 | EFCA Cornerstone Church
of Blaine is affiliated with the Evangelical Free Church of America. To learn more about the EFCA click on the
EFCA logo to the left and that will take you to their website: www.efca.org
The BasicsThe Evangelical Free Church of America is an association of some
1,300 autonomous churches united by a mutual commitment to serve our Lord Jesus Christ with the guidance of the
Holy Spirit and obedience to the Word of God. We are committed to cooperate with one another in ministry and
fellowship as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission which Christ has entrusted to His Church. The growing
ministry of the EFCA currently extends to some 45 countries of the world.
What Does
"Evangelical" Mean?The term Evangelical refers to our commitment to the
proclamation of the Gospel and to the authority of Scriptures as being inerrant in the original writings and the
only safe and sufficient guide to faith and practice.
What Does "Free" Mean?The
term Free refers to our form of church government as being congregational. Evangelical Free
Churches depend upon the active participation of lay people in the decisions and directions.
| History of the Evangelical Free Church:The Evangelical Free
Church of America was formed in 1950 by the merger of two church bodies: the Swedish Evangelical Free
Church and the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Free Church Association. Both groups had been birthed in the revival
movements of the late nineteenth century.
The Swedish group had its formal beginnings in Boone,
Iowa, at a conference held in October of 1884. In that same year, two Norwegian-Danish groups began to worship
and fellowship together in Boston, Massachusetts and Tacoma, Washington. By 1912, both the Swedish Evangelical
Free Church and the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Free Church Association had been formed.
Those two
associations, representing 275 local congregations, were formally joined together as they gathered for a merger
conference in June of 1950 at the Medicine Lake Conference Grounds near Minneapolis, Minnesota. The international
and national offices of the EFCA have been located in Minneapolis since the merger took place.
Dr. E.A. Halleen, who had served for 28 years as the president of the Swedish association, was
elected as the first president of the newly formed Evangelical Free Church of America. His one-year term crowned
a brilliant ministry career as a pastor, teacher, evangelist and church leader.
In 1951, Dr.
Arnold T. Olson was elected president. He had served as the president of the Norwegian-Danish
association for six years, as chairman of the merger committee and as the first moderator of the EFCA. Under his
leadership, The Evangelical Free Church of America broke the boundaries of its ethnic background and flowed into
the mainstream of the evangelical movement. Dr. Olson served with distinction as the president of the EFCA for
twenty-five years.
Dr. Thomas A. McDill became the third president of the EFCA in
1976. His pastoral and administrative gifts were used by God to significantly strengthen the church during an
unsettled and challenging time in American history. The movement grew dramatically under his leadership both in
numbers and in its spiritual influence.
Dr. Paul A. Cedar served as the fourth
president of the EFCA from 1990 until 1996. Dr. Cedar brought a passion for prayer, spiritual dependence, and
evangelism to his leadership role. In 1996, Dr. Cedar left the EFCA to become the first full-time president of
Mission America, a national networking and evangelism ministry.
Dr. William J.
Hamel became the fifth president in June of 1997 and serves currently in that role.
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