The People in Your Neighborhood
On the tree-lined stretch of South Elm Road in Marshfield, Missouri, Marshfield United Methodist Church has made a name for itself as a congregation that takes its faith out the door and into the surrounding community. Its tagline says it plainly: the people of Marshfield UMC are the people in your neighborhood, working to make the area an even better place to live. Through worship, service, fellowship, and learning, the church connects with God and each other every week, treating faith as something to live out in the world.
The congregation is focused each year on the renewal of bodies, souls, and minds, and the church is growing in both numbers and discipleship. Visitors are welcomed warmly and invited into that growth.
A Blended Sunday at Ten
Worship services at MUMC are carefully planned experiences meant to help everyone encounter God, connect with others, and grow in discipleship. The Sunday morning gathering takes place at 10:00 AM in a blended style that pulls from the best of traditional and contemporary music. A pipe organ may be paired with an electric bass for a praise song, followed by a hymn accompanied by piano. Lyrics appear on a screen in the corner of the sanctuary, and hymnals are still available in the pews.
Services follow the same basic pattern of worship and usually feature Rev. Kim Polchow in the pulpit, but each week is led by a different team of volunteers, and the elements change often enough to keep things fresh. A four-and-a-half-month rotation of liturgists - the people who open the service with a reflection and prayer - shares that work. Every Sunday also brings ushers, greeters, fellowship hosts, and an online host. Anyone who wants to serve in worship leadership is encouraged to contact the office.
Holy Communion is celebrated once a month. Typically, about twenty of those in the sanctuary are led forward by the ushers to the rail, where they receive the bread and cup as a group, pray together, and are blessed before returning to their seats. Those who prefer not to participate are free to stay in their places. Communion may also be offered through self-serve cups at the door during times of widespread sickness in the community.
The Streams: Worship Made for the Screen
Marshfield UMC's online ministry is more than a livestream of the sanctuary. The Streams is an intentionally online worship service built so that viewers can see faces and hear voices showing up precisely for the online audience, with opportunities to connect in real and meaningful ways with the church. The Streams premiers new episodes at 8:30 AM Central on Sundays on the @TheStreamsMUMC YouTube channel and remains available anytime afterward.
The Streams was developed with the help of a Missouri Conference New Places for New People grant. The church invested in a dedicated online studio capable of multi-person recording, with a producer coordinating individuals who record themselves. The result is a service aimed at people who may not be in Marshfield at all - the congregation includes members and regular attenders from all over Missouri and surrounding states who describe MUMC as deeply Wesleyan, intentionally online, and discipleship-centered.
First-time viewers are greeted by name in a bright orange mailer that arrives by post, and they can register through the online form so the church can build relationships at the visitor's pace. A Digital Discipleship Library of on-demand Bible study classes is also being built on the same channel. Homecoming weekends each December roll out the red carpet for online worshippers with food, fun events, and a real sense of welcome.
The Sunday 10:00 AM sanctuary service is also livestreamed each week on Facebook and remains available afterward, with the online host greeting worshippers and handling prayer requests in real time.
A Music Program that Anchors Worship
Music at Marshfield UMC is a point of genuine pride. Under the direction of Martha (Marty) Foglesong, the Chancel Choir is described as a very special part of the church, dedicated to enhancing worship with their gifts and devoted to one another. The choir rehearses every Wednesday evening and presents an anthem nearly every Sunday. Near Christmas, more than forty singers deliver a Cantata with a partial orchestra.
Bells, instrumentalists, and soloists make regular contributions to services alongside the choir, the Worship Director, and the Choir Director, who together bring the full range of music to bear on each week's worship.
Children and Youth at the Center
Children and youth education are stated priorities at Marshfield UMC, and the church works hand in hand with families to give kids and teens a safe place to grow. From the moment a visitor walks in the door, the welcome for young ones is unmistakable.
During most Sunday services, trained volunteers staff the JAM (Jesus and Me) room for older children, and paid nursery staff care for smaller children. On the first Sunday of each month, the JAM room closes and all children are invited into worship, where toys are set out and a coloring page is printed on the front of the bulletin. The congregation expects noise that Sunday and plans services with many children in mind, framing kids not as the future of the church but as its present.
