Meet Dr. Lynn Bergfalk

Lynn has lived with his family for over twenty years in the Tenleytown-Cleveland Park neighborhood (just five blocks from our church), originally moving from the Midwest in 1987 to serve as the Senior Minister of Calvary Baptist Church in downtown DC. After he left Calvary in 2000 to start a new urban ministry called City Gate, he was simultaneously invited to serve as pastor of Wisconsin Avenue Baptist Church (WABC). Lynn has always been energized by challenges and innovation, and has enjoyed helping WABC transition from a "traditional church" to a diverse community-oriented congregation that shares his vision for compassion, service, and justice through a partnership with City Gate.

Before moving to DC, Lynn served as a pastor in Iowa and Nebraska. He is a graduate of Bethel College in St. Paul, MN, Yale Divinity School, New Haven, CT, and received his Doctor of Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary here in D.C. He has been active in varied community and religious organizations for many years, including service on the General Board of the American Baptist Churches USA, and as President of the DC Baptist Convention.

He continues to serve as President and Executive Director of City Gate, Inc., which he founded in 2000. In the ancient world, the gate was more than an entrance to a city. It was the place where strangers were to be welcomed, and where the poor, and "the widow and orphan" were to access the resources of the larger community. Today City Gate partners with WABC in providing English classes, a language immersion preschool, and summer camp at our Tenley Circle location, in addition to providing after-school and summer camp programs for 300 children in Wards 1, 7, and 8.

Lynn and his wife Sue, an oncology nurse at Georgetown University Hospital, have four grown children – Chris, Ben, Haven, and Jessica – and seven grandchildren (including three-year-old triplets, who exponentially increase family joys and challenges!). All the family members live and work in Washington with the exception of Haven, in Fargo, ND, next door to the Bergfalk's home state of Minnesota.

Pastor Lynn's thoughts on:
My Passion is... Community, Sept. 2010

Pastor Lynn's thoughts on:
Storehouses of Snow, Feb. 13th, 2010