The Scandinavian Baptist Mission of Tacoma
A clergyman finds his calling, converts his congregation, and establishes a new church after a spiritual crisis leads him away from his former denomination.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Several years ago, a house of worship was erected at Tacoma for Scandinavian Baptists by the untiring perseverance of Rev. O. Okerson. No church body was organized, and the house seemed useless. Different denominations used the house freely, and in course of time, Rev. E. Nelson, a Free Lutheran missionary, gathered a little church and congregation. Finding himself almost entirely in unison with the Congregational faith, he accepted an appointment under the American Home Mission Society at $600 per year. When this term had half expired, he found himself confronted with grave doubts about baptism, and being convinced of believer's immersion as the only true baptism, he surprised the pastor of the Baptist Church, Rev. H. S. McLafferty, by inquiring for a baptistery. 'We will furnish it for you.' The following Sunday, March 29th, having resigned his commission and his only means of support, without hope of other aid than such as he might gather, he was baptized, with his wife and a sister of his Church, uniting with the First Baptist Church, and, a week after, receiving letters for the purpose of forming the First Scandinavian Baptist Church of Tacoma. This church was formally recognized, and Rev. E. Nelson publicly ordained as their pastor by the recommendation of a council of sixteen persons from six Baptist churches on Wednesday, April 15th, 1885.
“Finding himself almost entirely in unison with the Congregational faith, he accepted an appointment under the American Home Mission Society at $600 per year. When this term had half expired, he found himself confronted with grave doubts about baptism.”
This story highlights the volatile nature of early religious institutional building in Washington, reflecting the same grassroots urgency found in modern community-organizing movements. Today, the space occupied by those small, multi-use mission halls in growing cities like Tacoma is frequently contested by developers, echoing the struggle to maintain physical roots in rapidly changing neighborhoods.
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