Love Our City:
An Energetic Enclave of Reformed Theology

Nearly all major American cities have weathered social, political, and economic turmoil in the past decade. Minneapolis and Saint Paul, to be sure, have endured more than their fair share. Still, the Twin Cities were recently judged to be among the “Top 10 Most Livable Cities in the World,” according to The Economist Intelligence Unit, a ranking that considers 30 indicators including stability, healthcare, culture, environment, education, and infrastructure.

HR professionals will tell you that Minneapolis-Saint Paul is one of the hardest communities to recruit people to come to work, but also one of the hardest to convince someone to leave, once they’re here. It’s a place with admittedly northern temperatures, but more clear blue sky and sunny days than many of its U.S. peers. Stunning natural beauty surrounds it, and the nation’s best bike trails carry one to every corner of Minnesota.

But seek the welfare of the city, where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
— Jeremiah 29:7 ESV

It’s here, right in the midst of this city, that a faithful congregation of Baptists has been worshipping and evangelizing for over 150 years, the same congregation that called John Piper to its pulpit in 1980, and the one whose building houses Bethlehem College and Seminary, today.

The school’s motto, “Learn. Serve. Treasure,” presumes an inclination toward service to the city, even when it’s in turmoil. Students and faculty serve in urban ministries that feed the poor, care for children, promote literacy, and love our neighbors. God has brought so many peoples from so many nations to the banks of the Mississippi, that the Twin Cities are a veritable test-bed for multi-cultural missionary engagement and endeavor.

But the city itself is not only to be loved, but lovable. It provides a learning environment distinct from suburban walled campuses, one rich in variety of peoples, available experiences, intellectual and artistic resources, and the exposure to the vibrancy and complexity of real life in such density of population.

Bethlehem College and Seminary is in Minneapolis-Saint Paul for good. We’re here to stay, but also here to be salt and light for the glory God. In 2025, Minneapolis was ranked highly among world cities in the Happy City Index of the Institute for Quality of Life. Might it be that a long-serving cadre of happy, Reformed Christians in the city worshiping and witnessing in its neighborhoods and workplaces might have some small measure of responsibility for this distinction?

In recent decades, the Lord has brought the nations to the banks of the Mississippi. The immediate area surrounding Bethlehem College and Seminary is one of the most ethnically-diverse in all of America. Students have opportunity to engage neighbors ranging from indigenous tribal peoples to immigrants from nearly every continent on Earth. Minneapolis-Saint Paul is both a proximate mission field and a testing ground for students sensing a call to global ministry endeavor.

Opportunities for mercy ministry abound, and Bethlehem students seek to serve. Students are involved in ministry to youth in after-school programs, food pantry staffing, inner city K-12 student mentoring and teaching assistance, encouragement of arts in the neighborhood, and all manner of informal interactions with city residents.

But the needs of the city are not its only magnet. Students are exposed to the rich experiences that come with dense population. The Twin Cities field teams in all of the U.S.’s major leagues sports. World-class theater is only a few blocks away at The Guthrie, and renowned orchestras easily accessible in both Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The Minneapolis Institute of Art hosts one of the world’s most extensive collections. The whole state is a natural resource wonderland inter-connected by well-developed bike and hiking trails, including the world-famous Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness within a reasonable drive.

Life in the Twin Cities is seasoned in a wide variety of ways. There is bitterness and sweetness. Light and darkness. Amity and conflict. Piety and reprobation. Wealth and poverty. Health and infirmity. These are two great American cities, full of “peoples” to who we aim to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. In God’s providence, he stirred the embers of decades of faithful Christian ministry here into an incendiary of Biblical, Calvinistic, Reformed Christian thought and devotion that has influenced this region, the nation and the world.

These cities would be a wonderful venue for anyone to study anything, for the reasons we have established. But to prepare to be a joyful pastor of God’s people, or to consider Great Books in light of the Greatest Book for the sake of the Great Commission, or to hone one’s skills in applying biblical truth to life and disciplemaking, few venues offer more in terms of a God-entranced vision of life, gospel ambition and potential, diversity of opportunity, and cultivation of authentic, white-hot worship of God in his glory, and passion to spread joy in Christ to every person on the planet…from this place.

All From One Corner in Minneapolis

Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, was in the 90’s and 00’s a spiritual power plant in relationship to the so-called Reformed Resurgence of Bible-focused, Calvinistic, “Big God,” absolute sovereignty theology and preaching. During those decades the church expanded both on its site at 8th and 13th, and to campuses in the northern and southern suburbs. The church was then abuzz with the movement of God’s spirit among his people. The first students to enroll in Bethlehem College and Seminary were attracted specifically to this place, for that reason.

Now, nearing 30 years later, that buzz vibrates among dozens of healthy, elder-led, Bible-preaching, happy Reformed congregations spawned by those who were once “young, restless, and reformed.” It has made the Twin Cities of Minnesota an extraordinary, spirit-filled, enclave of Reformed theology, representing a density of such theological inclination unlikely to be found in any other major American city.

The region is also home to a growing network of private Classical and Christian K-12 schools, led by Bethlehem community church members, staffed by Bethlehem graduates, and encouraged and supported by Bethlehem faculty.

More local Christian communities are now nearby in which biblical truth is upheld, congregations are God-entranced, and the spreading of passion for God’s supremacy in all things for the joy of all peoples in Jesus Christ extends to both the neighborhoods and the nations.

What better place might there be to learn, serve, and treasure God above all else.