Logout
Editor’s note: The ELCA has a long and meaningful history of ministry in rural areas. This story is part of a series highlighting innovative rural ministries in ELCA congregations and communities today.
In Le Mars, Iowa, members of Living Faith Lutheran, the newest congregation in the Western Iowa Synod, are bearing witness to the virtue of commitment—to the ELCA, to each other and to their community.
Living Faith organized in 2021 as a synod-authorized worshiping community after a congregation in town voted to leave the ELCA. Some members of that congregation were disappointed and started looking for other options.
Mark Juhl and his wife had just joined that congregation but knew they wanted their faith home to be with the ELCA. “I really believed a lot in what the ELCA was doing and standing for, and I really liked most everything in their social statements,” he said.
Juhl emailed the synod office for guidance and soon those who were interested in staying with the ELCA started meeting and forming plans. While the newly formed worshiping community still had a lot to figure out about its future, they were united in wanting to join the ELCA because of the denomination’s commitment to inclusivity.
“We really wanted to be part of the ELCA because we believe all people are God’s children and are loved by God,” Juhl said. “We feel it is our duty to extend that love.”
Living Faith’s beginning and bold welcome caught the attention of others as the worshiping community started to grow—including Paige McGrath, who was a student at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, at the time.
“I heard about this congregation that at its core wanted to be a welcoming place for all people to worship,” she said. “It seemed like a group of people who really wanted to live out their faith in an active way. I thought that I would someday love to serve a congregation like that one, but I still had four years of seminary left.”
McGrath followed what was happening with Living Faith during those years and learned a bit of its story from pastors who were helping out while the congregation got established.
“I grew up in this synod, and some of them have been mentors to me,” she said. “When it was time for me to go through first call and Living Faith was actually a possibility, how could I not pursue that?”
In what some might consider a divine plan, McGrath is now serving her first call as the first pastor of Living Faith. “To say it is a good fit is an understatement,” she said.
An outward-facing church
As members of Living Faith establish their congregation, they have been intentional in focusing on their community. “As someone who has been involved in churches for a long time and seen the way some can turn inward, Living Faith is a very outward-facing church,” McGrath said.
The congregation has decided to share worship space with Presbyterian United Church of Christ, Le Mars, so they don’t have the logistics of maintaining a building soaking up their energy and finances. They are active in several service projects in the community, including a school meal backpack program, and have been generous with monthly benevolence to organizations with missions they value
“We are committed to serving in a way that I think Christ would want us to serve,” Juhl said.
McGrath said it has been fun to watch Living Faith deliver on the wide and intentional welcome they have been committed to from the beginning.
“It’s the only congregation [in town] that explicitly and publicly expresses that it is a safe and affirming place for LGBTQIA+ people,” she said. “I think there are other congregations in town that will love LGBTQIA+ people who come in their doors, but they will still believe they are living in sin.”
“A congregation like this is needed in this community—in this part of Iowa and this part of the country.”
McGrath said that while some congregations may fear being loud about their welcome because it might cause people to leave their congregation, Living Faith formed due to the opposite concern—that community members might leave if they didn’t feel like there was a place for them in the small, historically conservative town.
“A congregation like this is needed in this community—in this part of Iowa and this part of the country,” McGrath said. Last year she launched Fully Beloved, an online ministry for LGBTQIA+ youth and young adults to further help young people in western Iowa feel seen and welcome as their whole selves. Living Faith is a benevolent partner.
Now that Living Faith is an established congregation, the focus can shift from survival mode to dreaming about what comes next. They are growing in numbers, have financial security and are in the process of becoming a Reconciling in Christ congregation, which would be the first in the synod. Whatever lies ahead, members of Living Faith are committed to delivering on their congregation’s name.
“It’s an exciting season to figure out what’s next,” McGrath said. “It’s a joy to be with people who are passionate about serving the community and doing it well.”
