Owatonna’s oldest church to close

Carol Hofer has been a member of First Baptist Church in Owatonna for 67 years, the secretary for more than 20 years.
Now, at 86, she’s starting over.
The congregation recently voted to sell the building and its contents to Redemption Church of Owatonna, which has been meeting in a strip mall on Oakdale Street since 2020.
That’s also about the last time the First Baptist Church had a full sanctuary, Hofer said.
“We blame it on COVID,” she said of the decline in membership and participation. About 20 people now attend worship service every week.
“It’s very low now,” Hofer said, “and there’s just not a lot of energy to keep it going. We just can’t keep up with this big old building.”
It is old: Built in 1893, it’s the second church on that site since the Baptists organized in Owatonna in 1857 – building the first church in the county.
And for people like Hofer, “it’s a second home.”
Still, the members are glad to see it go to another church, keeping another religious site in downtown Owatonna.
“The other church is so excited about it,” Hofer said. “They’re glad to have the building, and said if there’s books and things we can’t get rid of, to just leave it. They’ll use what they can.”
True, said Christian Kohs, who leads the Redemption Church congregation, and “what I’m most excited about is claiming our name.”
That means not seeing the historic building going to a business or corporation – instead, keeping it “committed to spreading the word of the Lord.”
In what can only be described as divine intervention, Kohs himself grew up attending a Baptist church in Rochester. His new church’s experience during COVID was also a reversal:
“We have to be really thankful, because we tripled (membership) during that time,” he said. They now see about 100 people at weekly services.
The church’s organ will stay with the new owners for now; it was donated by the Pillsbury family, and is one of the oldest organs in the state still in use. The current organist is in contact with someone who may buy it.
The financing for the building is in place, Kohs said, but a closing date hasn’t been set.
He’s hopeful that will happen next month; there’s some work they’d like to do inside before moving in permanently.
“We’ll be four years old in September,” he said of Redemption Church. “I’m hoping that can be sort of our grand opening.”
The Rev. Carla Nelson hasn’t firmed up a date for her last sermon to this local Baptist congregation.
“It could be a celebration, too, to acknowledge our forefathers,” Hofer said, “but I imagine it’ll probably be sad.”
Nelson will look for a new church, but Hofer isn’t sure yet what she’ll do.
“The (members) I associate with are just going to take a breather,” she said. There are so many memories there, including her wedding in 1955 and the baptisms of her four babies.
The church records, dating back to the mid-1800s, will be put into storage.