelmier, Chair; Diana Magnuson, Archivist; Alvera Mickelsen, Editor, Trailmarkers; Richard Burton; G.William Carlson; Gwen Forsline; Jonathan Larson; Dwaine Lind; Marv Lindstedt; Mary Jo Monson; Virgil Olson; Flossie Winquist
“Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that...we might have hope.” Romans 15:4 3900 Bethel Drive St. Paul, MN 55112-6999
Baptist General Conference History Center
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Trail Markers A Newsletter of the Baptist General Conference History Center
March 2009
Volume 7, No. 3
Revolution and Revival— The Baptist Story by Virgil Olson
The year 2009 is the 400th anniversary of the beginning of the modern Baptist movement. Baptists began as a group of Separatists, or nonconformists, who set themselves apart from the Church of England. The Separatists believed the established church was not being true to the teachings of the Bible; they felt that a church should consist only of believers and not consider every citizen in the nation to be “Christian.” In addition, they wanted to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, without restrictions from the king, the Parliament, or the Anglican Church. The government authorities did not take kindly to these radicals; from Gainsborough, England, a small congregation of Separatists led by John Smyth fled to Holland for refuge. There, Smyth came under the influence of Mennonites and embraced the principle of a church made up of baptized believers only. In late 1608 or early 1609, Smyth himself was baptized. Afterward, he baptized Thomas Helwys, the leader of the Separatists group at the time, along with about 40 other members of the refugee congregation. This small group came to be called “Baptists.” In 1611, 10 members of the group returned to England to establish what became the first church of the General Baptist Association. They believed in a general atonement—that Christ died for all people. In 1638, another Baptist group was formed, known as the “Particular Baptists,” who believed that Jesus died only for the elect—particular persons who were “chosen” to be saved. Around 1638 or 1639, the first Baptist church in North America was founded in Rhode Island under the leadership of Roger Williams. Williams, who had arrived
from England with Separatist convictions, was known as a champion of religious freedom. He came into conflict with Dr. John Cotton, the Puritan pastor of the First Congregational Church of Boston. Cotton considered the Massachusetts Bay Colony the New Israel and called the American Indians Amalekites, which he felt justified the colonists killing them and taking their land. Williams opposed Cotton and his church’s interpretations of the Bible, pointing out that in Scripture the new Israel was to consist of only born-again believers. Because of his views, Williams was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He found refuge among the Indians, from whom he purchased land and, in 1636, established Providence, R.I., with a mandate that made it the first government in the world to separate church and state and to guarantee complete religious freedom. From these small beginnings, the Baptists through continued on page 2
A famous painting portrays early Baptists in Sweden being baptized secretly at dawn to escape punishment from the state (Lutheran) church.
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he had heard that there was a revival going on at the Salisbury Baptist Church in Galesburg, Ill. While Palmquist had been with F. O. Nilsson in Sweden, he had never actually been in a Baptist church. Attending the church in Galesburg, Palmquist converted to the Baptist theology and was baptized one Sunday in June 1852. The church elders immediately ordained him to be an evangelist in order to win his fellow Swedes to Christ. Palmquist set out for Rock Island, Ill., and found some Swedish immigrants to whom he preached the gospel of saving grace; on August 8, 1852, he baptized two men and one woman in the Mississippi River. Five days later, this small core of baptized believers organized themselves as a Swedish Baptist Church. On this 400th anniversary of the beginning of the Baptist movement, more than 150 years since that small band of Swedish immigrants began their mission to win Swedes to Christ, we reflect and rejoice in the roots of our Baptist beginnings.
