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Faith Baptist Church of Grand Rapids, Minnesota collection, 1950-2016

 Collection
Identifier: MSS-Chu-MN-8

Scope and Contents

The Faith Baptist Church collection dates from 1950 to 2016 and spans three boxes.

The Church Notes folder holds handwritten notes of church events from 1981 to 1990 (1991 is blank). The events include services, meetings, weddings, births, funerals, and open houses. In the back of the folder are documents from Minnesota Christian Broadcasters, the Muisc Committee, Sunday School Superintendent, Board of Deacons, and Sharathon statistics from 1978-1981.

The Women's Missionary Society spans three folders, holding volunteer certificates from Itasca County Home, the organization's constitution, the 1979-1980 Annual Report, and events. One folder contains an envelope and its contents, being mostly documents from Compassion and its ministry for orphans in Korea, including letters from Korean children. The meeting minutes date from 1961 to 1984.

The Correspondence folder contains letters on a variety of subjects, including the Baptist General Conference, pastoral searching, and thank you notes. The Thanksgiving letters are written prayers of thanksgiving dating from 1988 to 1996.

The Finance series contains information from budgets, account balances, check stubs, tax information, and print-outs of some of the documents on the flash drive. Two black ledgers detail payments, sunday school finance, and building fund balances from 1956 and 1957. The Quarterly Statements folder dates from 2007-2010. The Contributions folder holds data from church offerings between 2015 and 2016. The Wilshire Mutual Funds date between 2010 and 2011. The Bank Statements folder come from Grand Rapids State Bank and date between 2010 and 2016.

The Flash drive is labeled "Finances 2011-2016." It holds individual files of Awana Detail, Building Fund information, Men Fiship Trip between 2011-2013, Security Codes, Steps (Itemized Categories Detail Report from 2015), and Waste Management History. The Documentation folder holds directions for managing anonymous contributions, filing payroll tax reports, and other tax directions. The FBC Financial History folder Giving and Deposits, Year End Giving, Budget Info, Payroll, Ministry Action Proposals, and Account Summaries between the years of 2004 and 2016. The Forms folder holds files such as Diaconate Deposit Slip Labels, Expense Claim Form, Giving Worksheet, and Year End Statement Disclosure. The Insurance Audit folder spans 2010 to 2015 with files from the audit by Grinnell Mutual Insurance. The Policy folder holds the Accountable Expense Reimbursement Policy. The Retool Kit Payments folder contains Pulpit Supply Payments and Session Payments for this event. The Special Assessments folder contains one file from the Grand Rapids Engineering Department. The Tax Exempt folder holds one file of Tax Exempt Status for MN DOR.

Faith In Action was a church newsletter beginning about 1979. This collection holds issues dating between 2000 and 2009.

The Church Constitution folder holds revisions to the constitution done in 2008.

The Annual Reports folder contains reports from 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2016.

The Photographs series primarily date to the 1990s and 2000s, with a few earlier photographs.

The Scrapbook pages folders hold the pages and ephemera from three scrapbooks removed from the original books. There are six church scrapbooks dating between 1950 and 1994 and containing letters, newspaper clippings, phtographs, and bulletins. The Stockade Log scrapbook contains ephemera from the Stockade Brigade for boys, which began in 1967. There are photographs and newspaper clippings, from 1967 until 1972.

Dates

  • 1950 - 2016

Conditions Governing Access

Most of this collection is open to researcher use. Some of the Finance series, such as personal salary information and financial contributions, is restricted for 15 years after the church's closing in 2016. Requests can be made to access this series, which will be reviewed by the archivist.

Restricted: Box 1, folder 9, Church Finances (Some documents restricted) Box 1, folder 10, Contributions Box 1, folder 11, Wilshire Funds Box 1, folder 12, Bank statements Flash drive, FBC Financial History (Payroll documents restricted) Flash drive, Insurance Audit

Conditions Governing Use

The WPD files cannot be opened in their original layout. Information can be seen by opening the files through a text editor.

Historical note

Faith Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Minnesota was organized March 18, 1951 with 26 charter members, with Orville Burch as pastor. In June 1952, the church was located on the corner of First Avenue East and Fifth Street in a former Lutheran church. In February 1954, the church began worship in a newly constructed building on 6th Avenue East and 5th Street, a lot donated by David Ham, church member. The church closed in 2016.

Extent

3.5 Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

The internal document order inside the files mostly represents the order in which the documents were found in 2023. It is likely representative of the donated order of the documents, primarily chronological.

Custodial History

This collection was kept by Faith Baptist Church. It was likely transferred to the History Center following the church's closure in 2016.

Deaccessions

Financial documentation containing employees' social security numbers, primairly W-2s, were removed from the collection and shredded during processing in 2023.

Title
Faith Baptist Church of Grand Rapids, Minnesota collection, 1950-2016
Author
Rebekah Bain, archivist
Date
November 2023
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the The History Center: Archives of Bethel University and Converge Repository

Contact:
3900 Bethel Drive
Arden Hills MINNESOTA 55112 United States