• Swedish Baptist Beginnings in St. Paul -- by Shirley Olseen
• Lessons in BGC History: Formation of Our Own Missions Program -- by Maurice Lawson
• The Story Behind "The Baptists"
• Idea Man of History Center, Emmett Johnson, Dies
• Wanted: Information on Immigrant Pastors

Swedish Baptist Beginnings in St. Paul

by Shirley Olseen

In 1839, a Catholic bishop arrived at the remote military outpost of Fort Snelling and, with his companion, settled near the Mississippi River. The two were hoping to start a new church in this location, so they built a log cabin and a chapel and called the new settlement St. Paul. Immigrants began arriving, the little village grew, and many small congregations began to form. Many of the Swedes settled in an area near the river that came to be known as Swede Hollow. As their situation improved, the new inhabitants moved up the hill to what is now the East Side of St. Paul. A young woman named Harriet Bishop began the area's first school in 1847 and then the first Baptist mission in 1849.

Swedish Baptist immigrants came to America looking for religious freedom from the State Church of Sweden (Lutheran), but conflict often rose between these Swedish Baptists and the Swedish Lutherans in Minnesota. This conflict between the two groups created tension and suspicion that lasted for years.

Kittson Street Chapel

In 1873, 15 years after Minnesota became a state, a small group of Swedish Baptists began meeting in the home of a carpenter named O.S. Lindberg. Soon attendance outgrew his home, so the American Baptist church invited them to use their building until the small congregation could find a place of their own.

That same year, John Ongman, an energetic evangelist and organizer came from Sweden to St. Paul. He organized the Swedish Baptist believers into the First Swedish Baptist Church of St. Paul and became their first pastor. Since few members of the church had a trade or profession, money to support the pastor and building was a serious problem. The larger American Baptist church was able to frequently help the little group with money for salary and building projects.

Rev. John Ongman

Ongman was a dynamic and enthusiastic pastor, but he was also restless. After two years, he resigned and went to Chicago, but from there he raised enough money to help the St. Paul group build a small chapel.

During the next six years, the church was led for short periods by K.A. Ostergren, A.B. Orgen, and A.B. Nordberg. The congregation continued to grow, and with more financial help from the American Baptists, they built an addition to their chapel.

The church appealed to John Ongman to return, and when he did, a period of significant progress began. In 1882, a church building at the corner of Burr and Collins was finished at a cost of $6,000. Until this time, although its members were all Swedish immigrants, services were held in English, probably due to the close connection with the American Baptist Church. However, in 1882 the members petitioned to worship in Swedish, and that remained the primary language until the church slowly became bilingual around 1913.

Although the church had grown to 251 members by 1883, Ongman left again to return to Chicago. A few years later, in 1887, the church asked Ongman to return for the third time. He accepted and led the church in a period of great activity and progress, enlisting members to start Sunday schools in several locations. Revival swept through the community and membership increased greatly. In 1890 Ongman resigned for the third and final time and accepted a call to a church in Sweden, where he spent the remainder of his life.

Trinity Baptist Chruch

The First Swedish Baptist Church of St. Paul moved six times and changed its name three times. Now known as Trinity Baptist Church of Maplewood, it has remained a visionary, missions-minded congregation dedicated to sponsoring new churches and encouraging, inspiring, and supporting many missionaries.

The congregation is currently adapting to its changing surroundings, becoming a multiracial congregation, and developing a passion for missions in its own neighborhood and around the world. The same small church that began with only a handful of members in 1873 has confronted challenges since its founding, but continues to adapt to the ever-changing world as it carries out the work that others began.

Lessons in BGC History: Formation of Our Own Missions Program

by Maurice Lawson

Since the beginning of the Baptist General Conference more than 100 years ago, there have been many struggles and differences of opinion that have threatened to divide us. Thanks to God and His Spirit among us, none have succeeded. In the coming issues of Trail Markers, we will review some of these struggles. This one deals with the forming of our own missions program. Before l944, all BGC missionaries had worked under the auspices of the Northern Baptist Convention.

It was July of 1944 and time for the annual meeting of our conference at the fairgrounds in St. Paul. I was in my fourth year as a full-time pastor and was excited because this was the year for the BIG decision. We were going to cut our ties with the Northern Baptist Convention, remove the word "Swedish" from our name, and create our own foreign missionary board. We would be set free to be servants of God in all of the world.
The groundwork had been laid, and our churches supported us in our vision. We had made our purpose known through the Standard, our BGC publication, and were sure the Conference would vote in agreement. But things did not go quite as we had expected.

The moderator called the conference session to order, even though the delegates had not yet all assembled. The first of several recommendations was presented for approval, and to our astonishment, it said that our missions program would continue as it had, as a part of the Northern Baptist Convention. The motion was made and approved by the delegates present, and the moderator went on to the second recommendation. But even though the motion had passed already that day, those who disagreed with the actions of the morning gathered at noon in the seminary chapel across the street and decided to insist that the matter be reconsidered at the afternoon session. This time the delegates, who now numbered many more than at the morning session, voted for the change.

