The church is never a place, but always a people; never a fold but always a flock; never a building but always a believing assembly. The church is you who pray, not where you pray. --Anonymous

As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of Open Door Baptist Church, we also stand poised to step forward in faith with our new building project. One can sense the eagerness: spacious classrooms for Sunday School, a well-decked nursery, elbow room on Sunday mornings, and easier access with fewer stairs. But what of our beloved "lil' church on the corner" when that time comes? We'd rather not think of that just yet. In this time of sentimentality, of memories bitter and sweet, it seems appropriate to embrace this humble little home and cherish it all the more. With that in mind I set out to pore through the semi-ancient tomes of property records in the basement of the County Office Building.

Technically, the property where our beloved little church is located is Lot 12 of Block 43, Northern Pacific Second Addition. That's because this land initially belonged to Northern Pacific Railroad. It changed hands a few times from the early 1870s to 1912, mostly as part of larger parcel of land. This lot actually became developed once purchased by the United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America, based in Minnesota. This organization founded Trinity Lutheran Church, the first Lutheran church in Bismarck, in the early 1870s, but they were only able to get their own building when they built this one in 1912 (see photo). Once the organization had purchased the property, they conveyed it to Trinity Lutheran Church for exactly one dollar.

Trinity must have prospered relatively quickly, perhaps in conjunction with the city itself, because it moved to a new location by 1928. It was at that time that Lot 12, Block 43, NP II was sold to the North Dakota Conference of Seventh Day Adventists. Based out of Jamestown, they started a congregation at 7th & Avenue C that lasted for the next 35 years.

In 1963, however, the building changed hands once again...this time becoming the Bismarck Mennonite Brethren Church. While the exact amount of sale is not noted, there is a mortgage posted with the county recorder for $700. For the next decade the property remained in their hands.

Records indicate that in 1973 the Mennonite Church of Bismarck turned over the keys to the building at Lot 12, Block 43, NP II to the Regular Baptist Church of Bismarck. Later known as Dayspring Baptist Church, they occupied the building until they constructed a new one in North Bismarck. By 1981, perhaps even earlier, they had moved to their new facility.

Our beloved lil' church was empty until Dayspring Baptist Church rented it to Pastor John Haveman for the first service of Open Door Baptist Church in October, 1981. In 1982 a purchase agreement was signed and made official, and Open Door Baptist Church had a home. At the time of this writing, and with a fresh coat of paint, it is still the beloved home of our church.

At the time of this writing, a couple of documents have yet to be added. One is the satisfied mortgage on our building, which was paid in full in 2003. The other is the purchase of our land at 19th Street and Calgary Avenue, which is where we plan to take our next step as a lighthouse to the community. Those documents will be added in the future.

While bursting at the seams, this building has been an enormous blessing and is well known by most of Bismarck. It's not uncommon for someone to say, "oh, you mean that little white church by BHS?" (or something to that effect) when one of our members is asked about our church. We've had many visitors stop in because they were unfamiliar with Bismarck and saw our church first. In 25 years, no one can recollect any sort of pedestrian incident despite the volume and speed of traffic just outside our door. And through the repairs, renovations, and improvements, many members of Open Door Baptist Church have been able to feel some ownership of this humble building through their participation in its upkeep.

Certainly the church is not the building, but the members...but when the time comes to move forward into a larger facility, heavy hearts will turn over the keys to the quaint little building on Lot 12, Block 43, Northern Pacific Addition II.