How Iowa's United Methodist churches are evolving
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South Side Church and Community Center. Photo: Courtesy of Iowa United Methodist Church
For the Iowa Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, aging congregations, shifting demographics and costly building upkeep have led to the closure of some local churches, but also new and more diverse forms of worship.
Why it matters: Consolidations within the denomination has also opened doors for communities that weren't previously served.
Flashback: Methodist identity has long been rooted in neighborhood churches, where people gathered seven days a week rather than just Sundays, says the Rev. Jaye Johnson of Iowa UMC.
- That has shifted as younger congregants move away and have to drive farther for services and longtime members age with no natural pipeline of local replacements.
- Once more than 10% of your congregation has to drive more than 5 miles to attend, it changes the neighborhood focus of the church, Johnson says.
State of play: In the Beaverdale neighborhood, Christ United Methodist Church closed its doors this year, ending with around 31 congregants.
- The decision to close the church was due to infrastructure costs to maintain the aging building, plus the popularity of other nearby Methodist churches, like Johnston River of Life and New Hope.
- The proceeds from the sale of the building will go into funds that can help all of the UMC ministries, Johnson says.
The latest: Over the last few years, Methodist leaders have been experimenting with merging and relaunching churches to better serve changing neighborhoods' needs.
- The former St. John's UMC on Southwest 14th Street closed last year, and it relaunched as the South Side Church and Community Center in partnership with Norwalk UMC, now drawing 75–80 people weekly who weren't previously connected to the church.
- Wesley UMC on East 12th was turned over last July to La Resurrección UMC, a Spanish-language congregation serving the neighborhood's growing Latino community.
- This July, several East and South Side congregations will unite as an "urban collective" to pool resources and expand their reach.
The big picture: In 2023, around 83 churches disaffiliated from the Iowa Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church over UMC's decision to allow same-sex marriage and ordain queer pastors.
- After the split, there were around 544 churches, and today there are around 538 Methodist outposts, Johnson says.
What they're saying: "As Christians, we would believe in resurrection after death. And so, in a similar way, our churches don't die, they're resurrected — just in a different way," Johnson says.