           
|
Contents:
Cousins: Betelseminariet Sweden & Bethel Seminary St. Paulby Miriam Erickson Just as many U.S. citizens of Swedish descent have relatives living in Sweden, so too do some organizations. An example is Bethel Seminary and the Baptist General Conference. Five years before Bethel Seminary began in Chicago (l871), Betelseminariet had begun in Stockholm. One of the first teachers in the Stockholm school, J. S. Edgren, came to the United States and began Bethel Seminary as a department of what later became the University of Chicago. About the same time that the Swedish Baptist churches began to form associations in the United States, Baptists in Sweden were following suit.  The buildings of Örebro Missionskola are now located across from a university and serve three small denominations in Sweden. Gustaf Palmquist, Anders Wiberg, J. A. Edgren, and F.O. Nilsson were instrumental in the origins of the seminaries and the associations in both countries. It all started with a period of harsh treatment of Baptists by the State (Lutheran) Church of Sweden. The Baptists emphasized personal Bible study and met in small groups to learn God’s word. An early school for colporteurs (traveling distributors and sellers of Bibles) was begun in 1861 in Sweden by Gustaf Palmquist and his brother Per. Five years later, in 1866, the Baptists in Sweden voted to establish a full-fledged seminary to be called Svenska Betelseminariet. Edgren, who was well-educated, was among the first “staff of masters” at the Swedish seminary. The school first met in the rooms of the Bethel Baptist Church in Stockholm, but by 1883, Betelseminariet had its own building in the center of Stockholm, complete with classrooms, rooms for students, and apartments for the teachers. Meanwhile, in 1870, Edgren came to the United States and began Bethel Seminary in 1871, the same year as the disastrous Chicago fire. Betelseminariet continued to meet in the Stockholm building for more than 80 years, until a new campus was constructed in Bromma, a suburb of Stockholm, in 1966. Bethel Seminary St. Paul had moved to its new Arden Hills campus the previous year. As in America, the Swedes had ideas of building other schools as well as a seminary. Knut Oskar Broady, who was the first manager of Betelseminariet, resigned his post in 1906 with the intention of starting a Swedish Baptist secondary school. This was just a year after the Swedish Baptists in St. Paul had begun Bethel Academy. However, though the Baptists in Sweden voted for the plan in 1907, the school failed to materialize. In 1921, however, a Swedish Baptist high school was begun in Sjövik, in the southern part of the province of Dalecarlia. Örebro Missionskola Orebro Missionskola met in downtown Orebro from 1913 until recent years A conflict among Baptists in Sweden took place in the late 1800s. John Ongman had been a leader among Swedish Baptists both in Sweden and in America. A graduate of Edgren’s seminary in Chicago, he was the founding pastor of the First Swedish Baptist Church in St. Paul, Minn. (now Trinity), and also pastored First Swedish Baptist Church in Chicago (later Addison Street and now Christ’s Church of Wrigleyville). When Ongman returned to Sweden in the late 1880s, he became pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Örebro. But he was at odds with some in the church from the beginning of his ministry there. He had experienced a spiritual crisis and had emerged with a deepened belief in the work of the Holy Spirit and with a more charismatic orientation. He also had a passion for missions that was more than some in the Örebro congregation wished to support. In 1892, Ongman organized the Inland and Foreign Missions circle among those in the church who shared his beliefs and asked them to support a Bible Institute in Örebro that he was launching. The rift within the church grew larger between those who supported Ongman and those who did not. Ongman later said, “Before we realized what was happening, we had pushed the boat so far from land that we could not return.” In 1897, a group of nearly 100 people left the Bethel church in Örebro and formed a new congregation named Filadelfia, with Ongman as its minister. The congregation continued its participation in the national Baptist Union, but the separation from the larger group widened. In the beginning, Ongman’s Bible institute did not directly compete with Betelseminariet in Stockholm. But in 1908, the Örebro school became a seminary, called Örebro Missionskola. It met in the Filadelfia church until acquiring its own building in 1913. In 1937, the churches that supported the Örebro seminary broke organizationally with the Baptist Union to form a new conference, called the Örebro Missionsforening. Today the Örebro seminary continues. The Örebro conference has merged with two other groups in what is now called the Evangelical Free Church (not to be confused with the Evangelical Free Church in America). Betelseminariet has now merged with the Mission Covenant seminary. Now called Teologiska Högskolan Stockholm, the school meets on the former Betelseminariet campus in Bromma. In addition to the seminary, the school includes a church music department, laymen’s training institute, a dialog center, and a Baptist exhibition and museum as well as a Bible exhibition and the archives of the Baptist Union.
Bethel Seminary St. Paul has maintained positive relationships with both theological schools in Sweden; students from both Swedish schools have studied at Bethel in the U.S., and seminary professors from Bethel have traveled to Sweden to teach at both schools. Thus, these “school cousins” are maintaining their family ties—even through several generations—fueled by spiritual oneness in Christ.
Heading to Sweden?
When visiting Sweden, plan a stop at some of the sites connected to Baptist history and the schools mentioned in the “Cousins” article found above. For a full list of historic sites, go to the BGC Archives website at www.bethel.edu/bgcarchives/tour. Click on “Sweden” for a list of Swedish landmarks. Some of the highlights include:
Other sites of interest may include:
Information on how to get to these sites and what can be seen there is in the Bethel archives listing online. Turnwall’s Service Sidelined by Illness
Turnwall had a passion for the stories of the work of God in the BGC. He was convinced that the constituency of the BGC needed to understand and appreciate its own roots, especially since so many in our churches today may have little knowledge of the history and the distinctives that have characterized BGC ministries. His leadership will be missed. Because of Turnwall’s illness, Bethel President George Brushaber has asked James Spickelmier to assume the chairmanship of the steering committee. Spickelmier is Bethel’s associate vice president for development and has been active on the committee since its inception. He will also work as the contact between the president’s office and Diana Magnuson, History Center archivist. Spickelmier can be reached with questions or suggestions at 651.635.8054 or j-spickelmier@bethel.edu. Turnwall is now a resident at Presbyterian Homes (Lake Johanna, Minn.), still fighting cancer. His wife, Marjorie, is also in the same nursing home with Alzheimer’s disease; both are in need of continued prayer. Volunteer
Help Wanted:
|
The Rev. Richard Turnwall, former Baptist General Conference pastor
and executive director of the Minnesota Baptist Conference, served
for many years as the officially appointed BGC historian. From
2001 to 2007, he chaired the steering committee for the Friends
of the BGC History Center. Earlier this year, due to cancer and
the surgery and treatment that followed, Turnwall was unable to
continue in these roles.