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| Pastor Steve joined a crowd of more than 200 at Bethel Seminary in Arden Hills to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Minnesota Baptist Conference and the Scandia Church, which later became Waconia Baptist Church and then eventually Oakwood Community Church. |
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You can’t go to Oakwood Community Church. Even though it’s been preaching the Gospel in Waconia for more than 150 years, you can’t go to it. You can’t go because it’s not a building.
The church is a group of followers of Jesus Christ, and since 1855, much about the group has changed. The name of the church changed twice. The name of the conference to which it belongs changed twice. The original building moved. Even the name of the nearby lake changed from Clearwater Lake to Lake Waconia. But what’s essential remains.
“We continue to believe – as they believed in 1857 – that God is our source of wisdom, and the Bible is our source of truth, and – little by little – lives in Carver County are still being changed,” says Oakwood’s Senior Pastor Steve Anderson.
Back before Abraham Lincoln was elected president and before Minnesota was a state, the church started near Waconia with a small group of Swedish settlers who met in Andrew Peterson’s little log home to study the Bible and encourage one another. For the first baptism back in February 1856, they cut a hole in the lake ice to make the ceremony possible.
More than 150 years and 7,800 Sunday sermons later, the church is still doing many of the same things Peterson’s group did way back when. Oakwood has small groups that meet to study the Bible and encourage each other to be positive influences on the culture. And the church still baptizes people in Lake Waconia.
“In the good old days they used the lake for baptisms year-round; now we only baptize in the lake in the summer,” says Anderson. In the past two years, Oakwood has had 17 baptisms and Sunday attendance near 200.
“I am sure Andrew Peterson never imagined that there could be 200 people in worship in Waconia. But because of his prayers and the prayers of many faithful people over the years, the Gospel continues to be preached,” Anderson says.
The church’s first building –- a 20-by 26-foot log structure -– was constructed in 1857. It was remodeled in 1875 and hit by a tornado in 1904. Because of its historical significance to the Minnesota Baptist Conference and the Baptist General Conference, the building was moved in 1973 to Arden Hills, where it now stands on a hillside overlooking the campus of Bethel Seminary. It’s known as the Scandia Chapel and was restored in 1983 as much as possible to its original state.
In 1973 a new little white church building was constructed on the northeast corner of Highway 5 and County Road 30. The church met for worship there until about eight years ago, when it took a break in an effort to restart. When it restarted, the name changed from Waconia Baptist Church to Oakwood Community Church. Worship services moved to the auditorium of the Waconia High School, and the building at Highway 5 and County Road 30 became the Oakwood Ministry Center. It houses office space, a place for meetings, and space for the youth group.
Oakwood has outgrown that small building, and someday the church will need to purchase land and build a new building. But in the meantime, the church is busy striving to spread the Gospel and bring glory to God not just here in Carver County but also far beyond. This year Oakwood is sending nearly a dozen of its regular attendees on short-term mission trips to Nicaragua, North Africa, Swaziland, Malawi, the Congo, England, and Ireland.
God’s goodness and faithfulness to the work of the Gospel in Waconia over the last 150 years has been impressive, Anderson says.
“I now wonder what the church in Waconia will look like in 2157 – when they celebrate the next 150 years,” he says.
By Diana Barto
Please note: This historical information comes from Trail Markers, the newsletter of the Baptist General Conference History Center. The spring 2007 issue of Trail Markers (www.bethel.edu/bgcarchives/friends/trailmarkers/05-07.html) includes three articles about the Scandia Church and Andrew Peterson's life. Peterson's old homestead is now the privately owned Rock Isle Farm, which is at the northwest corner of Highway 5 and Parley Lake Road.
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