About

Vision Statement: Bethany Lutheran Church is a creative congregation providing spiritual growth and service opportunities to ALL.

Mission Statement: As faithful disciples of Jesus Christ and with the gifts given us, Bethany Lutheran Church enhances the spiritual vitality of its membership and communities by strengthening faith, friendship, family, fellowship, and FUN through special programs, education, and worship.

We’re a fairly small congregation, rooted in the Word of God, and affiliated with Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC). If you’re not familiar with LCMC, we’d say that our denomination would be placed in Lutheranism about midway between the liberal ELCA and the conservative Missouri Synod, maybe a tad closer to Missouri. We have some female pastors but we’re very big on following the Gospels, not current culture, as our guide for living and to determine as best we can what is a sin and what isn’t. But, because all of us, including our pastors, are sinners, we welcome everyone to our fellowship and we strive together to follow the example set by Jesus.

Lutheran worship styles vary from congregation to congregation and from contemporary to traditional, from simple to formal. Bethany has a style in between, except for Heritage Sundays once a month when our service is quite simple. Would you like to know what our Sunday morning service is like? Go to the NEWS page on this site and click on a bulletin or two.

Once a month, on the second Sunday, we remember our Norwegian heritage by worshiping in the same pattern as our founders did in 1902, except the service is no longer done in the Norwegian language. Check out the Heritage Sunday bulletin and also a little info about Norway on the second sheet of the insert. While the members of our congregation who are of Norwegian ancestry may be less than 50 percent these days, the others are all honorary Norwegians.

We’re located in the town of Kelley, in the heart of Iowa – 7 miles south of Ames… 30 miles north of Des Moines, just a little west of Highway 69.

You’d be welcome to visit us on any Sunday morning, and join our congregation if you like, whoever you are! The service starts at 9:30 a.m., followed by Sunday school.

Below is a picture of our altar, done in Norwegian style:

In 2006, we installed an elevator to help members and friends get to the basement and sanctuary without dealing with all those steps! Please enter on the south side of the church (main entrance) to take advantage of this feature. In 2012, we built a handicap bathroom on the same level as the sanctuary.