continued from page 1 four centuries have grown; today the Baptist World Alliance, a global fellowship of 214 Baptist conventions, comprises a membership of 36 million baptized believers. The heritage of the Baptist General Conference also arises out of the nonconformist, separatist movement, which in Europe was called the Free Church Movement. These communities of believers declared themselves free from the institutional (state) churches. In Sweden, the state and church were considered as one, so when a child was born, he or she became not only a citizen of the state, but also was baptized (sprinkled) into the Christian faith and became a member of the church. Independent assemblies, which freed themselves from the state church, believed that the church should consist only of believers who voluntarily were baptized on the basis of their confession of faith. Pietists, small cells of believers (called “conventicles”) who gathered to read the Bible, had a profound influence on the Free Church Movement in Sweden. They came to be known as Lasares (Readers), and challenged the state (Lutheran) church for including both saved and unsaved members. When the Baptist ideas began to spread, many of these pietist separatists accepted the Baptist principle of a free church consisting only of baptized believers. Frederick Olaus Nilsson, a leader in pietist circles, traveled to Hamburg, Germany, to be baptized by the pioneer Baptist preacher, John Gerhard Oncken. Nilsson was not only baptized, but he was also ordained as a Baptist minister, authorized to baptize believers and plant new Baptist churches. He re-
turned to Sweden and on September 21, 1848, baptized four men and one woman in the Gulf of Cattegat, off the shores of southwestern Sweden. Nilsson was viewed not only as a religious heretic but as a traitor to the state. When this newly formed Baptist group refused to have their children baptized by a priest of the state church, the act was viewed as a rejection not only of citizenship in the kingdom of God, (the church), but also of their Swedish citizenship. Persecution followed. In 1850, F. O. Nilsson, then the leader of a growing number of Baptist churches in Sweden, was tried in high court as a heretic and a danger to Sweden. The sentence? Banishment from the country. This led him to America and, ultimately, to Minnesota. Religious intolerance against the Separatists became so severe that large numbers fled to America in the mid-19th What is the picture today of the Baptist century. A Lasare pietist group in General Conference, which now flies under a northern Sweden new name and banner, Converge Worldwide? decided to emi In recent years, the name “Bapgrate to America around this time. tist” has sometimes been associated Gustav Palmquist, a school teacher with a group of Baptists who suband member of the Lasare fellowscribe to exclusivity in fellowship ship in Stockholm, was chosen as and teaching, and whom many have the spiritual leader of this group. considered to be “narrow-minded.” The group sailed to the New World Consequently, many Baptist General ahead of Palmquist, so when he later Conference churches have dropped arrived in New York City, he discov“Baptist” from their names and choered that his refugee congregation sen titles that would be seen as more had split to head to several western “user friendly” in the communities locations. Palmquist made his way where they seek to minister. west to connect with a large group of Swedish immigrants in Illinois as continued on page 5 2
Funeral and Resurrection for a Church by Stan Rendahl
In 1925, my dad became state missionary for the Swedish Baptist Conference of Wisconsin. He soon learned that many Wisconsin churches that had been organized before 1900 had since closed their doors. With Swedish immigration tapering off and the Americanization that followed World War I, English was now the language of choice in
Original Church Building
the churches; older Swedes who preferred to enhance their spiritual experience with the Swedish Bible resisted parting with their “sacred tongue.” Their places of worship, however, had fallen by the wayside in the face of change. Dad felt that these churches either ought to be revived or memorialized in some way, perhaps with a “funeral.” One such church was in the community of Webster, Wis., which at that time had two stores, a tavern, a restaurant, and a railroad depot. The white-framed building that had housed the Swedish Baptist church had been moved into town from a
country site. Now it was all boarded up, and obviously, no services were being held. When Dad found it, he stopped his Star coupe and trailer— the one that carried his “Gospel Tent” and his assistant. I. Cedric Peterson looked at the building and blurted out, “This will be a tough one!” The two men got out of the car and walked around the dilapidated and deserted building; a rear door was open, so they entered. Bats and birds scurried for cover as their habitat was disturbed. The men’s shoes made footprints on the dusty floor. Exiting the church, they approached people on the street, asking if they knew who could tell them something about the building. They were directed to a widow and another family in town. Dad and Peterson found the folk and explained their mission to commemorate the passing of the church. Both families endorsed their suggestion; the widow, many years Dad’s senior, invited them to share her home and table during their visit and mentioned two other families who lived on remote farms and who had been part of the congregation. Dad and Peterson visited, and they, too, agreed that there should be a funeral for their church. From there, by word of mouth, news of the event began to spread.
