First Baptist Church in St. Paul began as Harriet Bishop’s Sunday School. Its name couldn’t be more appropriate because the church has the distinction of being the first Baptist church north of Iowa, from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.
The Baptist Home Mission Society appointed Rev. John Parsons to St. Paul February 8, 1849, one month before Congress officially recognized Minnesota Territory. Within six months of Parsons’ arrival, twelve people united to start a church.
When Timothy Cressey moved to Minnesota from Connecticut in 1852, he became pastor of First Baptist. Within two years of his arrival, church membership tripled. Part of the increase in attendance is certainly attributed to Cressey’s ministry, but the reader must realize that more and more people were settling in Minnesota. Willis A. Gorman, Minnesota’s territorial governor, was a regular attender at First Baptist.
A religious revival sweeping the nation in the 1850s brought 66 new people into the membership. Two-thirds of the new members were baptized in the river during ten-degree below zero weather.
First Baptist’s original building was erected on “Baptist Hill,” where Mears Park sits in downtown St. Paul today. The hill was graded down in 1857, leaving the little church 20 feet above the area. After that property was sold, a new building was erected at the Wacouta Street location.
By the early 1870s, membership had reached 300, and it was time to build again. The St. Paul Pioneer Press described the building that opened May 31, 1875, as “the finest piece of architecture west of Chicago.” It was the largest religious building in St. Paul and housed the most costly and one of the best pipe organs in the country.
From the beginning, 1st Baptist had a heart for missions. Harriet Bishop nicknamed the church a “religious Forwarding House” because of the churches it helped start. Churches still in existence today include Pilgrim Baptist, 1st Swedish (Trinity), Oakdale Community, and Immanuel Baptist.
Today 1st Baptist, under the American Baptist Convention, has many outreaches, but the ministry begun 10 years ago among the Karen immigrants from eastern Burma is unique. The majority of these people are believers as a direct result of Adoniram Judson’s pioneer missionary work in their country. When they arrive in St. Paul, they look for a Baptist church to worship.
Burmese people have three church options, all related to 1st Baptist. One congregation has its own building, a second, led by a 1st Baptist associate pastor, meets in its building at 12:30. A third meets at 4:30 at the church and is working toward organizing its own congregation.
The church website identifies 1st Baptist Church of downtown St. Paul as “a diverse congregation called by God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, grounded in Holy Scripture, who believe in and proclaim Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Ultimate Authority in the Church and Creation.”
Information taken from the church website: www.firstbaptiststpaul.org, a phone interview with Pastor William Englund, who has been at 1st Baptist over 20 years, and David Beckman’s A History of the Minnesota Baptist Convention.
