At the northeast corner of 28th Street and Ashworth Road in West Des Moines, Covenant Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation known for traditional worship shaped by current culture and technology, education for every age, a broad musical tradition, and mission work reaching across Iowa and beyond. Founded in 1957, Covenant describes faith as something professed and practiced through worship, relationships, learning, service, and care.
Covenant’s mission is to serve as Christ’s disciples by lifting one another through loving and caring relationships for the glory of God.
Traditional Sunday Worship at 28th and Ashworth
Sunday worship begins at 10:00 a.m. every Sunday in the sanctuary at 1025 28th Street and Ashworth Road. The service is available in person and through YouTube and Facebook, while sermons and educational offerings can also be heard in a podcast and an extensive audio archive. Covenant calls its worship traditional while deliberately using current technology and culture to keep it current. Music is integral, with organ and piano, Chancel Choir, Crescendo Bell Choir, and children’s choirs and bells all contributing to the congregation’s proclamation of faith.
Children and youth are always welcome in worship. A staffed nursery serves children age five and under during the service and occupies a safe, welcoming room just off the narthex for easy family access. Children may also remain with their families, using Covenant Kids activity bags, coloring folders, or picture books from the narthex. During worship, a Show and Tell invites children of every age to come to the front pew for a conversation with the pastor and congregation. Afterward, everyone is invited to the fellowship hall for coffee, treats, and fellowship.
Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of every month and at other important faith milestones. Baptisms are planned with the pastor and family. Volunteers provide transportation for people who need assistance getting to Covenant activities; rides can be requested by calling 515-225-2254 or with the transportation form. Church office hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The sermon archive keeps past Sunday messages and educational recordings available for those who cannot attend in person.
Faith Grounded in Welcome and Freedom
Covenant’s beliefs begin with the good news of the Gospel: the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, creates, redeems, sustains, rules, and transforms all things and people. In Christ, the Church joins God’s mission by proclaiming that good news, offering grace at font and table, and calling people to discipleship. Human beings’ highest goal is to glorify and enjoy God, live in covenant fellowship with God, and participate in God’s mission.
The congregation is joyfully inclusive. It affirms unity in diversity within Presbyterian Church (USA) life and welcomes all who trust in God’s grace in Jesus Christ and want to join the fellowship and ministry of the Church. This welcome embraces people across differences of race, ethnicity, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, geography, and theological conviction. Covenant also honors the Presbyterian tradition of freedom of conscience, recognizing varied interpretations while calling members to understand and embrace one another.
Baptism is understood as the bond of unity in Jesus Christ, a sign of reconciliation in the church and world. Both believers and their children are included in God’s covenant love, and the church recognizes baptisms administered with water in the name of the triune God by other Christian churches. The Lord’s Supper is a privilege offered to those who come in faith, repentance, and love. Bread and cup are offered to all who come to the table, regardless of age or understanding.
Marriage is affirmed as a covenant involving a lifelong commitment between two people to love and support one another, with the community of faith publicly witnessing and acknowledging it. In Covenant’s Presbyterian governance, elders elected by the congregation oversee worship, the sacraments, Christian education, and the church’s mission while providing full participation and representation within the life of the congregation.
Learning That Spans Childhood to Later Life
Adult Christian education treats study and conversation as lifelong practices. Two classes meet on Sunday mornings from September through May. The Contemporary Issues class begins at 8:40 a.m. in the fellowship hall and engages contemporary topics from a Reformed perspective, sometimes with outside speakers. The Bible Study class begins at 9:00 a.m. in classroom W-4 and works through Old and New Testament books with an interactive approach to meaning and everyday application. No biblical knowledge is required, participants may join at any time, and NRSV Bibles are available.
Covenant Kids is Wednesday’s program for preschool through fifth grade, meeting from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. during the school year. Students are divided by grade and rotate through Bible lessons, games, crafts, and Children’s Choir rehearsal. Attendance is free and requires no reservation. Parents may remain or drop off their children for the hour, making the evening flexible for families with younger children.
