The Bethlehem Story

The story of Bethlehem is the story of a church that has always been a growing congregation. Bethlehem was organized in 1908 by a group of Lutheran people of Norwegian background. Thanks to the hospitality of the people in the German Lutheran Church (Holy Cross), they were able to worship in their building on Sunday afternoons for the first year of Bethlehem's life.

The Building on Fifth Avenue

In 1909, this growing infant congregation purchased a church building at 375 Fifth Avenue South, near downtown St. Cloud. It had been vacated by    Congregational group 12 years earlier. As the young congregation continued to grow, they made changes in their new building to meet their needs. They put a basement under it for education and fellowship purposes, and they later expanded the main floor of the church. The early pastors actually lived in the back part of the church building. The improvement to, and much refurbishing of, the building continued as the years went by. In 1928, the congregation voted to have all services in English, in an attempt to reach out to students at the "teachers college". In the 1930's, as the congregation began to outgrow its worship space, they moved to two Sunday morning worship services.

In time, it became obvious that the church on Fifth Avenue South could not meet the needs of a growing Bethlehem. In early 1946, the officers of the congregation were authorized to purchase a building site on the corner of Fourth Avenue South and Ramsey Place. Building and Finance Committees were also organized that year. The growing congregation would move one block to a second church home.

The Church Building on Fourth Avenue

    The late forties was a time of much growth and an expanded ministry at Bethlehem as money was raised and plans were made for the new church building. On May 25,1952, the ground was broken for the new building at the corner of Fourth Avenue South and Ramsey Place. The new church was dedicated on July 26,1953. This building brought even more growth for the congregation. Within one year of the dedication, the congregation again moved to two worship services each Sunday. By 1958, and the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of the church, the baptized membership totaled over 1300, and there were almost 900 confirmed members.

    The continued growth of Bethlehem made it necessary to call a second pastor to the staff in 1961. In 1965, 12 years after building the new church, a large two-story educational wing was added. That is the same year the Bethlehem Pre-School was inaugurated. In 1968, Bethlehem celebrated its sixtieth anniversary with over 1900 baptized members and almost 1300 confirmed members.

    As Bethlehem moved past the 2000 member mark, a third pastor was added to the staff in 1973. A third Sunday worship service was added. As membership moved closer to 3000 in the mid-eighties, so did frustration with the available parking and educational space. The Kennedy home, adjacent to the southeast part of Bethlehem's property, was purchased in 1987 in an attempt to alleviate space needs. It was named the Luther House. The following year a Strategic Planning Committee was named to do a thorough study of Bethlehem's ministry. This committee did an exhaustive study of our church and its options for the future. In 1989, acting on the Strategic Planning Committee's recommendation, the congregation voted to proceed with plans for relocation. There was a third church building in Bethlehem's future.

Bethlehem's New Church Home

The decision to relocate the congregation has led Bethlehem on a journey that has involved many special tasks and challenges. These have included the purchase of over 30 acres for the new building in 1990, a first major building fund drive in 1991, the selection of Hammel, Green and Abrahamson to be the architect for the new church building, a multitude of meetings for the Executive Building Committee and the Design and Construction Committee, the formulating of an agreement with the ELCA Division for Outreach to enter a partnership in helping fund an outreach coordinator for Bethlehem, the sale of the old church building and the Luther House, groundbreaking on November 6,1994, a second major building fund drive in 1995, and finally the first services in the new church building on the weekend of February 17 and 18, 1996.

The building is now dedicated to the glory of God with a firm commitment to be faithful in reaching out to the community with the gospel of Jesus. Bethlehem's membership now included over 3000 baptized members and about 2150 confirmed members. Today, Bethlehem celebrates almost 90 years of history, and excitedly looks forward to a future of expanding ministry and continuing growth.