Trail Markers A Newsletter of The History Center
February 2011
Volume 10, No. 2
The Swedes are Coming! Converge Worldwide has begun a new Baltic Initiative to bring the gospel back into the country of our origin and into other nearby Baltic countries. In most of these countries, less than 2% of the people hold evangelical beliefs. We have sought partners in these countries to minister with us, and some of those partners are coming to Minnesota this month. Pastor John van Dinther and his team will be in Minnesota the last weekend in February. We will hold a Friends of the History Center event on February 26 to meet our Swedish friends and learn about the history and the future of the gospel in Sweden (see details on p. 1). •
The first adult baptisms of Baptist believers in Sweden took place at Vallersvik on September 21, 1848. Small churches were soon forming in homes across Sweden in the midst of strong persecution from the state church. Three years later, F.O. Nilsson was banished from Sweden for being a leader in the small Swedish Baptist movement. Soon Nilsson and other Swedish Baptist believers immigrated to America to seek religious freedom. Nilsson, Gustaf Palmquist, and Anders Wiberg led in evangelization and the establishment of many of the early Swedish Baptist Churches in America and are considered the spiritual fathers of the work of the Baptist General Conference, now Converge Worldwide. As time went on, the Baptists found more freedom in Sweden and eventually established Betel Seminariet where Baptist pastors could be trained. Some from that school came to America and helped to form a Swedish seminary here, which has grown into what is now Bethel University. In Sweden, the group behind Betel Seminariet (The Baptist Union) eventually experienced a division, and a second fellowship, with a stronger emphasis on missions and the work of the Holy Spirit, was formed. A new school was founded—the Orebro Missionsskola. Today, evangelical faith in Sweden has fallen on hard times. Church attendance has dwindled. Swedish society has become very secular. Evangelical organizations have merged to stay alive. Betel Seminariet merged with the Covenant Seminary. The Orebro school and the fellowship behind it are now partners with the Free Church and some other small denominations. This is one of the few evangelical groups doing church planting and experiencing some growth today.
Meet Our Swedish Co-workers
Saturday, February 26, 9:15-11 a.m. Edinbrook Church: 4300 Edinbrook Parkway N., Brooklyn Park, Minn. You are cordially invited to join Friends of the History Center in welcoming a group of Swedish Christians who are working to spread the gospel in Sweden (where less than 2% of the people hold evangelical beliefs.) Coffee will be served at 9:15 a.m., and the program will start at 9:45. Our friends from Sweden will discuss the historic work of Orebromissionen, update us on evangelicalism in Sweden today, and provide music. There is no charge for this program. An offering will be taken to be divided between The History Center and the Baltic Initiative of Converge Worldwide. Please RSVP to Stephanie Reinders at 651.635.8053 or s-reinders@ bethel.edu. This event is jointly sponsored by Converge Worldwide Baltic Initiative, the Minnesota-Iowa Baptist Conference, and Friends of The History Center. 1
Historic Sites of the Hispanic Bible School (Seminario Biblico Hispano)
by Rob Boyd
Leadership in the burgeoning Hispanic churches was a major need in the decades of the 1960s and 70s. The Hispanic population in the U.S. was exploding, and churches were flourishing. Many young immigrants had come to Chicago—leaving their home countries, traditions, and customs—and finding Christ in the growing Baptist General Conference (BGC) Hispanic churches. Chicago was the destination for Hispanics from all areas of Latin America. Hispanics in New York were mainly Puerto Rican; in Florida they were Cuban; and those from Central America and Mexico were in all the states that bordered Mexico. But immigrants from all these areas were in Chicago because, if they were as yet “undocumented,” they were in a huge city that was safely far away from the U.S. borders. Spanish-speaking pastors, evangelists, and lay leaders were in short supply, and those trained in Latin America often had not yet adapted to U.S. culture. The idea of opening a Spanish language Bible School in Chicago was first brought to the BGC leadership by Ray Bakke, pastor of Fairfield Avenue Baptist Church on Chicago’s near north side. The first committee of directors consisted of Bakke; Hispanic pastors Eugenio Siwak and Eugenio Hanchuk; and two enthusiastic lay leaders of Swedish heritage who had learned Spanish, Albert Bergfalk and Violet Bergquist. All five attended the 1972 BGC annual meeting, where the opening of the school in Chicago was approved and the Home Missions Board accepted responsibility for this new ministry.
