St. Peter's was founded over 130 years ago by German-speaking immigrants in the Northeast Iowa community that eventually became the town of New Albin, in Allamakee County (on the Mississippi River adjacent to the Minnesota/Iowa border). The church has its roots in the Evangelical and Reformed tradition. St. Peter's has been a nondenominational ministry for the past eleven years; it bases its theology in the Holy Bible, not in any denominational tradition. The congregation is composed, at one extreme, of families who have baptized three generations of babies in the font, and at the other, families who have joined in the past year or two. St. Peter's has been blessed by the pastorship of a bivocational pastor who is retiring as a full professor from a Christian (Catholic) liberal arts university and also wishes to retire from the pastorate. We are seeking our next pastor to lead us into the next generation of Christian work in Northeast Iowa. Size of town: about 450 plus surrounding farms and communities. Church size: about 60 in regular attendance, plus many inactive. Current ministries and missions: Weekly 5-minute radio devotional on KNEI Radio; regular support of a mission hospital in the mountains of Cameroon, West Africa; support of a community Christian outreach center called The Way Station; support of summer Bible camp for members' children and other area children; adult bible studies, teen bible studies (in preparation for confirmation), and children's church. Gifts: A debt free congregation that owns its own brick and concrete church building in town, with parsonage next door, and a lovely country cemetery just outside of town, overlooking the Mississippi. A long history of family church worship. Challenges: Declining attendance, an aging membership, lack of young families joining, and economic challenges which in large part reflect the economy of the region. There are several churches in the area who are facing the same issues. We are seeking: A minister who is a good teacher but also a loving shepherd who will help us be ready for the next few years and then the decades beyond as we become a fervently faithful, generous, God-seeking, forgiving, sustaining, patient congregation of Christians in whom the light of God shines for all the community to see.
