The sanctuary was quiet, not even half full, but filled to the brim with faith, sadness, stories sealed into the grain of the pews, and echoed memories of the past.
On Sunday, March 30, 2025, the First Presbyterian Church of Falls City held its final worship service, its last “Amen” after 159 years of ministry.
Sunlight filtered through the stained-glass windows, and longtime member Jennifer James helped welcome familiar faces, some of whom had traveled many miles to be here for the special event. “This truly feels like a death in the family,” she later stated, “ and I am grieving.”
James, who moved to Falls City when she was eight, shared how deeply the Congregation shaped her. “The congregation immediately became part of our family,” she stated. “They made sure I and the other children were raised to love the Lord and to live Christian lives. I don’t know about a village, but it certainly took a church to raise me.”
The worship began as it had every Sunday before: a welcome, a prayer, a hymn. “The Church’s One Foundation.” Pastor Richard Kent Martin, who has served as pulpit supply in recent years, led the service with grace and gratitude. “This moment is not merely an end, but it is a transition,” he told the gathered crowd. “and how the values nurtured in this church can inform our future endeavors .”
Former pastors of the Congregation returned to participate in the service. Rev. Carolynn Winters-Hazelton, Rev. Sarah James, Rev. Roxie Sullivan, and Rev. Nancy Tuma each read scripture and took communion.
The Congregation has weathered more than a century and a half of changes. It has marked countless baptisms, weddings, and funerals. The church has been a home through wars, pandemics, and cultural shifts. But dwindling numbers and financial challenges finally made it impossible to continue.
Still, there was joy amid the sorrow. The service was filled with music, memory, and blessing. A highlight came at the end when James’ sister, Julie, Vice-Moderator of Homestead Presbytery and a lay pastor in Talmage, stood at the pulpit to give the Charge to the Congregation.
“Our hearts are bound together in Christian love and we will continue in fellowship of kindred minds. Care for each other, call each other, pray for each other,” she said, “share joys and concerns with one another, write to each other, enjoy meals with each other, understand and accept how each how each person and family chose to continue their faith journey, celebrate First Presbyterian Church.”
She spoke not just as an official representative of the presbytery but as a former member and sister in the faith.
“Continue to be in conversation with each other, today and in the years to come,” Julie said, her voice firm with conviction. “The tie still binds us, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
The words were a reference to the beloved hymn “Blest Be the Tie That Binds Our Hearts.”
As the service closed, worshipers were invited downstairs for a farewell dinner. Thelma Kirkendall, the Congregation’s longest-tenured member but certainly not its oldest member, wore a purple corsage, her favorite color, as a small gesture of celebration.
The church’s future remains uncertain, as does what will become of the building and how the legacy will be honored, but it’s certain that the people who love this church will carry it with them through their community and faith.
And so, as the sanctuary doors closed one final time, Pastor Martin’s words rang true: “For as long as we walk with faith in our hearts, the legacy of this place will never truly be lost.”