opened for classes on January 4, 1973. Classes were held in the windowless basement of the Iglesia Bautista Fe (Faith Baptist Church) where Eugenio Siwak was pastor. Thirty-five students took courses with eight teachers that first semester. The school’s name the first year was Seminario Evangelico Hispanoamericano (Hispanic American Evangelical Seminary), but the name as well as its location was soon changed. For the first four years, Bergquist and Hanchuk, from the committee of directors, served as part-time dean and director, and the school moved from Faith Baptist to North Avenue Baptist, and then to West Courtland Street in an apartment building owned by Fairfield Avenue Baptist Church. In 1977, the school moved back to its first location at Faith Baptist Church. Former BGC Argentina missionary Robert Boyd became the first full-time director of Hispanic Ministries and the Hispanic Bible School, a position he held until September 1993. Like the Spanish-speaking population it served, the HBS grew quickly in its formative years. In February 1979, a three-story former Danish funeral home was purchased as the school’s first permanent location. Located on Fullerton Avenue, a major Chicago boulevard just west of Kedzie Avenue, this beautiful brick building was transformed into a center filled with classrooms, offices, a library, apartments, a small bookstore, and a lovely chapel. This building was the school’s home for 18 years until 1997. It became the center for all interdenominational Hispanic evangelical ministries for the entire Chicago area. In 1993, Gabriel Gonzalez Camargo became the school’s director and did outstanding work, serving for
Beginning and locations
The Hispanic Bible School (HBS)
2
almost 10 years. During his tenure, the building on Fullerton Avenue was sold in 1997, and the school moved to a rented building on West Fullerton Avenue until a new permanent location was purchased in 2001 on West Grand Avenue. All the school’s locations have been in the same Hispanic population concentration on Chicago’s north side. Since June 2002, Marta Elena Polo Koehler has led the ministry in the dual role of academic dean and acting president (director).
Ministries
Today, enrollment at the HBS has reached a high of just over 200 students. During the 80s and 90s, enrollment varied between 150 and 175. Extension sites now vary from year to year as churches host classes in locations away from the main center. Cooperative ties, formed with Moody Bible Institute in the late 80s, were strengthened, and opportunities opened for extension of the Seminario’s teaching ministry in eastern Cuba and northern Mexico. At its Chicago location, the school serves a student body of diverse denominational and independent church backgrounds and offers leadership training that supplements the core curricula of Bible, theology, and other ministry courses. Students may also prepare for a high school equivalency exam (GED), acquire skills in a wellequipped computer lab, and connect with Christian counseling for their own help as well as instruction in counseling others. Marriage enrichment and family life workshops and retreats held in cooperation with greater Chicago’s evangelical churches have become a primary ministry of the Seminario. •
The Pious Rebel from Vendelsö by Thomas Dur Flackman
Swedish visitors to The History Center brought this copy of an article on F.O. Nilsson from the September 2010 issue of Vi Biographi, a secular biography magazine popular in Sweden. Lennart Bostrom, a Bethel Seminary alumnus and current faculty member at Orebro Missionsskola, translated the article. It is remarkable that a secular magazine would give such a full account of one of the early BGC evangelists, crediting him with being one of the leaders for democratic ideas in the nation of Sweden. Please note that the language in the excerpts from Nilsson’s diary and other historical texts has been somewhat modernized. The seaman Fredrik Olaus Nilsson in 1848 started the first Baptist church in Sweden. Writing the rules of the church, he included general and equal rights to vote on all church matters. This occurred 73 years before democracy became a reality in Sweden. F.O. Nilsson challenged both the ecclesiastical and the civil society—and he paid a high price for his stand. Baptism in Fredrik Olaus Nilsson the night was the start of non-governmental organizations in Sweden. It must have been terribly cold in the water. Protected by evening darkness, the small group marches through woods and proceeds down towards the shore. When they arrive, three of them suddenly change their minds; two are afraid of reprisals, the third is scared of the sea. Five stand firm in their decision. The pastor wades out until the waters reach to his waist. After him come the others. One by one they are lowered into the water, the symbol
