Religion: Outstanding Young Man

"The most outstanding young man in Minneapolis for 1944" turned out to be blond, strapping (6 ft. 2 in.; 205 Ibs.) Rev. Reuben Youngdahl, 33. His outstanding job: in only seven years he converted Mount Olivet Lutheran Church from a debt-ridden institution of 200 members into a booming 2,500-member parish.

Last week Mount Olivet, now the second biggest church in the Augustana Lutheran Synod, celebrated its 25th anniversary. The congregation had already outgrown its new $50,000 church. Pastor Youngdahl was holding three identical services every Sunday, each overflowing the 465 seats and jamming the church to the doors. To meet the rush, he planned to split $400,000 between a new postwar church building and a Sunday school, youth center and gymnasium.

Reuben Youngdahl, son of a Swedish grocer, took unorthodox risks to perform this transformation. He first plunged the church deeper into debt in order to build in a better part of town. Then he set out after new members. He told his parishioners that he believes that church member ship is a "seven-day-a-week proposition"; if they wanted to belong, they would have to keep busy. They do—in thirteen women's and social clubs, four youth groups, two missionary societies, a day nursery.

Pastor Youngdahl is no sawdust-trail evangelist. Quiet, forceful, hardworking, he preaches ten-to-twelve-minute sermons, studded with human-interest stories which relate Christian truths to modern living. He believes no minister need be a ranter: "I've got something to sell. The greatest thing in the world. Christianity works."