Grace History
Grace Baptist Church is part of the Baptist General Conference, in the early years known as the Swedish Baptists. Back in the early 1900’s, a group of newly arrived Swedish youths formed a Baptist Young People’s Society in Cloquet. Their meetings took place on Sunday afternoons at five p.m. in a small white church. The members were all between the ages of 20 and 30 years old except for their pastor, Reverend Arvid Nelson. After the large fire of 1918 destroyed the church building and many of their homes, this group of Swedish Baptists scattered and eventually disbanded.
One woman who was part of this group, Mrs. E. Hoglund, never gave up hope of once again having a Swedish Baptist Church, specifically a Minnesota Baptist Conference church in the City of Cloquet. Along with Mrs. Hoglund, several others in Cloquet met to pray in their homes to pray with hopes of having a church of their own again.
In 1957, Rev. William Horn, Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church of Duluth, was approached by these devoted Christians and the decision was made that Pastor Horn would come to Cloquet and hold prayer meetings. Sherman and Hannah Johnson hosted the first such meeting on November 7, 1957 in their home.
Interest continued to grow from that initial prayer meeting. Pastor Horn received encouragement from the members at Bethany Baptist Church, many of whom attended the new Cloquet services as a way of support. The prayer services continued and the people waited on the leading of the Lord.
In May of 1958, after a winter of prayer, the group invited David Clark to candidate for the position of Pastor of the new work. Early records of the church tell how the young Bethel Seminary graduate stood behind a makeshift pulpit in the basement of a private home to deliver his message. The people felt God leading them to call David Clark as their first pastor and on June 15, 1958, the first Sunday service of the Cloquet Baptist Fellowship was held in the Masonic Temple building on Arch Street. There were 47 in attendance that day.
Since the group had not officially organized, deacons from Bethany Baptist Church heard testimonies of those desiring membership and a baptismal service was held on September 14, 1958. Twelve adults followed the Lord in believer baptism that day, and joined 21 previously baptized to become the charter members of the new church, now called Grace Baptist Church.
The first long prayed for and yearned for organizational event of Grace Baptist Church took place on September 26, 1958. The meeting closed with those attending forming a circle, reading the affirmation of faith in unison and singing “Blest Be the Tie that Binds Our Hearts in Christian Love.”
The meetings continued at the Masonic Temple, which was rented for $5 a week for a brief time. The group of believers however felt that the Lord was leading them toward the ownership of their own building. So on October 9, 1958 at the first regular business meeting, it was voted to enter into a purchase agreement to purchase a large nine-room house with 1 ¾ acres of land located at 601 14th Street. The purchase price was $13,250. It is interesting to note that this house was one of the few to make it through the 1918 fire.
Remodeling of this property began at once with the men and women of the church doing the work, and Pastor Clark acting as the architect and construction superintendent. The house was remodeled into a sanctuary, with Sunday school rooms and a parsonage on the second floor. Enough work on the building had been completed by Christmas 1958, that the Christmas program and the Christmas morning Julotta service could be held in the new facility. Finally, on February 8, 1959, Sunday services were held at the 14th street location.
The Minnesota Baptist Conference did as much as possible to assist the new church. A monthly check was sent by them to help pay the pastor’s salary. As the church has grown, many changes have taken place.
In 1965, a new addition was built and connected to the old building. Later on, in 1979, the old house-church was torn down and replaced by the present structure, completed in 1983. Extensive remodeling has been done in recent years to enhance both the beauty and the function of the building. Now with growing ministries and increased attendance, the church is praying about new ways to expand its facility.
The present Senior Pastor, Rev. Douglas Green, has served at Grace since November, 1986. He is a University of Minnesota and Bethel Seminary graduate with both Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Bethel. In 2003, the church called its first Associate Pastor, Chris Grella to serve in the areas of youth ministry, small groups, ministry to young families, and pastoral ministries. Pastor Grella resigned in December 2007 to become an associate pastor in Westminster, Maryland.
(Pastor Doug Green and Bethel Anderson contributed to this review)