Youth Group welcomes sixth through twelfth graders from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday school-year evenings. Its rhythm alternates among time at church, volunteer work in the community, and social activities such as bowling. At least two adult chaperones accompany the group, and carpooling is available. The church’s stated aim for both children and youth is a holistic formation in faith balanced with fellowship, service, play, and responsibility.
Children are also encouraged to worship with their families on Sunday mornings. Elementary pupils can use a Worship Participation Card, filling it out during worship and turning it in after service for a prize. Vacation Bible School is an annual summer gathering for children age three through fifth grade. Its sessions are free, combine learning about Jesus with games and activities, welcome adults, and invite older students to volunteer. For VBS, attendees use the east parking lot off Ashworth and enter through the main sanctuary doors on the east side.
Mission in Action, Close to Home and Farther Away
Mission in Action is Covenant’s churchwide movement for sharing time, talents, and resources with people in need. Its work reaches the greater Des Moines metro area, Iowa, the nation, and the world through food pantries, mission trips, services for people who are sick, disabled, homeless, or elderly, and financial assistance. A dedicated committee plans the projects and manages the congregation’s mission budget.
- Faith and Grace Garden: Since 2011, Covenant has shared a one-acre garden with St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church. It is one of 12 metro donation gardens, and its organic produce goes to groups including DMARC and the Head Start program hosted at Covenant. Volunteers from the two churches, local schools and colleges, other congregations, and the wider community tend the garden. Produce has also supported cultural integration work with immigrants and refugees from Myanmar and Bhutan.
- Drake University’s Head Start: Beginning in 2006, Head Start classes have met in Covenant’s east wing, giving children at risk a safe place for early education. The arrangement has made Head Start a longstanding ministry within the church building.
- Diaper Mission: A small sewing group meets once each month on a Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. It transforms cotton T-shirts, new and old, into reusable cloth diapers in several sizes, sending them to families in Haiti, El Salvador, and Lutheran Services of Iowa. The group also helps with fabric preparation and occasionally shows young people how to make the diapers.
- Meals from the Heartland and DMARC: Covenant volunteers pack dried meals for people who are hungry and collect food and toiletries for local families through the Des Moines Area Religious Council. The garden, meal packing, and collection efforts address food access in different ways.
- Coins for Concern and direct assistance: Each month, loose coins from the Sunday collection are given to a charitable organization, with an additional gift from the Brown Charitable Trust based on congregational participation. Covenant also supports West Des Moines Human Services, which offers emergency rent and utility help, food, clothing, transportation, handyman services, and other programs, and CROSS Outreach, which provides direct assistance with housing, utilities, food, and hygiene supplies.
- El Salvador and camp: Through Socios de Cristo, Covenant maintains a mission relationship with a partner community in El Salvador, and its history also records a lasting partnership with the San Isidro canton. It supports summer camp experiences for all children at Wildwood Hills Ranch and contributes to mission projects beyond the congregation.
- Presbyterian offerings and care: National offerings support retired church workers and Indigenous schools, peacemaking, and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance following natural or human-caused disasters. The Board of Shepherds and pastoral staff share responsibility for care during births, illness, hospitalization, hospice, homebound life, and funerals.
Six Decades Shaped the Sanctuary
Covenant’s story began on April 11, 1957, when the Presbytery of Des Moines convened an organizing worship service with 75 charter members. The Reverend Ted Madsen received the call to be its first pastor. The congregation first met in the pastor’s house and then used Fairmeadows Elementary School as attendance outgrew that setting. Groundbreaking for the present church took place in 1961 at the northeast corner of 28th and Ashworth, where members contributed much of the interior work themselves.
An east wing was added in 1964. As membership continued to grow, the Session proposed a capital campaign in 1981 for a sanctuary, fellowship hall, kitchen, classrooms, and bathrooms. The expanded facility was dedicated in April 1983. Further work in the late 1980s and early 1990s created a west classroom wing and north office and classroom areas. In 2000, the chancel area was expanded and the distinctive arrow window was installed.