will be no hierarchy between the of being buried with Jesus, in order members of the church, no person is to be raised up again, risen from the to be above the others, and is foldead, reborn. lowed by these words: “At the meetAt the beach stands Fredrik ings of the church, all matters, as far Olaus Nilsson, who the year before as possible, will be decided through had been baptized as an adult in the voting. When voting is done, each river Elbe in Germany. It is a tense member has equal votes and the decimoment for all of them. On one sion is done according to the number side jubilant joy—at last they can of votes. To such a decision the mimanifest what they believe in. On the nority is obliged to submit.” In other other side there is deep concern. They words: Equal voting rights for men are all aware that they in this moand women. No vote is worth more ment are committing a serious crime. than another. The principle of major“Konventikelplakatet” (the law ity rules. It is like a basic course in against religious gatherings without democracy. It will be 73 years before a priest) forbids religious gatherings these building blocks of common rule outside the church. It is still valid, become a reality in the whole country. and harsh punishment awaits those The Borekulla Confession is afwho defy it. firmed, and in this moment Sweden On September 21, 1848, five of non-governmental organizations is adults, one woman and four men, born, the unrelenting wind that will were baptized in Vallersvik in the change the basis for the whole counnorth of Halland. That was one of try. The small church celebrates the the first adult baptisms in Sweden. Lord’s supper at last. It is since long The officiator, pastor A.P. Förste, had past midnight when they separate. traveled from Copenhagen by way of Gothenburg. His intention was to sail the last distance to Vallersvik, Early years but because of no wind, he had to row Fredrik Olaus Nilsson was born instead—for 17 hours. July 28, 1809, on the island VenAfter the ceremony, the group delsö outside the coast of Halland. In walks about two kilometers (apthis same year, a new constitution is proximately 1.5 miles) to a small cottage in “Konventikelplakatet” Borekulla, where they A royal decree from 1726 that forbade and made punconstitute the first Bapishable religious gatherings (konventiklar) outside the church tist church in Sweden. building, the purpose of “Konventikelplakatet” was to guard Fredrik Olaus Nilsson “unity in religion.” The decree was abolished in 1858, but not is elected to deacon, before tens of thousands of Swedes had been fined or put in prison with responsibility to on water and bread because of offense against the decree. preach, baptize, and take leadership. The meeting has to take a position to the introduced in Sweden, a constitutional Borekulla Confession comprising law that, among other things, states 3,895 words. Written by Nilsson, it that the king should “force no one’s describes his view of the church. It is conscience or let anyone force, but mainly about religious matters, but protect each individual in his practice the passage about the inner life of of religion.” These are empty words, the church is most interesting. continued on p. 4 The confession rules that there 3
continued from p. 3 considering what will befall Fredrik Olaus Nilsson. But that is a long story. When Fredrik is 14 years old, he leaves his home to try to survive on his own. He can look back on a childhood that hardly can be described as happy. His mother, Katharina, dies when Fredrik is seven years old. He and his brothers live with their father Peter, who is an alcoholic, and at last they are placed under guardianship. The 14-year-old boy starts out
