Faithful readers may remember a recent Photo Friday installment that documented a congregational reunion at the former Dallas Center Brethren in Christ Church in Iowa. This event allowed members of that now-closed church to reminisce as they opened a time capsule placed in the church’s cornerstone in 1947.
Thanks to reader Hannah Hawbaker, we have some new information about the Dallas Center church building: it now serves the local community as a wedding chapel. The owners promote the venue as “an old-fashioned Iowa wedding chapel that sits among the gardens, where the sun’s light filters through stained-glass windows, music echoes sweetly and the candles’ glow beckons you to speak of unending love.”
A bit of the chapel’s history:
Stained glass windows compelled Dan and Mary Ellen Oberender to purchase this 1883 Dallas Center treasure for renovation into a home, but the weight of many memories related to them by previous church members convinced them to do otherwise. What was to have been their private residence has become Candle Lit Way Wedding Chapel, a place of quiet beauty within the confines of their gardens.
Thanks, Hannah, for passing this information along!
Learn more about the chapel here.
It is good to hear that the church building has been preserved and being used for a good cause. We have pleasant memories of visiting the Dallas Center congregation in the 1990’s as an assignment to visit all BIC churches at that time. The people were so friendly and kind. Many great people in our fellowship who were once part of the Dallas Center church have been or are serving the BIC Church today.
Re: Dallas Center. IA. Did you have access to the Evangelical Visitor September 1998?
Gerald: Thanks for your comment. (I moved your comment to the post which it referenced–Dallas Center, IA). In answer to your question: I did not have access to that EV issue, unfortunately. Is that the one detailing the congregation’s close?