The sanctuary’s Marshall memorial stained-glass windows were installed by Easter 2002. The church has also used its space for education over the years: a Montessori school once occupied the building, and Drake University’s Head Start program began meeting there in 2006. A modern audiovisual system installed in 2010 supported the congregation’s traditional worship, while adoption of the Glory to God hymnal brought well-loved hymns and newer expressions of proclamation into the musical life of the church.
Choirs and Bells Carry the Church Year
Covenant understands music as a form of proclamation. Anthems, cantatas, oratorios, hymns, spiritual songs, choirs, and instrumental music express the congregation’s faith. The Chancel Choir sings regularly and presents additional music for Advent, Christmas Eve, Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday and Tenebrae, Palm Sunday, and Easter. During summer months, duets, quartets, and soloists can provide special music.
The volunteer Crescendo Bell Choir rings monthly from September through May. Its membership includes adults with a range of musical experience, from people who do not read music and have never rung to long-time ringers. The Covenant Children’s Choir sings several times each year, rehearses within Wednesday Covenant Kids, and joins the Palm Sunday procession. The Children’s Bell Choir, begun in 2016, rings at least twice a year and meets before Covenant Kids on selected Wednesday evenings.
The Christian calendar shapes the service schedule. Christmas Eve worship includes carols, candlelight, and “Silent Night.” Ash Wednesday includes Communion and the imposition of ashes. Maundy Thursday remembers the Last Supper before moving into Tenebrae and the reading of the crucifixion account, while Palm Sunday begins with a choir and children processing with palms. Easter centers on special music and the resurrection of Christ. Covenant Sunday, held in April near the congregation’s April 11 founding, recognizes the church’s ministry and is often followed by a potluck, and Kick Off Sunday on the second Sunday of September launches the September-to-May program year.
Small Groups for Fellowship and Faith
Covenant’s small groups are self-defined and self-organized gatherings of members, friends, and visitors for fellowship, community building, and faith conversations. Committees also gather people around specific tasks in Christian education, mission, worship and music, property, fellowship, finance, and church governance, helping shape the congregation’s common life.
Men’s Breakfast normally meets on the first Monday of each month at 7:30 a.m. in the fellowship hall for a meal and faith conversation. Covenant women’s circles use a Bible curriculum for reflection and discussion throughout the year. A Morning Circle meets on the second Tuesday from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., while an Evening Circle meets on the third Tuesday from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., allowing participants to shift between groups when schedules change.
Presbyterian Women brings together women, friends, and visitors for mission, fundraising, leadership development, and connection with the Presbytery of Des Moines, the Synod of Lakes and Prairies, and national gatherings. The Book Club meets on the first Thursday during the September-through-May program year, and Ladies Who Lunch gathers for food and fellowship at 11:30 a.m. at changing restaurants. All are open to people beyond the core groups, including those who first arrive as visitors.
Shared Leadership, Care, and Giving
The Session governs Covenant in the Presbyterian tradition. It was reconfigured from 15 members to six to support a council model of discernment, while retaining youth elders in leadership. The Session oversees the sacraments, supports the church’s ministries and committees, and works toward the Great Ends of the Church: the Word of God truly preached and heard, the sacraments rightly administered and received, and the community nurtured as disciples of Christ.
Rev. Nathan Williams serves as pastor. William Beyer is worship music leader, Heather Blue-Belieu leads worship and the bell program, Jeff Rodman directs Christian education, Paige Kaltschnee serves as Programs and Communications Director, and Jennifer Chance coordinates the nursery. The Board of Shepherds is a volunteer body that works with the pastor on congregational care, including baptisms, illness, homebound and hospice situations, hospitalization, funerals, and ongoing attention for people who need care.
Service is also offered through practical volunteer roles: reading Scripture and prayers, serving Communion as an ordained elder, running cameras and other audiovisual equipment for the livestream, welcoming guests, preparing coffee, caring for children in the nursery, and playing the Trinity chimes. Giving supports local, national, and international mission, Christian education, and building upkeep. Online giving is available, and pledges may be planned weekly, monthly, or annually. For Covenant, discipleship is woven through worship, learning, music, mutual care, service, and life in the community.