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Bethel to Host National Conference on Pietism From intellectual inquiry to spiritual practice to social reform, pietism has exerted an enormous influence on various forms of Christianity and also on Western culture. “The Pietist Impulse in Christianity,” a conference to be held March 19-21, 2009, at Bethel University, will give scholars from all traditions an opportunity to explore the many dimensions of the pietist heritage, with a view to understanding its ongoing relevance to contemporary problems and questions across disciplines. Conference speakers will include theologian and church historian Donald Dayton, author of Discovering an Evangelical Heritage; Shirley Mullen, president of Houghton College, and Roger Olson, author of 20th Century Theology: God and the World in a Transitional Age, and professor of theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University. The conference is co-sponsored by the Baptist General Conference History Center, Bethel University, and the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts. For more information or to register for the conference, visit the website at: pietist.bethel.edu. At 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 21, an open session in Benson Great Hall will feature Roger Olson of Truett Theological Seminary (Texas) speaking on “Pietism: Myths and Realities.” Several Christian artists will also perform. The public is invited at no charge.
continued from page 3 The next day, farmers helped raise Dad’s tent on property next to the church. A funeral service was planned for Sunday evening; one family volunteered a pump organ and their daughter to play it. Benches were made from cement blocks and farm planks. At the Sunday evening service, some people committed themselves to the Lord. Dad decided to announce another
Present Church Building
service to be held on Monday night. When Dad got up the next morning, he found the tent flattened. Investigating, he met a local man who told him, “If you erect this tent again, it’ll be in shreds the next morning.” Drawing on divine guidance, Dad responded, “God will take care of it.” At the service the next evening, even more people attended than the previous night, and there was no mischief except they discovered the pump organ was filled with water. When the organist began to play, all that was heard was, “Splash, splash.” The service was stopped in order to remove the water. “It sounded better after that,” Dad related. The meetings continued through the week with souls being saved and backsliders recalled to their faith. During the daytime hours, Dad and Peterson began taking the boards off the church windows to
let fresh air in, evicted the bats and birds, repaired the furniture, and cleaned up the interior as well as the exterior of the church building. They planned a regular worship service in the church building for the next Sunday. People who attended found themselves filled with joy and thankfulness. Revival was stirring in the old Swedish church! Dad heard that a clerk at a nearby drugstore was a graduate of Moody Bible Institute and taught Sunday school in another church; the clerk kept inviting people to the Baptist fellowship until the store manager fired him. Dad asked the man to fill the pulpit on Sundays when he couldn’t be present. Later, the church invited this man to be their pastor—and he stayed about 25 years! Sixty years or so later, Dad had retired and was living at Grandview Home in Cambridge, Minn. He often mentioned how much he would like to go back to Wisconsin and see some of the places where he had ministered. I finally found a weekend when we could visit Prentice, where we had lived when Dad was state missionary. From there, we made stops at Spirit, Ogema, Phillips, Winter, Falun, and Wood Lake—at each place he had a refreshing story to tell. Finally we came to Webster. Dad got out of the car, walked along a concrete sidewalk to enter a beautiful brick building, and there began to shed tears. We were shown 4
through the main building and also an addition to the church that had found new life so many years before. It was and is a thriving work today. I think Dad wept with joy all the way home, remembering the time he went to conduct a funeral but ended up witnessing a resurrection!
Bethel and BGC History is online! Now you can view some of the most important documents of Baptist General Conference and Bethel University history online by accessing either of the following web addresses. So far, we have five documents available in this online format. Many historic pictures of the early Baptist General Conference churches are also available on these websites: For BGC’s history: content.clic.edu/cdm4/browse. php?CISOROOT=/bapgecoco The archive includes: Centenary History by Adolf Olson (the history of the BGC from 1852-1952) Fifteen Eventful Years by Martin Erikson and David Guston For Bethel University history, visit: content.clic.edu/cdm4/browse. php?CISOROOT=/beunhisco Available for access: Seventy Five Years by Adolf Olson and Virgil Olson Missionsskolan by Norris Magnuson “Persevere, Lasare,” Clarion, by G. William Carlson and Diana Magnuson Please Note: We will soon have a link to these addresses on the BGC archive site at bethel.edu/bgcarchives.
