There was a time in the history of the Hawthorne Gospel Church when there was no church building and the roads of the community were dirt ones. When the small group of people met in the Lafayette Fire Hall on Sunday afternoon, June 5, 1925, to hold weekly meetings “for the preaching of the Gospel of the grace of God and the Lord’s coming,” they prayed and believed God would bless their efforts – but He did far more than they expected.
In 1915, the renowned evangelist Billy Sunday conducted an evangelistic crusade in Paterson, New Jersey. Following the meetings, Mrs. Alma Fischer began teaching a ladies’ Bible class. Ten years later, while waiting outside a home in Hawthorne for his wife to finish one of those classes, a man casually suggested holding Sunday afternoon Bible meetings that would not conflict with regular church services. Although everyone involved was already active in their own churches, they shared a desire for consistent Bible teaching and evangelistic preaching. What began as a simple conversation would, in God’s provision, become the foundation of a ministry that has continued for more than a century.
As attendance steadily increased, it became evident that the Lord was blessing the work. The group became known as the Hawthorne Gospel Mission, a name that reflected its central purpose of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. Herrmann G. Braunlin, a respected leader from Madison Avenue Baptist Church in Paterson, was invited to lead the growing ministry.
In those early years, the Hawthorne Gospel Mission owned no property. The congregation first met at the Lafayette Fire Hall before purchasing a large canvas tent for nightly summer meetings. Those gatherings became the beginning of the church’s annual Bible conference, which over the years welcomed notable speakers such as A. W. Tozer, Billy Graham, and David Jeremiah. Property was soon acquired on Lafayette Avenue, where the congregation constructed its first church building. Within seven years, the ministry had become firmly established. In 1932, the Hawthorne Gospel Mission officially became the Hawthorne Gospel Church, and on March 7, 1934, Herrmann G. Braunlin, who had faithfully led the congregation while working in New York City, accepted the call to become its first full-time pastor.
By 1953, the congregation had grown to approximately 500 people, making additional space essential. That same year, God provided an opportunity to purchase fifteen acres of land along State Route 208, offering room for future expansion, ample parking, and a growing youth ministry. Services continued in the Lafayette Avenue building until 1960, when the church relocated to its new property. Also that year, the neighboring Villa Como property was purchased and renovated into the Hawthorne Bible House, a Christian bookstore sponsored by the church. With that acquisition, the campus expanded to twenty-two acres, and the Lafayette Avenue property was sold.
After serving faithfully for sixty-two years, Pastor Herrmann G. Braunlin was named Pastor Emeritus in 1986, and Pastor John W. Minnema was installed as Senior Pastor.
The years that followed brought continued growth. By 1975, weekly attendance averaged nearly 1,000 people, exceeding the capacity of the 650-seat pavilion that had served as the church sanctuary since the move to Route 208. Looking to the future, the church constructed a new 1,800-seat sanctuary in 1978 to accommodate its growing congregation. The spacious campus also made possible the launch of Top of the Hill Day Camp in 1974 and Hawthorne Christian Academy in 1981.
Under Pastor John’s leadership, the ministry continued to expand. Hawthorne Christian Academy graduated its first senior class in 1988, and the church added the Youth Ministries Center (1986), the Upper Gymnasium (2001), Church Building renovations (2007), and the Fellowship Center (2021). In 1999, a third Sunday morning worship service was introduced to accommodate continued growth.
The pastoral staff and church leadership felt the Lord paving the pathway towards a new ministry in 2018. The First Baptist Church in Hackensack found themselves lacking the pastoral leadership and financial support needed to sustain the ministries in Hackensack, and they had been praying that the Lord would provide a way to continue the ministries they began for His glory. Sensing the Lord’s calling, the pastoral staff of Hawthorne began preaching on rotation in the city of Hackensack. On March 3, 2020, two weeks before the coronavirus pandemic affected the entire world–the ministry in Hackensack officially became a campus ministry of the Hawthorne Gospel Church, and soon after was renamed as the Hackensack Gospel Church.
The Lord has done far more than what the small group of people in 1925 expected. The Hawthorne Gospel Church is accomplishing what only could have been imagined by the original group over 100 years ago, and it is all because of the grace of God and His blessing.
These archival recordings and visuals highlight meaningful moments from throughout the history of Hawthorne Gospel Church. Spanning multiple decades of ministry, they reflect the people, events, and lasting legacy that helped shape the church’s first 100 years.