AMERICANALMANAC (Charles McAdams) - A 150-year-old Iowa church shuts its doors as rural congregations vanish across the state
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lu Verne, Iowa, closed permanently this summer after more than a century of worship, one small congregation in a statewide wave of closures that has shuttered hundreds of churches in barely a decade. Pastor Steve Struecker led a final service before the doors closed in June, walking through the sanctuary […] The post A 150-year-old Iowa church shuts its doors as rural congregations vanish across the state appeared first on American Almanac .
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lu Verne, Iowa, closed permanently this summer after more than a century of worship, one small congregation in a statewide wave of closures that has shuttered hundreds of churches in barely a decade. Pastor Steve Struecker led a final service before the doors closed in June, walking through the sanctuary one last time to remove the artifacts that had anchored the congregation's worship for generations. He carried out the baptismal font, a lectern, communion cups, and a cross, sacred items that had no building left to hold them. The closure was not sudden. Zion, roughly 119 miles northwest of Des Moines, had watched its membership thin for years. Fewer families moved in. The ones who stayed grew older.…Open