Bethlehem Lutheran Church - Bay Ridge (ELCA)
Brooklyn
NY

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Our Mission & Welcome

To serve God and God's people. To live our faith daily through worship, and providing education, support, nourishment, compassion, good counsel, love, and service to the larger community - welcoming all who join us in this mission.

Bethlehem Lutheran Church is a Reconciling in Christ congregation. People of all sexual orientations and gender identities are welcome within the membership of this congregation and are encouraged to share in the sacramental and general life of this Christian family.

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http://www.bethlehembayridge.org

Rev. Paul H. Knudsen

Pastor

(718) 748-9502

(718) 748-0818

The Rev. Paul H. Knudsen came to Bethlehem as interim pastor in November 1995. Today he is our permanent pastor. He and our Church Council and congregation direct the day-to-day operations of the church property, ministries, and activities.

Pastor Knudsen is a native New Yorker. He was born and raised on Staten Island, attending Zion Lutheran Church. He graduated from Wagner College and attended Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. His internship was in a suburban church in Southfield, Michigan, just north of Detroit.

Pastor Knudsen was ordained on November 11, 1984 and his first church assignment was a full time position at Eltingville Lutheran Church & School on Staten Island. He served there for 8 years, from 1984 - 1992. After this experience, Pastor decided to continue his ministry by providing interim support to churches who were in the situation where a pastor had left, but a new pastor had not yet been hired. He did this while pursuing a career in computer programming to better support his growing family. Pastor Knudsen served as interim pastor for Zion Lutheran Church and Christ Lutheran Church, both on Staten Island. His next interim pastor position was at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. His 'interim' status was changed when Bethlehem made the decision to call him to his current permanent role.

Pastor Knudsen has two children. His son is in law enforcement and his daughter is an elementary school teacher.

Liz Bohrer

Secretary

718-748-9502

4th & Ovington Avenues Brooklyn NY

Sunday Service 10:30am

Service Times last updated on the 9th of July, 2022

Bethlehem's History

Since 1905 members of the Bay Ridge community have had a place to find comfort, support, education, and both physical and spiritual nourishment at Bethlehem Lutheran Church. We have a long tradition of worship and service.

The Founding of a Community

On Sunday, November 1, 1903 a small group of the faithful gathered together in the store room of a grocery shop owned by Ernst C. Schumacher on the corner of 51st Street and 6th Avenue in Brooklyn. The Rev. Dr. John Holthusen, the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, was prevailed upon to open a mission and begin organizing a congregation to serve the mostly German community. Thus was born the Brooklyn Mission Society's Bay Ridge mission.

In September 1904 the Brooklyn Mission Society called the Rev. Paul Lindemann, a recent graduate of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri to Trinity as Missionary to Bay Ridge to organize a congregation and serve as pastor.

From these humble beginnings, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, which now comprises a variety of religious and non-sectarian community ministries, was officially organized on April 13, 1905 as Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church with Rev. Lindemann as our first Pastor.

Building for the Future

The first officers of our congregation were elected on June 20, 1905. That same month the Brooklyn Mission Society (which later became the Council of Churches of the City of New York) released Rev. Lindemann to succeed Rev. Holthusen at Trinity.

With Rev. Lindemann's departure, Bethlehem called the Rev. Arthur H. Halfmann, who was pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Manchester, New Hampshire. Rev. Halfmann was installed as our second pastor on January 7, 1906.

After two years in a storefront, the new congregation built a small church on two nearby lots at 615 51st Street just east of 6th Avenue that accommodated 125 people(photo right). That church, which cost $3,500, was dedicated on May 27, 1906. On April 2, 1907 Bethlehem became self-supporting and was admitted as a voting member of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. (Bethlehem has since left the Missouri Synod and is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.) During this time, Rev. Halfmann resided nearby at 247 52nd Street and later at 464 51st Street.