as a farmhand, later as apprentice to a shoemaker. Meanwhile he tries to educate himself as much as possible; he has little theoretical knowledge from home. In spring 1827 he becomes a sailor, 18 years old, and after a few years on a Swedish ship, he sails to America. Fredrik in his young days is not interested in religious matters and takes part in a “life of sin” without any guilty conscience. But during a terrible storm at sea, fear of death and final judgment awakens in
him, and a longing for salvation suddenly becomes acute. He becomes a diligent visitor at chapels for seamen and at last becomes fully confident in his faith. About the moment of salvation, he writes in his diary: “I was transferred into a peculiar mood. The feeling of peaceful bliss I experienced is hard to describe.” And somewhere here young Fredrik is transformed into F.O. Nilsson, a name that continued on p. 5
From the Iowa Farm to the Philippine Field A book review by Jim Spickelmier
Dick Varberg, veteran missionary with the Baptist General Conference in the Philippines, has written a superb account of the 40 years that he and his wife Eleanor served in Christian missions. From the Iowa Farm to the Philippine Field is lengthy, but so full of interesting stories that it reads quickly. The Varbergs began work in the Philippines in 1958, when the area they served did not have electricity or safe sources of water. They were pioneers in opening the whole Masbate territory to the gospel. Thankfully, Varberg was well-suited to pioneer work. Having grown up on an Iowa farm, he could fix machinery, build houses and chapels, and put things together with Band-Aids and chewing gum. The couple endured the heat, negotiated through the opposition of local Catholic priests, nearly drowned in their many outrigger canoe rides to other islands, and oversaw a church planting movement that resulted in more than 100 churches being founded in that region through their work and the work of their students. Varberg was probably not the easiest missionary for his local field council or home office to supervise. He was often thinking of new ideas and putting together new plans when others were still adjusting to what he
had already done. Virgil Olson, in the preface to the book, describes “a personality that is bold, willing to defend the faith… often sounding dogmatic on topics on which he had taken a stand.” For example, Varberg played a pivotal role “in opposition to the unified budget plan called the United Mission for Christ,” which was the standard practice for raising mission support in the BGC at that time. In this area, and in some others, he faced initial opposition to his ideas but eventually prevailed. I was deeply impressed by Varberg, his dedication, ingenuity, and hard work. And I was equally impressed with Eleanor. Near the end of the book, Varberg describes a trip they took to another part of the Philippines on a steamer because he thought airfare was too expensive. They had to sleep on plywood benches on the deck of the boat with no cover. In the middle of the night, they climbed down rope ladders into outrigger canoes and then waded through water to get to shore because the island did not have a proper pier. 4
They arrived on foot in a little village at 2:30 a.m. and had to wait till 4:30 a.m. to catch their bus. That bus broke down and they had to hail a Jeepney to get to their final destination. I’m impressed with a missionary wife who willingly weathered those circumstances and more all her life because of her commitment to Christ and to her mission together with her husband. I wish more of our missionaries would document personal accounts of their ministry as Varberg did in this book. Some might see that as self-serving, but many of us will not understand the sacrifices and commitment of our missionaries unless we can read reports like this. If you want to read an exciting story of how God used one of his chosen couples to serve Him in bringing the gospel to another part of the world, pick up a copy of Varberg’s book. Contact Harvest Publications in Arlington Heights (www.harvestbooks. org); call Dick at 651.917.1852; or drop him a letter at 1466 Como Ave., St. Paul, MN. Suggested price is $15 plus $5 shipping. He has also prepared a shorter book, available for $10, for those who want a condensed version. •
continued from p. 4 becomes well-known, despised, and esteemed—in Sweden and abroad.
