Bethel Moravian Church
15407 49th St SE
Leonard, Cass County, North Dakota 58052
15407 49th St SE
Leonard, Cass County, North Dakota 58052
Bethel Moravian Church Leonard
North Dakota 1900-1950
The Bethel Moravian Congregation was organized by Brother Albert P. Haupert, on February 2, 1891, with 26 communicant members. The present church was erected and consecrated in the year during the pastorate of the first minister Otto E Heise. Eleven ministers served this congregation. The present membership is 127. This plate is designed in honor
of the fiftieth anniversary of the building of the Bethel Church.
Info from - back of Bethel Moravian Church plate.
North Dakota 1900-1950
The Bethel Moravian Congregation was organized by Brother Albert P. Haupert, on February 2, 1891, with 26 communicant members. The present church was erected and consecrated in the year during the pastorate of the first minister Otto E Heise. Eleven ministers served this congregation. The present membership is 127. This plate is designed in honor
of the fiftieth anniversary of the building of the Bethel Church.
Info from - back of Bethel Moravian Church plate.
BETHEL MORAVIAN CHURCH
After several Moravian churches had been established in the late 1870's the brethren of the Maple River area felt the need of a church of their own. Consequently, on February 2, 1891, in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Piper (on what is now the Gary Cruff farmstead) the Bethel Moravian Church was established under the rules and regulations of the Canaan Church and their pastor, the Rev. Albert Haupert.
There were ten charter members and their children: Mr. and Mrs. Richard Piper, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Heuer, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Heuer, Mr. and Mrs. William Schultz, Henry Heuer and Richard Salzwedel.
The first years the families met in their homes for worship which was in the German language. Later they met in the Hoffman School, two miles north of the present site of the Bethel Church. On April 5, 1891, the Sunday School was organized with 12 scholars and four teachers.
On July 7, 1891, the four Moravian congregations of Cass County met at the Math Runck woods (the present James Runck farm) for the first annual Sunday School picnic. Later the Bethel and Goshen congregations met in the wooded area of the Carl Dittmer farm on the Maple River (presently the Wesley Belter, Jr. farm). Some of the older people will remember the worship services with a speaker and singing led by a brass band. Sports, treats and food completed the activities of the day. Recently the picnics have been held in the area parks.
In 1900 the present church building was constructed by William Bautz who received $650 for his labor, the total cost of the church was $6500. The large stained-glass windows cost $40 each, the small ones $17.50, and the church bell $131.31.
The painting "Christ in Gethsemane" which still graces the front of the Bethel Church was done by Mr. Leonard Kjolso, a farm laborer. His pattern was taken from the front of a tiny Sunday School card. Mr. Kjolso accepted no renumeration for this work as painting was his hobby.
From 1896 to 1928 German school was held from two to five weeks every summer. This helped the children to learn both the German and English languages so that they could read their Sunday School lessons. After 1938 all services were in English.
Besides the annual Mission Festival observance, the most traditional service still being observed is the children's program and candle lighting service held on Christmas Eve. Through the years the Bethel congregation has remained active with regular services and Sunday School. The women's fellowship has faithfully assisted all activities.
A new parsonage was built in 1958 in Leonard. It is an eight-room ranch style home.
At the present time the congregation has become a parish congregation with the Goshen Church and the Trinity Methodist Church of Leonard.
Bethel members continue to share the joy and responsibility as a Christian fellowship so faithfully begun by our forefathers.
THE MORAVIAN CHURCH
Founded in 1457, sixty years before the Reformation sparked by Martin Luther, the Moravian church is one of the oldest continuing denominations in Protestantism. It was founded by the followers of John Huss, the Bohemian reformer and martyr, and still officially carries its original Latin name, Unitas Fratrum which means "Unity of the Brethen." Later it came to be known generally as the "Moravian Church" since the Province of Moravia in what is now Czechoslovakia was one of the early centers of activity for the church. It has been active in America since 1742.
As one of the participants in the beginnings of Protestantism, the Moravian church holds to the great Protestant affirmations — salvation through faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour, the authority of the Bible as the Word of God, and the church as the fellowship of all believers in Jesus Christ. Strongly Christ-centered in its teaching and faith, it does not stress a rigid theology but rather interprets Christianity as a way of life, centered around Christ and His teachings.
The Moravian church is a charter member of the National Council of Churches in America and also of the World Council of Churches and possesses a long heritage of joining in interdenominational efforts for the advancement of Christ's Kingdom.
(Other rural Cass County Moravian churches can be found in these places: Maple River Twp., Addison Twp., Embden and Alice.) Helendale Church
Info from - Leonard Centennial 1881-1981 Leonard, North Dakota July 3-4-5, 1981 (pages 28 & 29)
After several Moravian churches had been established in the late 1870's the brethren of the Maple River area felt the need of a church of their own. Consequently, on February 2, 1891, in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Piper (on what is now the Gary Cruff farmstead) the Bethel Moravian Church was established under the rules and regulations of the Canaan Church and their pastor, the Rev. Albert Haupert.
There were ten charter members and their children: Mr. and Mrs. Richard Piper, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Heuer, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Heuer, Mr. and Mrs. William Schultz, Henry Heuer and Richard Salzwedel.
The first years the families met in their homes for worship which was in the German language. Later they met in the Hoffman School, two miles north of the present site of the Bethel Church. On April 5, 1891, the Sunday School was organized with 12 scholars and four teachers.