continued from page 2 Seventy years ago, the Swedish Baptist General Conference dropped the word “Swedish” from its title to become the Baptist General Conference. Within a few years, the Swedish language had been lost as the language of worship in the churches. Leaders began to rise in the conference who had little or no Swedish heritage. Today, there exists a wide variety of national, ethnic churches listed in the membership of the BGC—Filipino-American churches, African American churches, Vietnamese churches, Native American churches, Chinese churches, Japanese churches, Haitian churches, and Latin/ Hispanic churches. This Baptist General Conference fellowship has expanded into 14 dis-
tricts across the United States, and in every district church growth has been phenomenal. One hundred and fifty missionaries and international servants are active in Central America; South America; Southeast Asia; China; India; Arab-speaking nations; and North, East, and West African nations. In addition to these missionaries, there are many others supported by BGC churches who are serving through parachurch and interdenominational mission agencies. Yet with all the rapid changes taking place in the BGC, the importance of being “Baptist” should not be forgotten. Converge Worldwide has an informational webpage about the BGC that features the 400th Anniversary of the Baptist beginnings in 1609. Churches are encouraged to
Contributions of Conference from Centenary History by Adolf Olson, Baptists (Taken Baptist Conference Press, 1952)
obtain bulletin inserts that relate stories about famous Baptists and of important events in Baptist history. There is also a written and pictorial history of the Baptist General Conference available at www.scene3.org/content/ view/8060/68/. Through the past four centuries, Baptists have struggled and suffered, but have remained true to the principles identifying them as Baptists. The time has come to renew not only the name “Baptist,” but also to regain our understanding of the historic principles for which we as a group of believers have suffered harassment, imprisonment, beatings, banishment, and sometimes, death. The story of our Baptist history is truly a great heritage.
and responsibility we have to tell the story of Jesus to all nations—these are the four red strands that run throughout the history of Swedish Baptists in America during the course of “A Century of God’s Grace!” May a merciful and kind God lead His people to even greater victories in coming years.
First, the Swedish Baptists of America, as descendants of the “Lasare” Pietists of Sweden, have made the Bible the only and supreme authority in faith and practice. Into whatever city, or hamlet, or rural community in America Swedish Baptists have gone, they have planted the Word of God. Second, Swedish Baptists in their religious purposes have always aimed at higher goals than the making of mere church members. The great doctrine of the new birth received a central emphasis in all their teaching. “My friend, are you born again?” was the constant, repeated question. Third, the Swedish Baptists have held a firm conviction regarding the absolute necessity of a holy walk and a life separated from the sinful ways of the world. Fourth, Swedish Baptists have endeavored faithfully to carry out the Master’s great commission: “Go ye therefore and make disciples among all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). Their sons and daughters, in great numbers, have continued to go to the ends of the earth to point the lost to the Lamb of God. In conclusion, the Bible at the center as the eternally sure and dependable Word of God; the message of redeeming grace and deliverance from the guilt and power of sin by means of the new birth; the glorious possibility of a consecrated and Spirit-filled life; and the privilege
What Makes Baptists Distinct? (Taken from My Church by Gordon G. Johnson, Harvest Publications, 1957)
1. The New Testament is the sole and sufficient rule of faith and function. We believe the entire Bible to be the inspired, written revelation of God, but it is the New Testament that gives us the authority for faith and activity in the church. 2. It is the privilege of each individual to have direct access to God through Jesus Christ. This is known as the universal priesthood of believers. 3. The church and state are to be completely separate in their respective fields. 4. The church’s government is a simple, democratic form. A democratic church government is called the congregational form. This means each member in a Baptist church has as much authority as any other member, including the pastor. 5. Baptism is for believers only, and accomplished only by immersion. The qualification for baptism is not a matter of age but of faith. Baptism follows trusting in the Lordship of Christ. 6. Church membership is for the regenerate (i.e., “spiritually reborn”) only. An unregenerate church membership soon leads to a weakened church, with the possibility of ungodly practices. 7. Jesus Christ is the supreme Head of the Church. 8. The evangelization of the world is our task.
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