David Nyvall

David Nyvall (January 19, 1863 – February 6, 1946) was a Swedish immigrant to the United States and church leader who helped shape the Evangelical Covenant Church and establish North Park University in Chicago.

Biography

Upbringing and education Nyvall was born in Karlskoga, Sweden, the son of Carl Johan Nyvall, a colporteur who helped found the Mission Covenant Church in Sweden, and Anna Margareta Moberg. He immigrated to America in 1886 at age 23; he settled in Illinois and became involved in the nascent denomination in the states. Though his educational background was pre-med, he accepted an offer from Erik August Skogsbergh (1850–1939) to teach at his school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 1887 he married Skogsbergh's sister Lovisa (Louise) and served a year as pastor to a church in Sioux City, Iowa.

Career The next year he began teaching in the Swedish department of the Chicago Theological Seminary, which at the time provided the theological education of many Covenant pastors. Nyvall felt strongly that the Covenant should have its own school. Acting on this conviction, he resigned from the Chicago Theological Seminary and returned to Skogsbergh's Minneapolis school, which the Covenant had recently accepted as the denomination's school. Three years later, in 1891, this school was moved to Chicago and North Park College was established, Largely as a result of the criticism and disagreement, Nyvall resigned as president and professor in 1904 and left the school the following year.

1905–1912 In his absence, he served as the first president of Walden College in McPherson, Kansas. In 1907 he returned to Sweden and the following year he took up residence in Minneapolis where he edited the early Covenant periodical .