There are some of our smaller congregations that you may not know much about, so we asked a few of them to tell us about who they are and the work they have going on, starting with Clarinda, Iowa. The Clarinda Reformed Presbyterian Church was organized in 1855 and consisted of 13 families. Settling on rolling prairie previously occupied by the Sac and Fox Indians, the pioneers chose land for farming along the Nodaway River south of Clarinda. After initially meeting in homes for worship the congregation erected a combined school and meeting house in 1856. The recent building was erected in 1918, and was the fifth on the beautiful hilltop located 4 miles from town. The congregation is the only Reformed work in the southwest quadrant of Iowa.
In December of 2015, the members voted to move the worship into town (Grace Ministry Center) due to high upkeep costs of the “country” church. Our current location is one block east of the square, on Washington Street. The size of the congregation has greatly diminished. But the laborers are active. This summer a Vacation Bible School was held and we had 25 in attendance. Each Thursday morning, a weight loss class is held. Anywhere from 7-12 ladies attend. During the school year we have a game night the second Friday of the month. The ladies of church have a monthly Bible study and a day for sewing. One elder conducts a weekly worship service at a local nursing home. Opportunity for working with Japanese is available through a local factory. One lady hosts an ESL class in her home each week with the Bible as the text book.
Our worship service is at 9:30 a.m. with Sabbath School at 10:45 and Evening Service at 6:30. The third Sunday of the month is potluck at noon. Evening service is primarily Bible Study with the 4th Sunday a time of Prayer and Praise. If the month has a 5th Sunday we host a Psalm Sing. Last Psalm Sing we had people come from over an hour away.
Pray that God would draw new families into our congregation, that we would have wisdom on what to do with the historic church building in the country, and that God would use each of us in ministering to others.
Karen Baumgardner