On July 5, 1910, Rev. Halfmann left to lead St. John's Lutheran Church in College Point, New York. The Rev. William F. Arndt was installed as the third pastor of Bethlehem on February 5, 1911. The congregation grew dramatically and on July 28, 1913 Rev. Arndt accepted a professorship at St. Paul's College in Concordia, Missouri.

In August of 1913 the Rev. Fred W. Schuermann was installed as pastor and Bethlehem entered an even more active period that included the incorporation of the Ladies' Aid Society, which had begun its work even before Bethlehem's incorporation, expanded Sunday School, and elimination of the $1,800 debt. During this time, Bethlehem had 160 baptized members. Although the congregation was preparing to build a parsonage, the outbreak of World War I and its accompanying high cost of labor and materials made the project prohibitive.

In April 1920, Rev. Schuermann accepted a call to St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. After a five month vacancy, on September 19, 1920, the Rev. August W. J. Herbert from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mascoutah, Illinois, was installed as our fifth Pastor.

Our House and Home

Bethlehem was a largely German congregation that held its services in both German and English. In the 1920's many of its members began moving south towards Fort Hamilton. The area around Bethlehem was experiencing a steady influx of Scandinavians, who although Lutheran, held services in their own language and were difficult to attract as members. The congregation decided to build a new church farther south so they wouldn't lose their membership and in November 1921 a site on the corner of Fourth and Ovington Avenues was purchased for $19,000. It had a 86 foot frontage on Fourth Avenue and was 110 feet deep onto Ovington Avenue, large enough for both a church and parsonage. Within three months the members raised $11,000 and together with $3,000 from the Ladies' Aid Society and a $5,000 mortgage from the property owner, the land was purchased. To complete the purchase, the church at 615 51st Street was sold to the St. Johannes Swedish Lutheran Congregation for $9,750. With that sale, however, Bethlehem was now without a home.

The architect firm of Koch & Wagner was hired to draw up plans and due to the limited means of the congregation, it was decided to construct the church in two stages -- first the basement and parsonage, and when more funds were available, the upper church itself. A contract was awarded to Andrew Olsen and construction began on October 1, 1922.

On November 26, 1922 the cornerstone was laid by Ernst C. Schumacher, owner of Bethlehem's original "storefront church". On that day, the Rev. Otto Sieker, pastor of Concordia Church in Bronxville, New York, preached the sermon at the site. For several months during the construction the congregation held its regular services in the Grace Methodist Church across the street. On April 26, 1923 the congregation dedicated the newly completed church basement. That basement would be our house of worship for the next six years. In the fall of 1927 the congregation, which had grown to nearly 300 members, established a Building Fund to raise the money necessary to complete the construction. On June 4, 1929 the contract was awarded to William E. Anderson, Inc. and construction commenced in earnest on July 29, 1929. Within six months the building was completed and furnished.

On February 23, 1930 Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church was dedicated. With more than six hundred people gathered outside the church doors, the Boy Scouts, the Camp Fire Girls, and the choir entered for the service. They were followed by Church Council President Mr. John Osterndorf and the congregation singing "Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty."

Pastor Herbert read the dedicatory prayer and the Rev. Henry Stein, professor at Concordia Collegiate Institute in Bronxville, New York, delivered the sermon. Pastors Henry Stiemke and Paul Scaer officiated at the altar. During the Dedication Week three other services were held with the Rev. William Koepchen, pastor of St. Luke's Church in New York City, the Rev. Erwin Kurth, pastor of the Church of Our Savior, and the Rev. Paul Prokopy of Albany, New York and former Executive Secretary of the Walther League, as the respective officiates. The dedication program handed out that week ended with words that would come to fruition over the course of Bethlehem's history --- "May the Master ever bestow His blessings upon all its future endeavors."

A Continuing Journey

In the fall of 1931 Rev. Herbert left Bethlehem to go to St. James Lutheran Church in Long Island, New York, and the Rev. August F. Bobzin became our sixth pastor on April 3, 1932. Despite the economic hardship of those years the congregation continued to grow both in size and in its ministry. Rev. Bobzin left Bethlehem in March of 1941 to become pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Flushing, New York.

