There have been some changes over the years at St. John’s United Church of Christ near Worden.

For example, they stopped delivering services in German during World War I. But many things have stayed constant.

Sunday will mark the 135th year of continuous services at the tiny rural church, a notable achievement in a time when countryside churches in Douglas County and elsewhere in Kansas face extinction because of a variety of pressures ranging from aging congregations to skyrocketing insurance costs.

“People have been congregating here every Sunday for 135 years. We think that’s quite an accomplishment,” said Ruth Stoebener, volunteer historian at St. John’s United Church of Christ, which is one mile north of the Douglas County community of Worden.

A German cornerstone

St. John’s United Church of Christ is one of the oldest churches in Douglas County.

To celebrate its anniversary, the 70-member church will feature the Rev. Richard Brueseke, current pastor at Ebenezer Star Church in Gerald, Mo., at its 11 a.m. Sunday service.

Ebenezer Star Church was founded in 1862 by Christian Haas, a first-generation German immigrant who, six years later, started the church that became St. John’s United Church of Christ.

Haas’ diary, now translated from its original German, forms the cornerstone of the church’s history, including a first-person account of “rebel troops” ransacking Haas’ Missouri home in search of money during the Civil War.

St. John's United Church of Christ north of Worden will celebrate its 135th anniversary Sunday. Ruth Stoebener, volunteer historian at the church, said the daylong celebration would include a speech from the founding minister's great-great-granddaughter. Stoebener is shown Monday at the church.

Forced to hide in the nearby woods, Haas, a “unionist,” watched as the ruffians rode off with his “warm underwear” and winter clothing, unwittingly leaving behind the $50 he’d hidden in the pages of his books.

In 1868, the year it was founded, St. John’s United Church of Christ members were German immigrant farmers.

“Until World War I, services were all in German,” Stoebener said. “But during and after the war, fewer and fewer people spoke German — to the point where, today, only a few can understand it and even fewer can speak it.”

Most of the church’s members, Stoebener said, still farm and are descendants of the original German settlers. Most still live within a few miles of Worden.

They’re also in their 60s, 70s and 80s, which makes the church’s next 135 years less certain.

The original St. John's was dedicated in 1878 and replaced in 1953 with the current building. In this photo from the church archives, Carl and Amalie Plambeck and Bertha Niebrugge stand outside the original church building.

“We have a half-dozen younger couples,” Stoebener said. “We’d like to have more.”

Stoebener said no one could predict how much longer the church would be able to remain open.

“All I can say on that is that we’re very strong on families and family values, and we want to do everything we can to preserve our heritage,” she said.

Rural struggles

The church’s pastor commutes, a commonplace solution among various denominations to serving their small rural congregations. The Rev. Fred Craig lives in Topeka and drives to Worden on the weekends. He also works full-time as a chaplain at the state’s youth correctional facility in Topeka.

The future is troubling not just for St. John’s but for hundreds of other rural churches across Kansas that are often the last institutional remnant of once-vibrant communities.

Aside from the problem posed by the state’s rural population declining in numbers even as it advances in age, there are others that come with paying the bills.

“Rural churches are struggling,” said Gary Beach, director of connectional ministries at the United Methodist Church’s regional office in Topeka.

The latest financial blow to strike the small churches, Beach said, was brought on by dramatic increases in property- and health-insurance premiums.

“Where it’s the most difficult,” Beach said, “is in communities that, at one time, had populations that were large enough to build large buildings. And now that those populations are dwindling, it’s a struggle to maintain those buildings.”

Thanks to a healthier economy and growth in the Lawrence area, Beach said rural churches in Douglas County were better off than their counterparts in the western two-thirds of the state.

“Compared to everybody else, Douglas County is pretty healthy,” he said.