Reborn
Everything goes well for reborn F.O. Nilsson in America, but soon he feels that he wants to spread the Word to his fellow countrymen, and in 1839 he returns to Sweden to become a barefoot preacher. He is doing this so well that he becomes enrolled as a missionary among seamen and a Bible distributor in and around Gothenburg. He is popular and diligent: he arranges Sunday schools for children, leads hundreds of adults to salvation—and makes them temperate at the same time, no small thing
in a Sweden that is on its way to drink itself to death. The year 1845 becomes decisive for Nilsson. He marries Ulrika Sofia Olsson – a woman we don’t know much about and who, unfortunately, gets a marginal place in this story – and he starts to question the doctrines of the Lutheran state church, the church that he has up until now been serving: – Can it be right that the church is governed by the state? – Is it reasonable that non-believers are allowed to participate in communion? – Is there really biblical support for child baptism? Nilsson becomes almost obsessed
Adult baptism: rebellion against a totalitarian government
The artist and baron Gustaf Cederström—most well-known for his painting of Karl XII’s burial parade—was one early summer evening in 1886 out walking around Lake Ekoln, south of Uppsala. He noticed a group of people who were about to perform a baptism of adults. Cederström was fascinated and decided to make a painting of the scene. He was very thorough, interviewed the pastor about the meaning of adult baptism, and even let himself be the object of a baptism without water to experience what it was like. The Baptists, which is the name of the painting, hangs today in the premises of Betel folkhögskola in Bromma. Even if the picture radiates a pious peacefulness, it does in fact document a rebellion against the totalitarian government of the day, not the least represented by the priests of the state church. (The sharp-eyed can see that the artist has painted himself in as a spectator amongst the trees.) 5
by the matter of baptism. He reads the Bible closely and does not find a word about baptism of infants, instead several accounts of how adults, after conscious reflection, become believers and are baptized by being lowered into water. The thought was immense: Was it possible that the mighty state church and all their priests had misinterpreted the words of the Bible about baptism? And if they were wrong in this issue, is it possible that they did err also in other issues? Nilsson started to study American writings that taught adult baptism and makes his decision. This is what he wrote in his diary in spring 1847: “I had now after two years of intense battle become convinced that child baptism is an invention of human beings, and that I was still unbaptized.” Now he decides that he wants to become a Baptist. But there is no one in Sweden who can baptize him. Nilsson hears about a Baptist preacher in Hamburg, travels there, and on August 1, 1847, he is baptized in the Elbe River. When he returns home it is not long until it is generally known that he has become a Baptist. There is strong reaction from friends and fellow believers who now turn away from him. Not many want to listen to his sermons any longer. “We count on great trials and sufferings. But we have decided to remain here,” he writes. The escape, to emigrate, has to wait.
Vandalism, beatings, and forced baptisms
The Baptist movement in Sweden does not get a flying start. After more than a year, Nilsson has only converted eight souls—of which three are relatives. Even though the church keeps a low profile, the reaction from others against the new movement becomes fierce. On several occasions, vandals break into the continued on p. 6
continued from p. 5 temporary premises used for worship services by the Baptists and smash everything they can find. Assaults are not rare; they happen to female as well as male members of the church. And in Gothenburg a saying is spread: “It does not cost more than 18 shillings to beat a Baptist to death.”
A curious detail
Under Oscar I’s era, Catholics also were sentenced for crimes against these rigid laws of religion—a bit embarrassing for the king since both his queen Josefina and the queen mother Augusta were Catholics. It is not long until the state church awakens. In fall 1849, Nilsson is brought to the church authorities in Gothenburg, and after two hours interrogation is “strongly admonished” to refrain from his false doctrines. Otherwise the law will be sternly enforced. The situation becomes even more serious when authorities start to practice infant baptisms by force. The Baptists do not want to baptize their newborns, in accordance with their convictions, but on several occasions police are summoned to the parents and the child is snatched from the arms of the mother to be taken to the priest for baptism. A cow or other valuable is taken from the family as payment to the civil authorities for their effort. The persecution of Nilsson accelerates. He is jailed several times and has to accept contempt and assault. From his diary: Some of us were gathered…in order to celebrate the Lord’s supper, and while we were busy with this, we were suddenly surrounded by a large mob armed with sticks, rifles, guns, and swords. They broke into the house, beat and kicked me, in a cruel way. Eventually they threw me into a wagon, were sitting on top of me, and drove away under terrible curses and threats, until they came to an inn where they for two hours were drinking heavily
while I had to remain in the wagon in the extreme cold. From nearby villages, additional mobs had gathered and were spewing out curses, threats, and sarcasms against me while they beat me black and blue with snowballs. Eventually I was brought to the local police officer who released a good telling-off and then turned me over to one of his men who took me to the jail in Skene. We arrived there at 12 o’clock in the night. Here I was locked into a cell that lacked both bed and heating. The whole night was spent running back and thru in the cell to save myself from freezing to death. Here, in this awful cell, I was kept for seven days.
