In 1971 the Lord began to raise up the church in Rochester through high-school-age believers who at that time had no knowledge of the other local churches in the United States. In 1967 and 1968, several believing families had moved to Rochester from various places across the United States. The young people from these families eventually came into contact with each other and with other seeking students, finding a mutual desire to love and follow the Lord. At the beginning of the 1968 school year, they began to meet together regularly at both Mayo and John Marshall High Schools. The gospel was actively proclaimed everywhere: in the schools, on the streets, and at the student dances. Several of the families opened their homes to these young people for regular weekly Bible studies, and the number attending these grew steadily.

Then came a turning point in our history. In the first week of April 1971, two of these young people went to a “Jesus rally” in Minneapolis and met two brothers there from Washington state, one of whom decided to visit Rochester. At one of the home Bible studies, he shared from Romans 6 concerning baptism, asking afterward if anyone had the desire to be baptized. More than 30 young people raised their hands, so the decision was made to meet together the next day after school on the banks of the Zumbro River, near what is now the Mayo Civic Center. Here, under the watchful eyes of many witnesses including two Rochester policemen who had earlier assured the brothers that such a gathering and use of the river was within the bounds of the law, more than 35 young people were baptized!

Afterward, they returned to one of the homes, prayed together, appointed two elders, and experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Over the next few years, they preached the gospel and visited other cities to find similar fellowship. Some studied and outlined the book The Normal Christian Church Life written by Watchman Nee, a respected Christian writer, which opened the Scripture to them regarding the ground of the church. They also enjoyed other booklets published by the same ministry. The new church continued meeting over the next year and a half, enjoying the Lord’s table from house to house, yet without any knowledge of other local churches existing anywhere within the United States. Thus, the beginning of the local church in Rochester!

Then, in January 1973, an order blank for books from Living Stream Ministry was found and a large order was placed for books by both Watchman Nee and another Christian writer, Witness Lee. The brothers surmised, from the similarity of the names, that Nee and Lee might have been co-workers together in Mainland China. A month later, the church received a letter from the church in Chicago. That was the first time these young believers learned that there were other believers in the United States meeting as the local church. Exhilarating visits between the two churches began regularly and, in July of 1973, two Rochester brothers traveled to Los Angeles and had fellowship with brother Lee in his home.

From that time we have continued to enjoy fellowship with the other local churches in conferences, receiving the expounding of each book of the Bible. Today, many of us who were there at the beginning, but older now, still meet here as the church in Rochester, and more have been added. Quite a good number have also moved away and now meet with the local churches in other cities for the blending of the one new man, and the building up of the Body of Christ.