Our strategy is that we aim to make disciples whose lives are devoted to five key aspects of obedience to Jesus Christ that can be summed up in these five words: Worship, Belong, Grow, Serve, and Go.

Worship
Since God, by his grace, has given us new life to see his glory and know him through faith in Christ, let us devote ourselves to joyfully worship him in all of life, individually and corporately.

Belong
Since God has chosen us and united us by faith into one body in Christ, let us devote ourselves to love one another in covenant community.

Grow
Since God has given us his Spirit to understand the Scriptures, let us devote ourselves to grow in the grace and knowledge of God, that we might mature in Christlikeness.

Serve
Since Christ came to serve and lay down his life for us in love, let us, enabled by his grace, devote ourselves to serving one another in sacrificial love.

Go
Since the Lord Jesus Christ has commissioned us to make disciples, let us, in confident reliance on his enabling presence, devote ourselves as a church to go in compassion to the peoples in our neighborhoods and the nations.

1. Having been led, as we believe, by the Spirit of God, to receive Jesus Christ as the Lord, Savior, and, supreme Treasure of our lives, and, on the profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we do now, in the presence of God, angels and this assembly, most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another as one body in Christ.
2. We engage, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love, to strive for the advancement of this church in knowledge, holiness and peace; to promote its spirituality and fruitfulness; to sustain its worship, ordinances, and discipline; to welcome, and test biblically, instruction from the Scriptures by the elders of the church which accords with the Elder Affirmation of Faith, seeking to grow toward biblical unity in the truth; to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel through all nations.
3. We also engage to maintain family and personal devotions; to educate our children in the Christian faith; to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances; to walk circumspectly in the world; to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements, and exemplary in our deportment, to avoid all tattling, backbiting and excessive anger; to seek God’s help in abstaining from all drugs, food, drink, and practices which bring unwarranted harm to the body or jeopardize our own or another’s faith.
4. We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love; to remember one another in prayer; to aid one another in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy in speech; to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay.
5. We moreover engage that when we remove from this place, we will, if possible, unite with a like-minded church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant.
6. We acknowledge that implicit within this covenant is the consent to be governed by the Relational Commitments* that have been officially adopted by the church and that address peacemaking and reconciliation, accountability and church discipline, marriage and divorce, counseling and confidentiality, and the protection of our children.

—Amended December 14, 2008

As of our Annual Meeting on December 14, 2008, the Bethlehem Relational Commitments are now part of our membership expectations and in the constitution and church covenant by reference. (Read John Piper's January 14, 2009, article on the Relational Commitments.)

These commitments are intended to help us define and mutually accept the way that we will relate to one another, especially concerning …

• peacemaking and reconciliation
• marriage and divorce
• protecting children from abuse
• counseling and confidentiality
• mutual accountability

God’s Sustaining Grace Since 1871

Bethlehem Baptist Church was organized in 1871 as the First Swedish Baptist Church of Minneapolis with 22 charter members. During the 1880s, First Swedish Baptist Church bought a building at 8th Street & 13th Avenue, where we’ve been for more than a century. In 1893, bi-monthly services in English were added. It wasn’t until the mid-1930s that the Swedish services were discontinued. By the 1940s, our membership had filled the building.

Expansion

We expanded our education space in 1955 and built a new sanctuary in 1991. In 2003, the Education for Exultation campaign funded the further expansion of education space.

Multiple Campuses

In September 2002, more than 900 of our members and regular attendees began to worship on Sunday mornings at Northwestern College. Believing that multiple campuses will yield more long-term effectiveness than the centralized enlargement of one Downtown Campus, we eventually embraced the vision of a multi-site church. Then in 2022, the elders, desiring to strengthen the core of Bethlehem, felt led by the Holy Spirit to pursue a transition from one multicampus church to three independent churches, believing this transition would lead to stronger churches, more focused ministry, and greater gospel spreading for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.

Treasuring Christ Together

In 2004, we formalized the Treasuring Christ Together vision. TCT was a multiplying movement of campuses, new churches, and a Global Diaconate (funds and teams to relieve suffering around the world).

By Fall 2005, we opened a permanent North Campus in Mounds View. In September 2006, we also began to hold worship services at a South Site, meeting for five years at Burnsville High School and then moving to Lakeville South High School as more space was needed. In the Fall 2018, we opened a permanent South Campus in Lakeville. On October 16, 2022, the congregation voted to become three separate churches. On December 1, 2022, the South Campus became South Cities Church.

The TCT vision also resulted in 14 church plants (2003–2014).

Missions and Outreach

Over the last century, we’ve been involved in various stages of starting other churches (see a comprehensive list) of Bethlehem’s church plant work since our beginning in 1871. Striving to be a seedbed for missions and outreach, Bethlehem continues to develop and encourage new churches in the United States and in other countries.

Historical Records

The Minnesota Historical Society has a large inventory of our historical documents. View their collection.