A personal meeting with King Oscar I
Swedish authorities, from Norway, France, Ireland, but foremost from England, who has long had freedom of religion and where the Baptists are accepted and comprise a prominent group in society. Even the British Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, gets involved in Nilsson’s case. (A letter from Sweden’s emissary in England shows that he is ashamed that Sweden is so much behind in the matter of religion). But the sentence stands, and the only hope is an appeal to the Supreme Court. At the end of May, Nilsson travels to Stockholm to appeal. While he waits for the trial to begin, he pleads for, and is allowed, a personal appearance before King Oscar I. Nilsson has thoroughly transmitted the details about his meeting with the monarch. The king is mild, gentle, and attentive, pointing out that Nilsson is allowed to believe
On February 1, 1850, the local police come with an order: Nilsson has to appear before the national court. The crime he is charged with is that he, despite warning from church authorities, has continued to “spread Baptism and Democracy false doctrine.” This is not The Baptism movement in its basic form is anti-authorsurprising, but still a dev- itarian. Each church member is allowed to have a personal astating blow. He knows relationship with God and needs no priest as a mediator. what will happen if he is Each Baptist church is independent and does not need a found guilty. central organization. Nilsson spent the Many Baptists were also involved in the other two classic month before the trial non-governmental movements: the temperance movement and the making a hectic mission labor movement. trip around the west part The Baptists (and other non-state churches) were called of Sweden. When the trial “readers” because of their independent reading and applying of starts in Jönköping on texts, primarily from the Bible. But the name involved also a March 8, the courtroom is general hunger for education, and the non-governmental movepacked. Nilsson has to tell ments contributed considerably to a raised intellectual level of the court about his life the Swedish population, not least through schools and other and his religious beliefs. associations for group studies. The protocol from the trial reflects a peculiar respect for the whatever he likes, but “What I accused person: “His appearance was oppose is that you gather followers peaceful and calm. In his manners around you. If you only kept your and posture was nothing exaggerated convictions to yourself, I would not or fanatical. His whole being sugsay anything; one confession can in gested piety.” main equal the other, but in a land But the law is rigid. About under law; there has to be order and a week later comes the sentence: the law must be followed.” exiled for life. Nilsson’s fate echoes Nilsson answered that he has abroad. Many petitions are sent to the continued on p. 7 6
continued from p. 6 never tried to persuade anyone, but that he regards it as his duty to say to people close to himself what he thinks is right. This is as far as they get. The appearance is over, and King Oscar thanks Nilsson for his successful efforts for the temperance movement. The highest court confirms the sentence of the national court. Nilsson pleads for mercy from the king, but it is denied. Now all possibilities are emptied.
