This photo shows the Lehr Tabernacle in Lehr, North Dakota, a historic round wooden structure nestled among trees. The white-painted building features a central cupola and double front doors, reached by a straight sidewalk. An arched metal sign reading “Lehr Tabernacle” marks the entrance, with a large outdoor bell visible to the side. The setting reflects a traditional community gathering place, surrounded by greenery and shaded by mature trees.

Welcome to Prairie Bible Camp. The camp was founded in 1921 by the Bismarck District of the Evangelical Church. The purpose was to satisfy the need expressed by the German-Speaking Charges of the North Dakota Conference to establish a camp ground in order to have camp meetings in the German language. Lehr was chosen because of its central location to approximately 80 German speaking Evangelical churches in south central North Dakota and north central South Dakota

The property for the campground was given by Jacob Nagel, an early German Russian homesteader to the Lehr area. The property was part of his Tree claim quarter. Some of the larger cottonwood trees you see on the grounds date back to that first tree planting. The unique octagon shaped Tabernacle building was built from plans brought from Berlin Germany by Rev. A.H. Ermel, the pastor of the Streeter circuit.

The Tabernacle was built in May of 1922. The roof trusses resemble bridge trusses. The wooden windows along the sides and the raised cupola in the center of the building are for ventilation. The first benches were long continuous planks that ran the full width of the building, with an estimated seating capacity of 1500 people. The dirt floor was covered with fresh straw each season, until a concrete floor was installed in 1966.

Accounts of the early revival meetings mentioned three services a day, with the morning service having around 250 people in attendance, which grew to 500 people for the afternoon, and 1500 and more for the evening services. The two Sunday services saw the crowd swell to 2500 to 3000, with people standing five deep by the open windows around the outside of the Tabernacle. These numbers held steady through the end of World War Two.

The Chapel on the north end of the grounds is the only surviving church of the four rural churches that made up the Lehr circuit. It was known as the Zion church and was located 5 miles southeast of the campground. The chapel was moved onto the grounds in 1947 and has been in continuous use for youth activities. Dorms were built and youth camps were added in the early 1950’s. A modern bathhouse was added in 1960.

The campground has gone through several denominational mergers and today is operated as a non denominational organization known as Prairie Bible Camp. The annual revival meetings continue to be held each June, with June of 2021 marking the 100th anniversary of revival meetings in the Tabernacle. A youth camp that runs in conjunction with the Camp meeting is one of the greatest strengths of the camp’s ministry today.

The beautiful new dining hall south of the Tabernacle was built in 2018. We invite you to walk the grounds and read the plaques by the buildings and various points on the grounds that will give you a more complete history of the camp. In the quiet of the camp you may still hear the echo of the German hymns of yesterday. Gott ist die Liebe, or God is Love, is an old favorite that many of the young children of the area still know.