When the afternoon sessions ended, a friend and I were walking out of the meeting behind a small group of Conference leaders who had been responsible for the early morning vote to retain the status quo. We heard one of the leaders say, "Those kids have no idea what they are talking about, of what would be involved in starting our own foreign missions program."

"Those kids." The person who spoke and those with him didn't really know who "those kids" were. But I knew. "Those kids" were part of the new generation of pastors who were the future leaders of our conference. They had been my fellow students at Bethel Seminary. They were children of the Great Depression. They were veterans of war. They knew the world was lost and that they had been called to be messengers of hope and salvation to the four corners of the world. And they were determined to succeed with this new and challenging adventure. They were people like Maurice Wessman, Edward Nelson, Ned Holmgren, Wilbur Sorley, David Guston, Virgil Olson, Carl Lundquist, Aymond Anderson, Orville Johnson, Bill Hagstrom, Clifford Dickau, Alrik Blomquist, Bruce Fleming, Jack Bergeson, Glen Swanson, and Donald Peterson.

" Those kids," the new generation of conference leaders, had taken charge.

Have you ever wondered what the story is behind the famous Swedish painting "The Baptists" by Baron Gustaf Cederstrom?

Prints of this famous painting are quite common in the homes of many Baptists in Sweden and many older members of the Baptist General Conference, and a large rendition of this famous work of art even hangs in the library of Bethel Seminary in St. Paul. The painting symbolizes the early history of Baptists in Sweden and the persecution they faced in the 19th century from the State Church of Sweden (Lutheran).

The painting, done in 1887, was given to Betelseminariet in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1938, where it hung in the school chapel. It was a gift of architect Karl Solberg of Gothenberg, and was received with solemn dedication. The original work was 80" by 68".

The artist, Baron Gustaf Cederstrom, was born on April 12, 1845. He spent most of his childhood on the Krusenberg estate south of Uppsala with his mother, a well-educated and deeply religious woman. He spent a few years of his life as an officer in the military, but at the age of 25 he resigned to study art in Paris. Eventually, he became a professor in the Art Academy in Stockholm.

Cederstrom witnessed a baptismal service on Midsummer night (June 21) of 1886, and was deeply moved by the experience. He wanted to understand exactly what it meant to be baptized, so he visited the pastor of the Uppsala Baptist Church. The pastor, after enacting the rite of baptism in a dry baptistery, suggested that Cederstrom have a real baptismal experience of immersion. "Yes, perhaps I ought," replied Cederstrom, "for now I am of that opinion, after my previous misunderstanding."

Cederstrom chose a bay of Lake Malaren, not far from his childhood home, for the setting of his painting, with the midsummer night sky in the background. Cederstrom described his painting like this: "The Baptists are gathered for worship. Under a willow tree sits a young girl dressed in white and with folded hands. Down below the old fisherman Ekberg, among the trees, are groups of believers. One woman is dressed in a baptismal garment. In the center of the picture there is a woman (Thilda Dahlgren) on her knees in prayer. On the shore, a man and two women dressed for their baptisms are ready to go out into the water. The minister, who is standing knee-deep in water, is ready to baptize a believer."

According to Carola Cederstrom, the artist's daughter, the primary motif of her father's famous painting was "faithfulness to a conviction that requires great courage to follow." In this powerful and emotional work, he tried to depict that courage and conviction. Many people have thus been inspired and encouraged by the painting "The Baptists."

Color copies of this painting in postcard size may be purchased for $1 each, and a full color lithograph copy is available for $15. Shipping is additional for each size. E-mail orders to Tania at tania@baptist.se.

Idea Man of History Center, Emmett Johnson, Dies

The Rev. Emmett Johnson, longtime defender of the gospel and of Baptists, went to be with his Savior on September 7 after a long battle with cancer. He was 73. A vibrant idea member of the Steering Committee of the Friends of the Baptist General Conference History Center, Johnson was still meeting with the committee and giving his usual flood of ideas for future projects until a few weeks before his death.

Johnson, a Bethel Seminary graduate, served as pastor of Elim Baptist Church in Minneapolis before serving as executive minister of the Minnesota Baptist Conference from 1969 to 1978. He later became director of evangelism for the American Baptists and served as a vice president of the Baptist World Alliance. He led in the building of the Conference Center in Arden Hills and the Shalom House retreat center at Trout Lake Camp, as well as supervised the moving of the historic Scandia Chapel to the Bethel Seminary campus.

Johnson is survived by his wife Nancy, son Keith, and stepsons Steve, Rob, and Scott Karo.

Wanted: Information on Immigrant Pastors