A bitter farewell and the second journey to America
In July 1851, the Nilssons leave their beloved native country. Behind they leave relatives, friends, and the small church “as sheep in the midst of wolves.” The couple first goes to Copenhagen. Back home in Sweden, the harsh persecution of Baptists continues, and more and more people start thinking about emigration to America. Just after New Year, 1853, a group has decided to emigrate, and they ask Nilsson to join them as leader. In May the Nilssons and 21 church members from Halland and Västergötland take the boat over the Atlantic. The Nilssons settle in Burlington, Iowa, where there are other Swedish settlers. It is here that Nilsson’s long friendship with his closest neighbor, Andrew (Anders) Peterson, starts. This is the man who, through his meticulous diary notes, becomes a model for the character Karl-Oskar in Wilhelm Moberg’s books The Emigrants—Immigrants. Soon the Nilssons move again, this time to Scandia, Minnesota, where there are nine members. Nilsson suffers from homesickness and writes: I am resident in a strange place, There I am anguishing, longing, sighing and praying
That I may once again be allowed to and preachers. And now—in times walk on the soil of my fathers of success—the unexpected happens: In Sweden. Nilsson feels left behind. He, the star This longing will be fulfilled faster of Swedish Baptists, the martyr, “is than he can imagine. An American diminishing.” People prefer listening Baptist church in New York wants to other preachers. Letters imply that to send a missionary to Scandinavia Nilsson starts to behave strangely. and thinks about Nilsson. Everyone He is vague in decisions, makes knows about the exile sentence, but miscalculations, and falls out with they think that Nilsson at least can members of the church. be active in Norway. There they have, In addition there are economic strangely enough, freedom of religion, though Norway is in Milestones union with Sweden. 1809 Fredrik Olaus Nilsson is born July 28 in Vendelsö Nilsson consents in north Halland. at once and breaks 1834 Salvation in the U.S. speedily up from Minnesota. 1839 Back in Sweden, he becomes a Bible distributor and a missionary among seamen.
New beginning in Gothenburg
1845 Marriage with Ulrika Sofia Olsson. Gets in contact with writings about adult baptism and becomes convinced that infant baptism is without support in the Bible.
In the evening of 1847 Baptism in Hamburg September 13, 1860, Nilsson puts his feet 1848 The first Baptist church in Sweden is formed. on Swedish soil again, 1850 Sentenced to exile for life. The reason: spreading of illegally. But things false doctrine. have changed. He seeks restoration from 1853 Emigrates to America the new king, Karl 1860 Back in Sweden, is granted mercy XV, and on December 11 the reply from the 1881 Death in Houston, Minnesota castle in Stockholm arrives—he is granted mercy and can hardships. He is still employed by the freely move about in Sweden. But church in New York, but the salary is for a period he, to feel safe, carries low and payments irregular. with him the royal letter, since he is constantly distrusted and attacked. A sad exit from the stage One year later, Nilsson takes part In October 1868, the Nilssons in forming the First Baptist Church travel back to America, though in Gothenburg and is appointed it is clear that they thereby lose to be its first pastor. This time he the possibility of being buried is not lacking self-confidence. In in the soil of their fathers. They December a new church building is settle in Houston, Minnesota, and ready, located in a place where many Nilsson works about a year in the people pass by and can see a 14-meter Swedish Baptist church there. At long, black poster with white letters: the same time, he enters deeply Baptist Church Hall. into Theodor Parker’s (1810-1860) Many prejudices remain, but world of thinking, where the Bible the movement grows and attracts continued on p. 8 young, energetic, educated members 7
continued from p. 7
is full of contradictions and mistakes, where miracles are questioned, where the deity of Jesus is denied. Nilsson’s spiritual stability is shaken. As usual, he feels obliged to share his thoughts with people close to him. This makes him more and more isolated. He gets into conflict with the church in Houston and is no longer allowed to preach in the chapel. He repudiates all accusations that he would be a denier of his faith. But it does not help, and the last period in life he is alone, sick and depressed.
The former seaman Fredrik Olaus Nilsson passes away in Houston, Minnesota, on October 21, 1881. His last words are: “I am beginning to see the sun again through ripped clouds.” Thomas Dur Fläckman works at the journal Vi and is part of the redaction committee for Vi Biografi. •
Steering Committee of The History Center: James Spickelmier, Chair; Diana Magnuson, Archivist; Alvera Mickelsen, Editor, Trail Markers; Stan Anderson; Marlys Arenson; Richard Burton; G.William Carlson; Gwen Forsline; Jonathan Larson; Dwaine Lind; Marv Lindstedt; Mary Jo Monson; Virgil Olson; Rich Sherry; Flossie Winquist
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