By Ann Petersen, SBA Columnist | 9/25/25
(SBA) - The Community United Methodist Church celebrated its 150th anniversary on October 2, 2005. Activities to celebrate that year included a summer church picnic with the Monona County Gospel Singers, a U.S.O. era dance in August, a musical church service in September with the Matney Sisters, and on the “big day” in October with a service conducted by the District Superintendent where all of the previous pastors of the church were recognized,and a banquet and a program in the afternoon. The anniversary year concluded with a service featuring the Methodist Bishop of Iowa. The church developed and published a cookbook, combining recipes from community members, as well as church members, and included a church history through 2005.
According to this church history, by 1975, the congregation had outgrown the “old” church and plans were developed to build a new church in a different part of town. In 1976, the congregation purchased three acres of land from Mrs. Ward Baker for $22,500. There was no money available to begin building a church and the land was farmed until 1982. A building committee was formed, consisting of Don Woodford, Darrel Ellerbeck, Janet Lorenger, Bob Rogers, Art Freiberg, Garry Lines, Joanne Day, Charles Woodford, Lela Williams and the pastor at that time, Rev. Gary Marzoff. This group began visiting area churches as they sought to decide what the new church should look like, deciding that the plan of St. John United Methodist Church in Mapleton, Iowa would best fit the needs of a new church in Sergeant Bluff at First Street and Baker Drive.
Fundraising began in the fall of 1983, resulting in pledges for more than half the cost of construction. Additionally, the congregation borrowed $50,000 from the Iowa Methodist Conference, and $250,000 from the Board of Global Ministries. An additional $105,000 was self-financed. The original loans were for fifteen years, but the church was able to retire the loans in twelve years. Groundbreaking took place on June 17, 1984. Two-phase construction was a financial necessity, so the first phase included the building of the educational hallway, the office and fellowship hall, and only the shell of the sanctuary. Worship services were held in the fellowship hall. Construction costs for the first phase were $628,000 with an additional cost of $58,000 for sidewalks and site paving. Other costs were accrued for landscaping, pews, kitchen equipment, stained glass, soil testing and architectural expenses, bringing the final cost to $784,500. The final church service was held in the “old” church on March 24,1985 and a procession to the new church building concluded that worship service. Led by Rev. Gary Marzoff, the congregation proceeded carrying the Holy Bible, Cross, Candles, Offering Plates, Hymnals and the Christian and American flags. Various church members later donated the new stain glass windows, crafted by Nick and Diane Bogenrief of Hinton, Iowa.
In June 1988, the first service was held in the newly-completed sanctuary in phase two of the building process. In November 1992, the mortgage on the church building and its contents was burned.
One of the perils of building a church with a flat roof is that inevitably that roof develops leaks. In 1995, a new roof and the paving of the parking lot cost $80,000. Other additions to the church over the next few years included the construction of the bell tower and planter, a storage building (shared with the Boy Scouts), remodeling of the church parsonage (twice), a new church sign and a flower bed in front of the church were added later.
The church celebrated its 170th Anniversary on Sunday, September 14, 2025 with an outdoor service, followed by a three-hour “Family Fun Day.” The Rev. Dr. Michel Landula, the Methodist District Superintendent for this area of the state brought greetings from his office, as well as the Methodist Bishop from Iowa. In her sermon, Pastor Cindi Prather provided a context for all that the Community United Methodist Church has done within our town over the last 170 years. There have been four church buildings created, often by the hands of the congregants, 84 pastors have served the church, performing thousands of baptisms, weddings and funerals and the church provided a religious home for hundreds of congregants. Pastor Cindi noted the four- individuals who have been members of the congregation the longest—Betty Martin (90 years), Mona Hurd (72 years), Doreen Massey (72 years) and Mary Ann Shupe (70 years).
Thanks to the hard work of many members of the congregation (and especially the church secretary, Joleen LaFrentz) the “Family Fun Day” was a great success! The afternoon began with a charming Magic Show by Sergeant Bluff ninth grader, Easton Boetcher, and ended with an inspirational concert by a barbershop group from the Siouxland Discovery Chorus. Two food trucks provided meals and quite a few prizes were given away, including tickets to two Musketeer games. Games including a cupcake walk, Bingo, crafts, ring toss, corn hole and others entertained the congregation and guests throughout the afternoon. Fortunately, the whole thing was cleaned up before the first thunderstorm hit. A final activity to mark the culmination of 170 years will be the creation of a booklet including stories contributed by church members, photos and a retelling of the relationship between the history of the church and the history of the town—it will be the first such gathering of materials since Aliene Baker Lindgren’s HISTORY OF PIONEED VALLEY, published in 1954.
I am currently working on this compilation, but I fear that it will take me the entire winter to complete it. Stay tuned!
