Bethany Reformed Church of Clara City, Minnesota

Religious enthusiasm has had a profound effect on the United States throughout history. Churches across the nation, specifically denominations of Christianity, have experienced patterns of increase and decrease in congregation population. Changes in congregation size are often directly connected to fluctuations in the corresponding town’s population. Certain factors affect churches at a global-level, while other factors are influential at a local, community-level.  An investigation of a rephotographed church in small town Clara City, Minnesota illustrates how church congregations are affected when external factors change within a community. Factors considered influential to local church communities include affluence, demographic change, community facilities, community type, and church competition.[1] These broader contextual factors that are apparent in the small town of Clara City, are evidently causing congregation growth in the local churches, most notably, Bethany Reformed Church.

Clara City is a rural town in Chippewa County located in southwestern Minnesota.  It is home to the current Bethany Reformed Church, which is part of the Reformed Church of America. The church building has changed significantly since its initial structure in 1889. The first church was built for initial settlers to have a place for worship. In 1912, the church was rebuilt due to a growing congregation. At the time there were eighty families attending Bethany Reformed.[2] In 1941, the church was again enlarged and remodeled so it could hold a larger population. By 1944, the congregation had increased in capacity to 228 families. In 1954, it was determined in a special congregational meeting that a new building needed to be constructed that could house the present and future congregations. The church body had increased beyond the maximum capacity and was forced to build a much larger structure. The historic image of the church pictured above is the building following the 1954 construction project. The new church housed 275 families. By 1974, the church yet again was too small for the increasing congregation. The church body decided at an Annual Congregational Meeting to add an educational unit to the existing church. The addition consisted of a pastor’s study, a secretary’s office, a youth room, a library, a chapel, a nursery, a spacious narthex, and Sunday School and Catechism rooms.[3] The add-on also expanded the sanctuary. Upon completion of the project, a membership count declared 366 families attended Bethany Reformed. This structure remained until 2016, when the congregation decided to add a gymnasium onto the existing church structure. The goal was to increase community involvement and accommodate the needs of the neighborhood. Bethany Reformed currently has 360 families attending.[4] In order to understand what caused the increase in church congregations one needs to analyze what external factors caused the town population to increase.

Local contextual factors representing small community congregations influence church growth and are often out of the control of the churchgoers. Historians Wade Roof, Dean Hoge, John Dyble, and Kirk Hadaway identify five community-based variables that influence church growth or decline. These variables are affluence, demographic change, community facilities, community type, and church competition.[5] Affluence has the strongest correlation relating to growth in church attendance. The age of the church building is a contributing factor to a growing church population. When analyzing the differences between the 1954 Bethany Reformed photograph and the current photograph, it is evident that the structure has been updated and remodeled several times.  This assertion supports the argument that affluence is a cause for church growth.

Demographic change is another variable that influences church attendance. This includes an increase in economic levels.  Historical statistics from the Department of Employment and Economic Development reveal that Chippewa County has historically had a relatively low unemployment rate of 3.3 - 4.0%. This means work opportunities are available, which would result in an increase in town population. Without consulting statistics, one would be able to conclude that Clara City experienced a population growth between 1954 and 2016; the town water tower relocated from the previous 1954 location to an area not pictured in the current photograph.  An increase in town population generally has a positive correlation with an increase in church population.

Another contextual variable identified that directly correlates with church membership is community facilities. Typically facilities located near churches have negative impacts on church participation. However, Roof and his colleagues identify agricultural farmland as an exception. They claim, “Facilities located near a church, except for farms, are all negatively related to church growth.”[6] This suggests that farms are deemed contributing factors to a church’s growth. Prior to the existence of Bethany Reformed Church, settlers moved to the Clara City area for the sole purpose of rich farmland. As more people discovered the profitable farming industry, more people moved to the area to work the land. Today, Clara City is an agricultural-based community. Bethany Reformed was founded during a period when farming was an increasing occupation, and it still has many members who actively participate in the business of agriculture.

The community type contextual variable is broken down into two categories: suburb versus city, town, and rural areas; and city versus suburb, town, and rural. According to Roof’s findings, the latter is a better indication of church growth. He claims, “Churches located in well-established residential areas are growing compared to those in commercial and/or transitional areas, where people are moving out.”[7] Clara City is a residential town with little commercial activity, thus it supports the claim that town and country areas are better indicators of church growth.

The last variable identified is church competition, which has a negative impact on church attendance. In the early years of Bethany Reformed, another place of worship called the First Holland Reformed Church was located in Clara City. This congregation no longer exists today, which perhaps indicates that not only were external variables influential to the success of Bethany Reformed Church, but internal factors were also involved. Internal factors include satisfaction with the church worship programs, complacency with the pastor, church social action, community involvement, etc.[8] Perhaps, this reveals that Bethany Reformed was victorious in creating an internal atmosphere that was favorable to the Christian community. Further research on the internal factors influential at Bethany Reformed would be necessary to validate this assumption. 

Bethany Reformed Church has experienced congregational growth since the early 1900s.  An analysis of a rephotograph of the church reveals that the congregation has continued to grow beyond its maximum capacity. Factors outside of the church’s control such as affluence, demographic change, community facilities, community type, and church competition are all variables that are visible in the small town Clara City church.