On September 10, Eagle Brook Church opened its 11th site to worshippers in downtown Minneapolis. While the location is new to Eagle Brook, the church has a long history of great preaching and music.
The history of the building
This building originally opened in 1886 as First Baptist Church, with an address of 1021 Hennepin Avenue. The land was donated to the church by Dr. Hezekiah Fletcher and his wife. Over the decades, many families and generations of families called First Baptist their spiritual home.
First Baptist Church attendance peaked in 1935. The church had good financial management and was debt-free when the congregation began to slowly shrink. This was not due to a dissatisfaction with the church leadership. The migration of families from Minneapolis out to the growing suburbs was the primary culprit.
Billy Graham brought his talent to First Baptist in the later 1940s and made visits from time to time over the years. Dr. Graham was the President of Northwestern College in St. Paul and was able to contribute to the launching of KTIS, still a very successful Christian radio station in the Twin Cities.
However, the members of the congregation and attendance at services continued to dwindle during the 2nd half of the 20th Century. Financial issues and the shifting of more and more residents from downtown Minneapolis to suburbs led First Baptist to make some difficult decisions to get back to the roots of their mission.
In 2018, River City Church became the new name of First Baptist Church. More info and can be found at rivercitympls.com/history.
Eagle Brook Church, Minneapolis Campus, the second life of 1st Baptist
There was not a long list of buyers for downtown Minneapolis church property, and River City Church did not want to carry the financial burden of the property.
Enter Eagle Brook Church, with a mission of reaching Minneapolis residents for Jesus and looking for the right environment to do that. River City Church could have sold the property for $6 million to a developer that would tear down the historic building. The elders instead chose Eagle Brook Church to sell the property to for $3.5 million, with the confidence that much of the history would be preserved, including the stain glass windows and the iconic pipe organ.
Services are on Sundays, 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Eagle Brook Church offers kids care and kids programs during the services so that parents can focus on the message. Services can be watched live from home or recordings of the services watched at another time. The church is located on bus lines if “getting there” is a challenge.