Children's and youth ministries are led by Maggie Melvin of NextGen Ministries. Volunteers go through training and screening for everything from Sunday School teaching to Vacation Bible School, and there are both short-term and long-term ways to serve. The youth group is led by teachers and coaches from the local Marshfield R-I school district who walk the same hallways as their students. The group dives into everyday life lessons through scripture, takes local mission opportunities, and every summer travels for a week-long mission trip that consistently changes the lives of the youth who go. Leader James McAnarney - known to the kids simply as Coach Mac - puts it this way: anyone who goes on the trip comes back closer to Christ than when they left.
Sunday School for Every Age
At 9:00 every Sunday morning, adults gather for Sunday School. The classes are open, and newcomers are invited to try any and all of them to find a fit. Pathways, led by Rob Foster, reads through the Bible. Witness, led by Ken Thompson, explores a variety of theological and Biblical topics. The Millennials Group, led by Amanda Ragsdale, takes on Biblical and societal subjects. New Life discusses the Upper Room devotionals.
Children and youth meet at the same hour in classes for Pre-K and Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade, 3rd through 5th grade, and a youth class. In summer, kids and adults head outside together for Sun Day School, often with a guest speaker teaching something new. Greeters are happy to point families to the right classroom.
Learning Beyond Sunday Morning
The Women's Bible Study is a long-standing, dedicated learning group at MUMC, welcoming new members across generations. It meets on Tuesdays at 10:00 AM in the Della Burford Room.
A variety of Bible studies run throughout the year, taught by pastors and lay people alike. Several are available on demand in the Digital Discipleship Library for those who want to take them on their own schedule. Best information on upcoming studies comes through the monthly print newsletter, The Memo.
The church library is open whenever the building is open and holds resources for Bible study, reference, and general reading.
Serving Marshfield and Beyond
Service is woven into the life of the congregation. Stephen Ministry, an ecumenical lay-care program led by Dawn Corbin-Deutsch, equips people to walk one-on-one with those experiencing difficulties, listening, caring, praying, and encouraging in strict confidence.
The Blessing Box sits in front of the ARK building, stocked with shelf-stable groceries and hygiene items and free for anyone in the community who needs food. Kris Chadek and the church office keep it supplied. The Little Free Library near the front of the church works the same way: take a book, return or keep it, donate more. The congregation also supports a Food Pantry and Thrift Store.
The Prayer Shawl Ministry meets the second Wednesday of each month from 6:30 to 8:00 PM in the ARK Building. Knitters and crocheters create prayer shawls, baby blankets, and hats, dedicating each piece to someone who needs a little warmth and blessing. Beginners are welcome.
Congregational Care visits those in care facilities, brings church to homebound members, provides food in times of healing, and keeps in contact with the people who make up the church. Hospitality Team volunteers, led by DeAnne Rader, the Interim Director of Discipleship, make sure guests have a welcoming experience and are followed up with after their first visit.
The Prayer Team, coordinated by Becky Erb, gathers on Tuesday afternoons in the library to pray over new and continuing requests, then stays in touch by text during the week.
Life Together: Groups, Classes, and a Little Exercise
The Women's Life Group is open to women of all ages and meets monthly on the third Wednesday. Each meeting is a surprise planned by the coordinators from a list drawn up at the start of the year. The focus is quality conversation, connection, and fun, with meals and childcare provided.
The Young Men's Life Group, led by Curt Mottesheard and James McAnarney, meets at the same time in the Della Burford Room, offering a safe space for men typically in their twenties through forties to talk about walking a spiritual journey.
The United Methodist Men gather on the first Monday of each month at 5:30 PM in the ARK Building. The group centers on Christ in every man's life, expressing that through Bible study, witness, and service projects, and provides several annual scholarships each year for students continuing beyond high school.
A free Pilates class meets in the church multi-purpose room on the lower level on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, open to anyone of any age who wants to loosen up and get some exercise. The Weaver's Guild meets irregularly to work on weaving projects, especially the Marshfield Made project using local sheep and llama fiber and locally dyed yarns to make home goods; once a year, the group meets weekly for a month to train new weavers.
Rooted in Marshfield, Reaching Farther
Marshfield United Methodist Church keeps one foot in Marshfield and another very deliberately in the wider world. The building hosts community groups that need somewhere to gather, the food pantry and thrift store serve the surrounding area, the youth travel for mission trips, and The Streams reaches worshippers across Missouri and beyond. Throughout it all, the congregation's focus stays on renewing bodies, souls, and minds - and on being, as the church says, the people in your neighborhood.