Warren County attracts many individuals, families, and businesses. But it’s also attracted a church to its community.
Since 2021, Alathea Baptist Church has been located in Greenfield Plaza township, just south of the Des Moines city limits in Warren County. But that wasn’t always its home. Since 1961, the church had met on Southeast Fourteenth Street in Des Moines proper. In early 2020, the church decided that their current facility no longer met their needs. It wasn’t long before they found a new home in Warren County.
Doug DeFord, the senior pastor of the church, explained,
When we first decided to sell the property that served as our church home for over seven decades, we had not determined where we would relocate. After we began seeking a new location, however, it didn’t take long to discover that the opportunities in Warren County were much more in line with our financial ability. We credit God for directing us to the property that we purchased on the Warren County side of County Line Road.
Warren County provided the church with many opportunities. Pastor DeFord stated,
There is more than one reason why this became an ideal location for us. First of all, it is only an eight-minute drive from our previous location allowing us to serve the same community. Secondly, while we can still serve the same Des Moines people, we feel it opens up doors for us to better reach into the northern regions of Warren County. Finally, because of far less restrictive building code requirements, we estimate that being in Warren County likely saved us at least a quarter of a million dollars in building costs.
The members of Alathea Baptist, which emphasizes building relationships both in the church body and in the community, found that Warren County suited their needs very well. DeFord said,
“All of the above stated reasons that we decided to move to our current property in Warren County have proven to benefit our ministry. We did not lose any of our previous members due to any added inconvenience. We have been able to reach more people in Warren County, and it all turned out to be affordable. The current building and accompanying acres are much more suitable for our ministry philosophy and have proven to be a blessing to our congregation.”
But not only has Alathea Baptist Church benefited from its new Warren County location, the church believes that it can help meet a real spiritual need in the community. Pastor Doug DeFord explained,
The ultimate spiritual need of Warren County is no different than anywhere else. People need a personal relationship with God the Father through faith in the sacrifice of God the Son – Jesus. This is the Gospel — the Good News that is expressed in summary form in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4: ‘Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.’ (NKJV) Of course that is only the beginning. People need to continue to grow in their faith and to become increasingly like our Lord Jesus Christ so that others are drawn to Him as well.”
This corresponds with the name of the church. Right around the time that it moved to Warren County, the church changed its name to Alathea Baptist Church. “Alathea” is a form of the Greek word for truth, a timely message in today’s confused society. DeFord noted, “We live in a world that routinely distorts or even denies truth. Without truth there is no firm foundation to build anything on, including lives. That’s why our motto is, ‘Building Lives on Truth.’ That starts with the Gospel, but continues on with all that God reveals in His Word, the Bible.”
Alathea Baptist Church, and others like it in Warren County, proclaim Christian truth to our region and in doing so help bless our community with the foundation necessary to build a flourishing culture.
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