MONTOUR — Four years ago, Mike and Jenny Vinson left the big city of Toronto and returned back to the area where she was born and raised near Montour, citing restrictions on churches in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic as the primary driving factor. Mike, a recently naturalized U.S. citizen, is now the pastor of Redeemer Bible Church, the area’s newest congregation with just two services under its belt as this issue of the newspaper went to press.

What became Redeemer, which is currently holding its services at the Montour Community Center, grew out of a Bible study group at Pilgrim Heights just up the road on Highway 30, and the first official church service on Sunday, May 2, drew about 50 attendees.

“God did it for us,” Jenny said before Mike jumped in.

“He just continued to reveal it to us as we’ve been praying and praying and praying, and that’s really unfolded a lot this year in the last couple months,” he said.

The couple, who have five children, were thankful for the cooperation in allowing the use of the space, and a donor covered the rental cost without even telling them. This past Sunday, the turnout remained strong with a fellowship hour held beforehand featuring coffee, fresh pastries and music.

“We love this community. It’s kind of funny because we came from such a big city, and I just love this,” Mike said. “Being in the country with this community, it’s awesome, and we just had a strong burden for the community here, and we love the people.”

Jenny said one thing she was shocked to learn upon returning to her old stomping grounds was how serious the issue of addiction is in this area, from extremely small towns like Montour to the larger surrounding communities of Marshalltown and Tama-Toledo.

“It’s a big city level in these small towns, which kind of blew our mind a little bit. So we actually helped run a recovery program out of Marshalltown, Christian based, for a while,” she said. “With that background, too, it’s been really neat for us to get close enough to people to help them, and we feel like a lot of churches don’t do that well. So we’re trying with this one. We’re trying our best with this one.”

The ultimate goal, Mike added, is to help people know the Lord, whether they’re otherwise struggling or thriving in their lives. Another goal for the future is to acquire the former Living Faith United Methodist Church building just down the road from their current gathering spot after that congregation held its final service on Easter. The process could take a few months, but they’re confident God will make it happen.

“The town and the people around us have been super accommodating and receptive,” Jenny said. “Usually, community centers and churchy religion stuff, they kind of keep those separate, but here, there was such a sweetness, they were like ‘Yes, we want this church’ so they opened the doors to us.”

The community center, however, was already booked for the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend in advance, which forced the Vinsons to get creative. They ultimately decided to host an outdoor service at a farm on the north edge of town with traditional Christian music played on banjo, guitar and fiddle and a group potluck meal after worship is finished.

“We’re gonna do a shindig version of church,” Jenny said.

And as they look forward, they’ll continue to trust that God has a plan for them.

“It’s not my vision. It’s the Lord’s. So we just continue to walk by faith, and I know that he’s doing it. He’s something beautiful, and we just keep on seeing it,” he said. “So I think there’s going to be something amazing happening here.”

Jenny also cited the need for “heart healing,” referencing the example of individuals who have left the local Amish community around Montour and been shunned as a result. Thus far, most of the church attendees have come from places like Tama-Toledo and the rural areas surrounding Montour, and they continue to spread the word in hopes that more people will find them.

“The Bible says to go out into the highways and the hedges, which is really going out into the main roads and the country roads to bring people in,” Mike said.

“So we’re a country road church,” Jenny added. “But the rural churches are dying. You see more and more closed up, and we’re hoping that we’ll be a healing version of healing that.”

Regular weekly services are held at 10 a.m. with fellowship at 9 a.m., for the time being at the Montour Community Center located at 102 E. Elm St. The Memorial Day weekend service will be held Sunday, May 24 at 10 a.m. in the field at the corner of Liberty and North Division Street. To learn more about the church, visit https://www.redeemeria.com/.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.