Rev. Raymond Frederick Surburg, a native of Chicago, Illinois, came to Bethlehem from Trinity Lutheran Church in Clifton, New Jersey and was installed as our seventh Pastor on June 15, 1941. During this period an annual gospel preaching mission was established, and extensive repairs were made to our church, tower, and basement. In 1950 the second mortgage on the church was paid off during the celebration of our 45th anniversary. In addition to serving as Pastor of Bethlehem, Rev. Surburg continued his studies at the Biblical Seminary of New York City and served as director of the Brooklyn Biblical Institute. He left Bethlehem in September 1954 to become an assistant professor of religion at Concordia Teachers College in Seward, Nebraska. Following Rev. Surburg's departure, Bethlehem celebrated its 50th Anniversary on April 24, 1955 with a special afternoon service with Rev. Surburg as Guest Speaker and Rev. Bobzin as Liturgist.

Fulfilling the Mission

Bethlehem's commitment to faith and community began in its earliest days, but over the years Bethlehem has expanded its ministries in many ways. More recently that expansion took place under our longest serving pastor -- the Rev. Darrell D. Helmers -- who was installed as our eighth pastor in September 1955.

During Pastor Helmers' 35-year tenure from 1955 to 1990 Bethlehem reached out well beyond its walls and firmly established itself in the Bay Ridge community. During this time Bethlehem added the Lutheran Elementary School of Bay Ridge, which since 1957 has offered an outstanding education from nursery through 8th grade in a nurturing, yet challenging environment. In July 1969 Bethlehem purchased an apartment building at 415 Ovington Avenue to enable church and school expansion. Pastor Helmers also founded our Bay Ridge Center for Older Adults, (formerly the Bay Ridge Nutrition and Home Care Program), which has become a mainstay in the life of the community. It has expanded well beyond its 1976 roots as a senior citizen center. The program now provides meals, education, day-trips, social services, counseling and a food pantry, using both the church basement and the original parsonage as its base. During this period, the congregation also purchased a house to serve as a new parsonage down the street on Ovington Avenue.

New beginnings

During Pastor Helmers' time there was a rift within the Lutheran church and Bethlehem reassociated itself with what became the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Rev. Helmers was a dynamic church leader and his retirement in 1990 presented a challenge to the congregation --- fulfill our mission and become more self-reliant. Bethlehem rededicated itself and after a vacancy, called Rev. John S. Lunn who was installed ast our next pastor on October 3, 1993. Rev. Lunn had been pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in the Bronx. He served Bethlehem for less than two years and left in 1995 to be pastor of Koloa Union Church in Koloa, Hawaii.
After Rev. Lunn's departure, Bethlehem again had a vacancy that was filled by its own members each Sunday. In 1995 Rev. Paul H. Knudsen from Eltingville Lutheran Church in Staten Island, New York, came to Bethlehem with the plan of being an interim pastor while the congregation sought a permanent pastor. During this period the Church Council took on more responsibility and Pastor Knudsen was prevailed upon to be our permanent part-time pastor, which he remains today. In 2008 Bethlehem added The Healing Center to its ministries. The Healing Center is a not-for-profit, community agency dedicated to the intervention and prevention of family violence and abuse, serving people of all faiths, cultures and personal experiences.

Bethlehem Today

Like so many other churches, of all denominations, Bethlehem saw a decline in regular attendance over recent decades. However, since 2005 our congregation has made considerable strides in not only stemming that tide but in gaining in strength --- strength in numbers, support and our works. Today Bethlehem Lutheran Church is a vibrant and living testimony of God's grace. Our Sunday attendance has more than doubled, recent Sunday School terms have grown to more than 40 youngsters, our Confirmation Class can now number more than a dozen, and we are continually seeking additional ways to serve God though our works. This is an exciting time for Bethlehem and it can be an exciting opportunity for anyone interested in joining us on Sunday.