On July 7, 1891, the four Moravian congregations of Cass County met at the Math Runck woods (the present James Runck farm) for the first annual Sunday School picnic. Later the Bethel and Goshen congregations met in the wooded area of the Carl Dittmer farm on the Maple River (presently the Wesley Belter, Jr. farm). Some of the older people will remember the worship services with a speaker and singing led by a brass band. Sports, treats and food completed the activities of the day. Recently the picnics have been held in the area parks.
In 1900 the present church building was constructed by William Bautz who received $650 for his labor, the total cost of the church was $6500. The large stained-glass windows cost $40 each, the small ones $17.50, and the church bell $131.31.
The painting "Christ in Gethsemane" which still graces the front of the Bethel Church was done by Mr. Leonard Kjolso, a farm laborer. His pattern was taken from the front of a tiny Sunday School card. Mr. Kjolso accepted no renumeration for this work as painting was his hobby.
From 1896 to 1928 German school was held from two to five weeks every summer. This helped the children to learn both the German and English languages so that they could read their Sunday School lessons. After 1938 all services were in English.
Besides the annual Mission Festival observance, the most traditional service still being observed is the children's program and candle lighting service held on Christmas Eve. Through the years the Bethel congregation has remained active with regular services and Sunday School. The women's fellowship has faithfully assisted all activities.
A new parsonage was built in 1958 in Leonard. It is an eight-room ranch style home.
At the present time the congregation has become a parish congregation with the Goshen Church and the Trinity Methodist Church of Leonard.
Bethel members continue to share the joy and responsibility as a Christian fellowship so faithfully begun by our forefathers.
THE MORAVIAN CHURCH
Founded in 1457, sixty years before the Reformation sparked by Martin Luther, the Moravian church is one of the oldest continuing denominations in Protestantism. It was founded by the followers of John Huss, the Bohemian reformer and martyr, and still officially carries its original Latin name, Unitas Fratrum which means "Unity of the Brethen." Later it came to be known generally as the "Moravian Church" since the Province of Moravia in what is now Czechoslovakia was one of the early centers of activity for the church. It has been active in America since 1742.
As one of the participants in the beginnings of Protestantism, the Moravian church holds to the great Protestant affirmations — salvation through faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour, the authority of the Bible as the Word of God, and the church as the fellowship of all believers in Jesus Christ. Strongly Christ-centered in its teaching and faith, it does not stress a rigid theology but rather interprets Christianity as a way of life, centered around Christ and His teachings.
The Moravian church is a charter member of the National Council of Churches in America and also of the World Council of Churches and possesses a long heritage of joining in interdenominational efforts for the advancement of Christ's Kingdom.
(Other rural Cass County Moravian churches can be found in these places: Maple River Twp., Addison Twp., Embden and Alice.) Helendale Church
Info from - Leonard Centennial 1881-1981 Leonard, North Dakota July 3-4-5, 1981 (pages 28 & 29)
The first worship services of Bethel Moravian Church were held in homes in the Leonard, N.D., area when the church was formed in 1891. Later they were held in a schoolhouse, then in the new parsonage.
In 1900, the congregation built its structure in rural Leonard. The cost: about $6,500. That included its new bell, which cost a whopping $131.31.
But it didn't include an altar painting. That would come later. And when it did, it didn't cost the church a nickel for the labor because the man who painted it was a hired man on area farms, and he did it for nothing.
Not much is known about Leonard Kjolso, other than what was published in Bethel's centennial book in 1991,
That book says Leonard, born in 1889, worked on threshing crews in the Leonard area, that he was artistic and that he had studied oil painting in Minneapolis.
It portrays Christ praying in the garden of Gethsemane shortly before going to the cross.
The artist was Leonard Kjolso, but little was known about him other than that he died in 1980.
Leonard was born in 1889 in Norway. He came to Canada in 1907 and then went to Minneapolis, where he studied art.
In 1912, he married Julia Erickson, also a Norwegian, and moved to Leonard, where he did farm work and they raised four sons. The youngest of those boys was Wilfred, who was born in Leonard in 1918.
When Leonard offered to paint the backdrop, Bethel, which had built its structure in 1900, took him up on it. So, using a Sunday School card illustration as his guide, he painted the scene in his spare time. And he did it for free.
The Kjolso family eventually moved to Edmonds, Wash., where Leonard and Julia spent the rest of their lives.
Leonard worked as a house painter, but he did oil paintings on the side.
In 1900, the congregation built its structure in rural Leonard. The cost: about $6,500. That included its new bell, which cost a whopping $131.31.
But it didn't include an altar painting. That would come later. And when it did, it didn't cost the church a nickel for the labor because the man who painted it was a hired man on area farms, and he did it for nothing.
Not much is known about Leonard Kjolso, other than what was published in Bethel's centennial book in 1991,
That book says Leonard, born in 1889, worked on threshing crews in the Leonard area, that he was artistic and that he had studied oil painting in Minneapolis.
It portrays Christ praying in the garden of Gethsemane shortly before going to the cross.
The artist was Leonard Kjolso, but little was known about him other than that he died in 1980.
Leonard was born in 1889 in Norway. He came to Canada in 1907 and then went to Minneapolis, where he studied art.
In 1912, he married Julia Erickson, also a Norwegian, and moved to Leonard, where he did farm work and they raised four sons. The youngest of those boys was Wilfred, who was born in Leonard in 1918.
When Leonard offered to paint the backdrop, Bethel, which had built its structure in 1900, took him up on it. So, using a Sunday School card illustration as his guide, he painted the scene in his spare time. And he did it for free.
The Kjolso family eventually moved to Edmonds, Wash., where Leonard and Julia spent the rest of their lives.
Leonard worked as a house painter, but he did oil paintings on the side.