“If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”
OUr story
Beginning in hope
Des Moines First Church of the Nazarene was formed out of a tent meeting that took place in Good Park in 1918. A church was formed to practice being a holy people together and minister to the city of Des Moines. They believed the Spirit could bring radical transformation.
The old First Church at 12th and Forest in Des Moines. This building was purchased from Westminster Presbyterian Church and later sold when the congregation moved and built on 47th and Douglas in 1963. Unfortunately, this old church building burned down in 1970.
Countless people have come to know Jesus Christ as Lord through through the ministry of First Church. It has had a hand in planting several of the Nazarene churches in the metro including Eastside, Southside, Highland Park (now Revive Church), Boone, Ankeny Hope, and Greater Life by the giving of resources or the sending of people.
The congregation has a history of wonderful leadership development. It has raised up and trained leaders on all levels of the denomination; a General Superintendent, a District Superintendent, and scores of pastors and missionaries.
A Kairos Moment
Over the last 15-20 years, First Church faced substantial decline. There were both times of victory and challenge. The most difficult days were during a pastoral interim in late 2016. The congregation had dwindled, the facility maintenance was becoming overwhelming, and the church board members were worn out.
The church building on 47th and Douglas. The church moved from 12th and Forest to build this property in the early 1960’s. It housed the congregation for 56 years.
Members of the church board went into a meeting with the district superintendent ready to share their feelings about how they were ready to be done. The Spirit did something in that meeting. God spoke through the district superintendent Kim Smith that evening. The encouragement he was able to provide to the members of the board did something in their own spirits. It was a kairos moment.Time stood still. God broke in. They were infused with hope for the future at what God might do amongst them. At that meeting, Rev Smith introduced the idea to our board a new day could be here for our church. He began to use the language of restart with the church board. Instead of deciding to close the church, they banded together to lean into new possibilities. That evening they gained the hope of resurrection.
“There are several words in the Greek language which translate into the English word for time. Chronos is the one we would find most familiar, meaning successive or sequential time, the kind of time you find on your wristwatch. Another is kairos, meaning an event, an opportunity—a moment in time when perhaps everything changes because it is the right time. A kairos moment is when the eternal God breaks into your circumstances with an event that gathers some loose ends of your life and knots them together in his hands. In kairos moments, the rules of chronos time seem to be suspended.”
Resurrection Hope
Not long after that meeting the church called Pastor Matt and his family to Des Moines to help lead the way in restarting the church. It was by more than coincidence that on Pastor Matt’s first Sunday at the church the Old Testament passage from the lectionary was from Ezekiel 37: “Son of man, can these bones live?” A small congregation were reminded that day, “Yes! God is breathing new life into us!”
After becoming acclimated with living in Des Moines and getting to know the congregation, Pastor Matt and the leadership began to work on a restart plan for the church. After a year of prayer and discernment, they proposed the plan begin with the selling of the church building and starting over with a new mission and vision to live resurrection life with and among our neighbors in the Beaverdale, Lower Beaver, and Merle Hay neighborhoods.
The sanctuary in the early morning of the final day of worship at 47th and Douglas. This was a great day of thanksgiving to God for what the Lord has done in this place.
First Church of the Nazarene held its final service at 47th and Douglas on July 7th, 2019. The faithful remnant of the congregation meets weekly at Debra Heights Wesleyan Church for worship in their fellowship hall.
Just as the leadership began to make plans for the restart celebration, the world changed drastically due to the covid-19 pandemic. The conversations changed to how we could care for one another through the pandemic, how we could best love our neighbors, and how we could gather people digitally through streaming services and zoom. The pandemic provided space for the leadership to think through priorities and the kind of church we’d wanted to become. From there, plans for the relaunch began again. On August 29th, 2021, First Church of the Nazarene became Resurrection Community Church of the Nazarene at an outdoor service on the grounds of Debra Heights Wesleyan Church.
The new name serves a theological and vocational identity for the congregation. The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ serves as the lens by which we know and understand the world. It is central to our ways of thinking, being and doing. Secondly, as the church has been called out of death and into new life, we’re confident that God’s work in us is a sign that all things are being made new. This awareness has helped us understand why we exist: we gather neighbors together to join God in the renewal of all things.
