In 1950, Methodists on two sides of South Dakota were empowered to launch new churches. Today, those risky, founded-in-faith church startups are alive, growing, and looking to the future, emboldened by faith and a firm foundation. This month, Rapid City Canyon Lake UMC and Sioux Falls Asbury UMC celebrated the past, present, and future with celebrations of accomplishment and excitement for what’s next.

In Sioux Falls, Asbury UMC celebrated every Sunday in September, with an anniversary-themed motto each week. Beginning on September seventh, they began with “found”, as in a reading in 1950 by superintendent WR Peterson, from Luke 15, where the shepherd won’t stop looking until he’s found that one lost sheep. So, with Asbury UMC, the church won’t settle until everyone has been found. That’s ingrained in Asbury’s foundation.

Asbury's Joysingers and Reunion choirs. (photos courtest of Facebook

Rev. Kip Roozen, lead pastor at Asbury UMC, said, “We were founded in 1950, but we were founded on the scripture of God finding us each and every day. A part of our [anniversary] was looking back and thanking God for the founding of Asbury, but also continuing to thank God that we are people who are found by Christ, so we've been celebrating that.”

In 1950, 200 people from Sioux Falls First Methodist and Sioux Falls Wesley Methodist (pre-“United”) came together in prayer and gift-giving, convinced by the Spirit that they should found a new Methodist church. They began meeting homes, and then in the chapel on Sioux Falls College (present-day University of Sioux Falls), and in 1957 began building the church building the congregation inhabits today.

Meanwhile, on the western edge of the state…

Canyon Lake UMC's first building

Rapid City, SD was also ripe for a new church in 1950, and Rapid City Canyon Lake UMC was born, first meeting in a small, wooden chapel on the western edge of the town, where the Black Hills give way to the flatter prairie grasslands. Many ladies wore hats, and most men wore suits– a noticeable difference to today’s more casual, and usually more comfortable, “Sunday best.”

Canyon Lake UMC’s celebrations began in January 2025, with returning pastor, Rev. Dr. Kent Millard, now president of United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, who served CLUMC in the 1970s. Pastor Kent was warmly greeted by plenty of former parishioners.

The anniversary festivities continued May 17-18, featuring Rev. Bob Ruedebusch, who served from 1992-2009, preaching at all three services. The final guest preacher for the anniversary celebration was Bishop Lanette Plambeck, who delivered a sermon at both Sunday services on September 28, titled “To be Made Well.”

Bishop Plambeck invited the faithful at Canyon Lake to never give in to fear or doubt, no matter what cultural or political flood waters may rage, drawing a parallel to the rising flood waters of the Rapid City flood of 1972. She said the youngest generation is missing something that we’ve often taken for granted– hope. She invited the worshippers to instead look forward in hope, to build on the accomplishments of those who built the Canyon Lake UMC ministry to what it is today, and what it can be in the next 75 years.

Associate pastor for CLUMC, Stephanie Eliason, was amazed to see the history of the church come to life through photos and stories. “Well, not having been alive at the start of Canyon Lake’s whole existence, it's been amazing just to learn so much, to be able to see all of these pictures that are coming out and be like, “Oh, this is what we've been doing. It's been so much fun to see the programs, the way things have and haven't changed over the years.

Bishop Plambeck encouraged looking to the future by reminding us, “Now for some of us– and I include myself in that group– I have more years behind me than I have ahead of me. But that’s not the story of the church, right?”

She invited each person present to go forward in God’s hope in this world every day for the next 75 days, to do a gracious act, to be God’s goodness and grace in this world.

The 75^th Anniversary slogan was “Moving Forward with Confidence in Christ.” The anniversary committee, formed around Lynne Garcia and Mary Hensley, was impressed by the willingness of CLUMC members to show up for help with logo, book and poster design, cleaning and sorting historic photos and documents, and much, much more. Anniversary chairperson Lynne Garcia said, “the thing that I'm absolutely grateful for is you ask somebody if they could help you do this and they're all over it they are more than willing to do something– anything– we've had three events and in the first event somebody was in charge of that and they just really took over and did it. The next person that I asked if they would help with [the second event], just took it over and did it.”

Garcia, who grew up in the Canyon Lake church, could recall many of the pastors, like Rev. Pete Moe, her confirmation pastor, who died earlier this year, and others.

Themed Sundays at Asbury

Across the state, at Asbury UMC, Roozen continued, “Each Sunday we've done a different word. Our first word was ‘found.’ And then ‘formed’, ‘faithful’, and now this Sunday the word is ‘forward’ because we're looking back with gratitude, but we're also looking forward in faith.”

On September 21, the Joysingers children’s choir led worship with the Reunion Choir– children’s choir members from years- even decades- earlier. There were even some parent-child participants, all singing together as one body.

The culmination of the progressive celebrations was on Sunday, September 28, where the Asbury Handbell Choir led the early service, and a praise band led by Boyd Bristow, spouse of former pastor Rev. Dar Berkenpas, finished up the celebrations at the third service.

Asbury’s Director of Next Generation Ministries, Emily Lawrence, shared her impressions of the current movement within Sioux Falls Asbury UMC, and the people who’ve brought them this far. She brought up the children’s choir director, Julie Ashworth, who’s been volunteering for over 45 years, “and has invested so much in that children's choir. She invited anybody who had ever sung in her choir back to sing together. And so, so many generations of us were up front singing a song about service and serving others, and then a Happy Birthday to Asbury and that to me was a powerful moment.”

The chair of Asbury UMC’s leadership team, Nathan Grau, said that although his family has only been at Asbury UMC for less than ten years, he was invigorated by the historical personas, stories, and photos. “I've only been a member at Asbury since 2016, so it's only a very small part of the 75 years and while I've gotten to know several people who have been at church or have been there for a long time, it was it was neat to see in the archives pictures and activities and things that past Asbury members did, some of the things that we’re still doing today, how they pass the baton, how their faith journey directly influences mine today.”

Onward and Upward

With two UM churches giving testament to the power of hope, rooted in firm foundations and faith in Jesus, 75 years for each is just the beginning. Anniversaries like these are a gift of time to reflect, to give thanks for all that has been, and for all that will be. Just as the founders of these two churches couldn’t imagine what the ministries would do or become, we are called to emulate those acts of service, of mission, of faith, that God is in all things, and we need only listen, remain watchful in the community around us, and be ready to serve in any way that God calls us. It might be through gifts of wealth, mission, ministry, service, or in ways for which we don’t even have vocabulary yet. If we are ready to be sent, God is faithful, and God will provide.