A small but steadily growing mission work in South Central Iowa is strengthening its gospel witness through community engagement, institutional chaplaincy, and consistent preaching and teaching.
Immanuel Reformed Fellowship (IRF), a church plant of the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS), continues to expand its ministry footprint in the South Central Iowa area while working toward becoming a fully particularized congregation.
Planted in 2019, the fellowship began meeting in nearby Oskaloosa before relocating to Pella after the rental facility it was using became unavailable. While the work started off strong, the plant weathered the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, logistical challenges, and emerging digital options of worshiping online. Despite these obstacles, IRF steadily built momentum through local outreach and community partnerships.
A Gospel-Forward Plant
The vision for IRF goes back to 1893, when the Rev. D. P. Klingaman, a prominent figure in the Iowa Classis of the Reformed Church in the United States, was instrumental in formalizing a congregation from a small gathering of German immigrants. The congregation transitioned from meeting in private residences and temporary halls to a simple wooden-frame structure located at A Avenue West and North Street, Oskaloosa, Iowa. Years later, Rev. Lawrence Faust, part of the generation of ministers who helped “Americanize” the German Reformed Church, led the Oskaloosa congregation to move from its exclusive German-speaking liturgy and preaching and to embrace a more gospel-forward mindset whereby the church would be more outward facing and less inward facing. Instead of trying to preserve the German culture, Faust, a church planter at heart, wanted his parishioners to think about the spiritually lost. He wanted his congregation to avoid converting people to the German church but to become a gospel witness in the community.
Although the inward focus of preserving German liturgical culture has not been an issue for years, something close to that, it could be argued, has been. The temptation for church planters is to grow the church by looking for those new families that already have some Reformed sensibility. Adding migrating Reformed families from community to community or even church to church in a given town might be considered growth in the membership statistics’ column, but not necessarily in spiritual growth. IRF, wanting to be gospel-forward, is seeking to reach out to the unconverted. IRF, with malice aforethought, has attempted to avoid wooing disenfranchised members of nearby Reformed churches and has purposely engaged in community involvement with the gospel message.
Community Presence
A defining feature of IRF’s mission strategy is a strong presence in the broader community. Through cooperation with local ministries and the Pella Ministerial Association, the fellowship assists with crisis response, aid to transients, and community service projects. Church planter Chuck Muether writes, “There is a fine line between doing ministry that amounts to being Social Gospel efforts and truly delivering the Word while engaging in activity. The pre-merger RCUS Almanacs are replete with listings of church-run orphanages and hospitals, noble efforts indeed, but too often orthodoxy got lost in all the doing.”
The mission work conducts regular worship services and Bible studies in several senior residential communities. A significant avenue for evangelism has been Mariaska Ministries, a chaplaincy initiative named after two Iowa counties: Marion and Mahaska. Mariaska Ministries offers spiritual care to hospitals, residential facilities, correctional settings, and other institutions throughout the region. The program has opened doors for pastoral counseling and gospel conversations with individuals who might not otherwise darken the door of a church. Mariaska Ministries is working to secure nonprofit status, and grant funding, in part, would help supplement the financial needs of the mission work, as both would be operating from the same location.
Muether said, “IRF has been blessed over the years with the financial support that has come from Classis, Synod, and the overseeing church, Covenant Reformed Church (Gettysburg, PA), but after five years of faithful support, it is time for us to transition off and rely on self-supporting means and for mission funds to be applied to newer works. We are humbled and grateful for the giving toward this South Central Iowa plant.”
Denominational Stewardship
Rev. Cody Schwichtenberg, Chair of the Communications and Legacy Subcommittee, explained the importance of financial stewardship and giving within the denomination:
“One of the great privileges that Christ gives to His church is the opportunity to take part in the spread of the Gospel. You might not be called to preach. However, that does not mean you have no part in missions. When you give to mission works, you are taking part in the advancement of Christ’s kingdom. In 3 John 5–8, the Apostle reminds us that when believers receive and support those who go forth for Christ’s name’s sake, they become fellow workers for the truth.
The Apostle Paul also speaks this way to the Philippians. He thanks them for their generosity, but he also makes clear that their giving was more than money changing hands. He says, ‘Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.’ Then he says that their gift was ‘a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God,’ (Phil. 4:17-18). Their giving was an act of worship. That is an important reminder for us. Giving to mission works is not just about meeting a budget or paying synodical dues. It is about loving Christ and longing to see His name made known to others.”
Because of the generous giving from the church, Immanuel Reformed Fellowship continues its journey in becoming a particularized church. “To be truly a particularized church, you need to have the three solid legs of self-propagating, self-governing, and self-supporting. We are not nearly there, but we have spiritually grown, and we have the tenacity to move forward in this mission with passion and grit,” Muether noted.
Worship, Teaching, and Growth
IRF’s ministry centers on regular worship, Bible studies, and discipleship programs. Over the past few years, the mission has maintained a consistent schedule of services and instruction, including fifty-two morning worship services and twice a month afternoon or evening services. The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper has been administered monthly, and confirmation instruction and adult education classes continue to strengthen the mission work’s theological foundation.
Several ongoing programs serve different segments of the congregation and community, including: Wednesday Evening Bible Study (WEBS), Sunday Afternoon Bible Study, “Sola Soupa,” a monthly fellowship meal and doctrinal discussion, and a quarterly dinner-and-video event known as Diner’s Club. Youth programs include Pathfinders and True Glue Crew.
Muether concludes, “Individuals do not plant churches; churches plant churches, and IRF has been blessed by the counsel of the Covenant Reformed Church consistory, by the congregational prayers that are regularly offered from the Gettysburg pulpit, and the support of the saints of our mother church. Ultimately, church planting can only be achieved through the power of the Holy Spirit and realized through the means that God has chosen. We praise God for the labor that has been accomplished and we look forward to the labor that is to come. To God be the glory!”